In case you missed it: patient survey, "rock snot," Carney cuts, angioplasties at small hospitals, cantaloupe recall, transgender kids

In Saturday's Globe:

A new federal survey of patient satisfaction gave the highest ratings in Massachusetts to New England Baptist, Brigham and Women's, Newton-Wellesley, and Emerson hospitals, where more than 80 percent of those surveyed said they would recommend the hospital to someone else.

It looks like brown slime and feels like wet wool, and it may be harming aquatic life in rivers and streams in northern New England. Rock snot is in the region, and the single-cell organisms - which can live up to three months out of water in dark, cool damp places - are silently spreading.

Caritas Carney Hospital has cut 55 jobs as it awaits a consultant's report that could lead to other major changes at the community teaching hospital.

In the Sunday Globe:

Is it safe to have your arteries unclogged at a hospital that lacks heart surgeons who can operate if something goes wrong? Many states ban this except in emergencies such as heart attacks. But more small hospitals are trying it in non-urgent cases, and the largest study ever done on the practice, released yesterday, suggests that it may not be as risky as has been feared.

A Lawrence company is recalling fresh-cut fruit products containing cantaloupe from a Honduran company the Food and Drug Administration has linked to a multistate salmonella outbreak.

In the past few years, some doctors have come to believe that kids should be allowed to have some control over how they grow up. Dr. Norman Spack, 64, of Children's Hospital Boston argues that transgender kids tend to be much happier - and less likely to harm themselves - when they're able to live in their preferred gender role.