Source: Teabonics When President Obama filled out his census form last week, he had to decide how to answer the race question. Even though his selection was only half true, he settled on the “Black, African American, or Negro” option. I noticed Facebook friends struggling with the same issue: If my father’s parents were born… Read more
Author Archives: Jan
Reaction to health care: A step backwards
Source: University of Virginia There have been nasty and violent responses to the passage of health care: Spitting on members of congress; chanting the “N” word at black congressmen on their way to vote; images of Nancy Pelosi surrounded by flames; death threats to members of Congress; Republican congressmen on the House floor cheering protesters… Read more
Westboro Baptist Church defeated by tolerance
This is a local story for me: I pass this school frequently and have a niece and nephew who are graduates. It’s also a heartening one that counters some of the more depressing stories from the right end of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, this event seems to have received only local media coverage. The following… Read more
A raffle for free (human) eggs
Source: Babble At a London seminar promoting American donor eggs for infertile British women, a Virginia infertility clinic offered attendees the chance to win an American woman’s eggs. Also included was a free in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle (a $23,000 value). The reaction, on both sides of the Atlantic, was mixed. According to The Washington… Read more
Glucosamine/chondroitin no better than placebo, but …
An analysis of 10 studies involving more than 3,800 people has found that glucosamine and chondroitin supplements for joint pain are ineffective either alone or in combination. … The supplements don’t appear harmful, the authors note. But if people begin to feel better while taking them it could be due to the placebo effect or just the natural healing of joints over time. Read more
A brief history of antibiotics
* 2000 B.C. – Here, eat this root * 1000 A.D. – That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer. * 1850 A.D. – That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion. * 1920 A.D. – That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill. * 1945 A.D. – That pill is ineffective. Here, take… Read more
Baby Isaiah’s parents expect second child
Doris Wilson, a well-known nursing professor at the University of Alberta, has called for a public inquiry into the circumstances of Baby Isaiah’s birth. It’s unclear why a C-section was not performed over the course of the 40-hour labor or why the mother was not airlifted to another hospital. Evidently an investigation of the hospital has already occurred, but the details are confidential and are not being released to the public at this time. Read more
Gonorrhea bacteria: The next superbug?
After chlamydia, gonorrhea – also known as the “clap” — is the second most common bacterial STD (sexually transmitted disease). It’s easily transmitted. Women have a 60-80 % chance of becoming infected after a single sexual encounter with an infected male partner. Left untreated, the disease not only causes unpleasant symptoms – painful urination, urethral… Read more
Joe Biden on health care reform
Someone sent this to me, and I can’t find it on the web to give credit to the artist. Read more
"Dad, the 'unfinished business' is done."
Source: The Washington Post Ted Kennedy’s youngest son, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, visited his father’s grave on the day after health care reform was passed. He left a hand-written note, written on one of his congressional note cards: “Dad, the ‘unfinished business’ is done.” Senator Kennedy, in a letter delivered to President Obama by Vicki… Read more
The Supreme Court and health care repeal politics
Source: The Economist Attorneys general from 14 states (so far) are filing lawsuits to challenge the constitutionality of health care reform. Some have the support of their Republican governors. Others have incensed their Democratic governors. Orin Kerr, on the conservative/libertarian law professors’ blog The Volokh Conspiracy, gives the odds of repealing the individual mandate as… Read more
Global challenge: 10 new antibiotics by 2020
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has issued a statement challenging global leaders to develop 10 new antimicrobial drugs by 2020. The time has come for a global commitment to develop new antibacterial drugs. Current data document the impending disaster due to the confluence of decreasing investment in antibacterial drug research and development concomitant… Read more
Health care: A history of last minute arm twisting
Source: The Truth or the Fight The media love to play the upcoming health care vote as a sporting event, with daily play-by-play analyses of whether Nancy Pelosi will get the 216 votes she needs to pass the reform legislation. Speculations on the vote count are meaningless, however, until the very last minute. Those members… Read more
Actions surrounding the moment of death are highly symbolic
In a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine entitled “Is It Always Wrong to Perform Futile CPR?”, a doctor describes the case of a baby boy who had been born with a large encephalocele on his forehead – a neural tube defect that allows the brain and its surrounding membrane to protrude… Read more
Baby Isaiah May, October 24, 2009 – March 11, 2010
Source: The Vancouver Sun Baby Isaiah May was allowed to die today, in the arms of his parents. The child was surrounded by 10 family members, including a grandmother who had traveled from Washington State. Today was the date set for the next court appearance in the May’s attempt to keep their child alive. In… Read more
Olbermann on the damage done by "death panels"
Last October, in a one-hour special commentary on health care reform, Keith Olbermann discussed his father’s illness in personal and graphic detail. Last night he provided an update that began: “Last Friday night my father asked me to kill him.” Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Olbermann and his… Read more
Baby Isaiah: February update
Source: The Windsor Star Four-month-old Baby Isaiah suffered irreversible brain damage at birth when his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Medical authorities recommended that the child be disconnected from the ventilator that keeps him alive. Isaiah’s parents have sought to keep their child on life support through the legal system. See here and here… Read more
Health inequities, politics, and the public option
Source: Torontoist Constance A. Nathanson is an American historian of public health. She recently wrote an essay for The Lancet that explains why the public option is such a hot button – one that threatens to confront us with the underlying issue of health inequality. Early in the twentieth century, industrialized nations – with the… Read more
Déjà vu: Historical resistance to the inequities of health
If statistical analysis shows conclusively that morbidity and mortality are directly related to income, what should a (presumably) enlightened government do with this information? One approach, consistently popular throughout history, is to blame the victims. In the Reagan/Thatcher years we saw an enthusiastic promotion of taking personal responsibility for one’s health. Personal responsibility follows naturally… Read more
Health inequities: An inhumane history
Whenever there are disparities in income, inequities in health are inevitable. Today in the US, the gap between the rich and the poor is much greater than in most other highly developed democratic countries, and so are the health inequities. The roots of this inequality lie deep in the histories of developed nations. When children… Read more
Health care inequality: The US vs. Europe
During last year’s immersion in matters of health care, the US system was frequently compared to those of Canada, the UK, Japan, Australia, and Western European countries. Whether the comparison involved infant mortality, lifespan, or comprehensive coverage, the US fell far behind these other developed countries. The lack of universal coverage is perhaps the most… Read more
Why did health care reform fail? Lack of empathy
Source: The New York Times Continuing with Abigail Trafford’s analysis of health care reform, the next comparison between the Obama and Clinton failures is the ongoing empathy gap. Trafford describes an experience she had with supporters of Clinton’s health reform. In 1994 she traveled with the Health Security Express, a busload of individuals who suffered… Read more
Why did health care reform fail? Cognitive dissonance
Source: Ohio Daily President Obama was determined to avoid the mistakes of Bill Clinton’s attempt at health care reform. He made sure Congress was heavily involved. He courted the major interest groups – the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals. And yet it appears reform has failed once again. Abigail Trafford, author and former Washington… Read more
Valentine's Day: Free hugs for heart health
Source: The Huffington Post February has been American Heart Month since 1963, and it’s surely no coincidence that February features Valentine’s Day. For the American Heart Association, it’s a month devoted to increasing public awareness of heart health and raising money. In support of such a good cause, a gentleman from Ohio (Jeff Ondash) raised… Read more
Where were the melamine whistle blowers?
Source: The Wall Street Journal When Texas nurse Anne Mitchell accused a doctor of unethical conduct, she had no idea how much trouble was in store. First of all, her complaint was anonymous, and second, she believed she was doing the right thing. When she was accused of harassment and faced a ten-year prison term,… Read more
Whistle blowing: Nurse Anne Mitchell vs. Dr. Arafiles
Source: TriCity Herald It takes courage to blow the whistle on a fellow employee. The workplace is a social community. When we stand up and accuse someone of wrongdoing, we alienate ourselves from that community. The whistle blower, of course, also faces very concrete fears: job and income loss, the threat of retaliatory prosecution, and… Read more
The persistence of melamine
Following the 2008 discovery in China of melamine-laced milk – an event that left six babies dead, 300,000 sickened, and over 50,000 hospitalized — the Chinese government ordered all contaminated products to be burned or buried. The government was not directly involved in the destruction, however. That was left to those who had produced and… Read more
Baby Isaiah: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine (2)
Source: Rant Rave As I described in a previous post, the parents of Isaiah James May, who has been declared brain dead, are engaged in a legal battle to keep their son on life-support. At their last court appearance on January 27 they were granted an extension of their appeal. The next court date is… Read more
Why did we shoot ourselves in the foot on health care?
Source: The University of Minnesota Unlike the US, where a turkey dinner is traditionally associated with Thanksgiving, the United Kingdom dines on turkey at Christmas. So when the British or Australians accuse you of acting like “a turkey voting for Christmas,” they mean you’re going against your own best interests. The BBC has a new… Read more
Baby Isaiah: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine (1)
Source: The Province Isaiah James May was born last October in a small town (population 7,000) in Alberta, Canada. For Rebecka May, age 23, this was her first child. The pregnancy was normal, and both mother and child were healthy at the time of delivery. Labor was difficult, however. It went on for 40 hours,… Read more