Health

Attention medical students: When selecting your residency program, there's more than just geography and the hospital's reputation to consider.

You can barely listen to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney make a speech or give an interview without hearing some variation of this vow:

"On Day 1 of my administration, I'll direct the secretary of Health and Human Services to grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states. And then I'll go about getting it repealed," he told Newsmax TV in September 2011.

When smoking is banned in bars and workplaces, the number of people who suffer heart attacks and die drops within months, according to two new studies.

They found benefits not only in saving lives, but in lowering the cost of medical care for heart attacks, stroke and other smoking-related illnesses. It's the best evidence yet demonstrating big, swift health improvements when secondhand smoke is banished.

We're always looking for new angles on health news. And now we're trying a new angle on Shots: a podcast.

This is an experiment, so I should ask for your informed consent. Are you prepared for some unorthodox audio from an ink-stained wretch still working on the transition to online journalism from print? If so, click away.