Source: Bill Moyers Journal Wendell Potter, who was once the head of Public Relations at health insurance giant CIGNA, recently testified before Congress on the nefarious practices of the insurance industry. Last Friday he did an extended interview with Bill Moyers. In the video excerpt below, Moyers and Potter discuss the insurance industry’s comprehensive strategy… Read more
Author Archives: Jan
Is the Internet bad for your health?
Source: Mayo Clinic Do you research medical information on the Internet? Do you use Google as your starting point? Do you read entries on medical conditions at Wikipedia and assume what you read is accurate and complete? Kevin Pho, primary care physician and author of the popular medical blog KevinMD.com, has a column in USA… Read more
Oh #^@%$#!+
Source: Bob’s Home Repair Blog Does swearing decrease pain? Definitely, according to a recent study from Keele University. Here are a few details most reports didn’t cover. Study volunteers were able to hold their non-dominant hand in a bucket of ice water (41° F) for two minutes while swearing, but for only one minute and… Read more
Sotomayor's diabetes: A legitimate reservation or discrimination?
Source: 103.7 The Buzz Just how important are medical issues when considering a nominee for the Supreme Court? Living to a ripe old age is important, since justices serve for life. Clarity of mind is also important, given the nature of the job. Low blood sugar, for example, could theoretically impair judgment. Both of these… Read more
Will health care reform stop the rising cost of health care?
As we get into the nitty-gritty of health care reform, critcs from both left and right are asking whether current proposals will reduce costs. Here we have a historic opportunity to make major changes in health care, but it appears no one is willing to address the problem of escalating costs. The public insurance option… Read more
The enduring benefits of saving children
A child’s health depends on the child’s environment. Children who live in poor households are more likely to die, more likely to suffer the irreversible effects of poor nutrition, and less likely to benefit from a health-care system if one is available. It’s estimated that 9.2 million children under the age of five die each… Read more
Help! My child swallowed a magnet (or two)
Source: The New England Journal of Medicine Children love to put things in their mouths and, unfortunately, there’s always the danger of swallowing small objects. About 80 percent of these “foreign bodies” pass through the digestive system without incident, especially if they’re small and not sharp. Curious children might wonder what would happen if they… Read more
Importing drugs from Canada: Will lobbyists win or lose this round?
Artist: Robert Parada. Source: AARP When a government is directly involved in health care, the sheer size of its purchasing power allows it to negotiate lower prices for drugs. That’s why drugs cost less in Canada over the Internet. In the US, drug company lobbying is so powerful that it can convince Congress to prohibit… Read more
Where does the health care money go?
Source: Newsweek Well, some of it goes to pay executives at health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Here are some income figures for top executives at leading health insurance companies. The numbers are for total compensation in 2008, obtained from proxy statements required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The total compensation includes base salary,… Read more
Big Pharma lobbies against health reform: Big time
Source: Stop Barack Obama According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the pharmaceutical industry spent $1.2 million a day on lobbying during the first quarter of this year. Not surprisingly, the biggest spender has been the largest pharmaceutical lobbying group, PhRMA, which has spent $7 million. Pfizer was a close second at $6 million. Meanwhile,… Read more
High school students should sleep in
There’s a physiological reason why teenagers want to stay up late and sleep as long as they can in the morning. It has to do with the production of melatonin. The body produces melatonin, a natural hormone related to our daily (circadian) rhythm, about an hour before we’re ready to fall asleep. Before adolescence, melatonin… Read more
Climate change: Bad news for children’s health
Climate change has a much bigger effect on our health than we realize, and it’s possibly the greatest public health threat of the coming century. This is the opinion of pediatrician Aaron Bernstein, quoted in a recent issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Consider infectious diseases. As the climate changes, birds, insects… Read more
Skateboard art: From Adam and Eve to modern medicine
Source: Process Recess Anatomical skateboard art by James Jean. Jean’s statement, which explains skating as the inspiration for his image, is pure poetry. Skating has always seemed to me a courageous activity, and what is courage but an absence of shame. Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, pitiful in their nakedness, shameful in their… Read more
Is it safe to take Tylenol?
Acetaminophen, whether it’s in Tylenol, Arthritis Pain Relief, Nyquil, or Vicodin, is safe as long as you don’t take too much. The new maximum dose likely to be recommended by the FDA is 2600 to 3250 milligrams a day. That’s ten 325-milligram Tylenols. Tara Parker-Pope has a question and answer post on the subject in… Read more
Swine flu parties for kids? Just say no
Source: From Smiler, with Love Some parents in the UK are discussing the idea of swine flu parties for their children. British parents have long held “chicken pox parties” at the beginning of summer. The idea is that it’s better for children to catch this once-in-a-lifetime disease at an age when there should be few… Read more
Getting health care right: Paris and Amsterdam
Source: Forbes Jonathan Cohn, senior editor at The New Republic, has an article in today’s NY Times on what we can learn from the health systems of other countries. Republican opponents of health care reform are fond of saying: “I don’t want America to begin rationing care to their citizens in the way these other… Read more
Don't trust the insurance industry
Source: The Negotiation Academy Paul Krugman’s advice to Congress when it comes to health care reform: 1) Don’t trust the insurance industry. 2) Don’t trust the insurance industry. In a NY Times editorial, Krugman recalls how conservative Bill Kristol, in 1993, urged Republicans to oppose any significant health care reform. He did, however, advocate simplifying… Read more
When a doctor's child is ill
Source: TV Guide Towards the end of season one of In Treatment, the HBO series about a therapist’s sessions with his patients, a young woman asks psychotherapist Paul Weston if he ever analyzes his own daughter. “It’s just not a good idea,” he replies. “It’s not possible to treat one’s own children.” “Why?” Sophie, the… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #15
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (A public option plan emerges from HELP committee; Arguments for the public option from the Urban Institute; Obama stands Harry & Louise on their heads) Health news (Should Steve Jobs use his celebrity status for pancreatic cancer awareness and funding?) Industrialized agriculture (Labeling organic food: What can you believe?;… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #14
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Kennedy-Dodd committee proposal released) Health news (Is Tylenol (acetaminophen) safe to take every day?) Aging (Doctors lack training in care of the elderly) Pop culture (Michael Jackson and Diprivan (propofol), Jackson’s weight, Jackson’s doctor) Health care reform The Senate health committee proposal on health care has been released. Turns… Read more
The video of Neda Soltan’s death
Even though I’ve been writing about Arash Hejazi (here and here), the doctor seen in the video of Neda Agha-Soltan’s death in Iran, I have to admit I still haven’t seen the video. I realized early on that I didn’t want to watch someone die a tragic and violent death. I didn’t want to see… Read more
The video of Neda Soltan’s death
“I think there can be a pornographic side to it when you are vicariously experiencing another person’s suffering and cruelty,” Davis says. Certainly, there is something prurient in the TV stations airing the video repeatedly, daring us to look away. …
[H]istory is made up of more than decontextualized images. … If we want to make sense of our past, and understand our present, we have to do more than just watch. Read more
The stages of life
Photo by Laurent Champoussin Click photo for larger view. I’m currently watching a series of lectures by Malcolm W. Watson on Theories of Human Development. Watson talks mostly about theories of childhood, such as Freud’s outdated theory of the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. The discussion of Eric Erikson, however, follows stages of… Read more
Health insurance industry to consumers: You’re financially responsible for your behavior
Source: Courier Times Online Scott Harrington is a professor at Wharton and “adjunct scholar” at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Two weeks ago he wrote a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that gave the standard Republican argument against a public option: It will inevitably lead to a single-payer system. “Private health plans have a strong… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #13
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Use of language to oppose health care reform; Goozner on media and the uninformed electorate; Doctor blames patients; Doctor importunes Obama and Congress; Doctors salaries doubled in Iran; Another Atul Gawande interview; Political scandals and evangelicals) Health care reform There’s an interesting article in the Washington Post on the… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #12
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Bipartisan support looks unlikely; Public option) Health news Medical research grants) Health care reform As members of Congress headed home for a week-long Fourth of July recess, the consensus on health care reform legislation is that it will not be bi-partisan, as Obama and Democrats had hoped. Republicans are… Read more
Stoned wallabies make crop circles
Legally grown opium is used by pharmaceutical companies to make morphine and other pain killers. Fifty percent of that opium is supplied by Australia. According to a BBC News report, a problem has developed with “wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles. … Then they crash.” Other… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #11
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Insurance industry practices; Maggie Mahar on insurance; Analysis of the public option’s status) Health news Mid-life migraines update) The Medical profession More on Dr. Arash Hejazi) Foodborne illness Health care reform Ezra Klein has a column in the Washington Post on Wendell Potter’s testimony before Rockefeller’s Commerce Committee (see… Read more
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson. August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009 Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #10
In today’s Dose: The Medical profession (Doctor’s firsthand account of the death of Neda Soltan) Obesity politics (Mediterranean diet, Weight-loss surgery and cancer) The medical profession There is an amazing firsthand account of the shooting and death of Neda Soltan, the young Iranian woman who became a focal point for protesters after the video of… Read more