Source: NAPS Company Most people would prefer to wash their hands in comfortably warm water. And it’s usually available. The scientific question remains, however: Is warm or hot water more effective than cold if we want to prevent spreading the flu? The FDA’s position has been that water hot enough to kill bacteria would be… Read more
Category Archives: Health & Medicine
Universal health care: What would Socrates do?
Raphael, The School of Athens Source: Paula Muhlestein I loved this post from the Widener Law Health Law Institute blog. It’s both wise and entertaining. Here are a few excerpts, but I recommend reading the whole post. Read more
Keith Olbermann & the Fight against Death
The Nose on Your Face The thing about Keith Olbermann is, I tend to agree with his positions far more than I care for his over-the-top, full-of-himself histrionic shtick. So I approached his “Special Commentary” on health care — one hour of nothing but the largest talking head on TV — with both interest and… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? Rugged individualism
Source: Banning and Low Excellent op-ed piece on health care reform in the Sunday Times. It’s by Roger Cohen, who recently returned from a trip to Germany. Europeans readily acknowledge universal health coverage as a basic right in a civilized society. Americans have great difficulty with this concept. The current health care debate in the… Read more
Doctors and the health crisis of global warming
Let’s look at the facts. Global warming inevitably leads to a global health crisis. Health and disease are the province of the medical profession. Shouldn’t doctors be speaking out on the health crisis of global warming? Last month the two leading British medical journals – The Lancet and the British Medical Journal — published an… Read more
Climate crisis. Health crisis. Same difference.
Climate change is a more serious problem than we thought it was just a few years ago. A big rise in global temperature may not happen for another 40 years, but other changes are “imminent,” according to Science magazine. A permanent drought, with Dust Bowl-like conditions, could become the “new climatology” of the American Southwest… Read more
A reason for health care reform
Image: Jordan Maxwell We all know why Liberals want to make health care available for all Americans. Liberals have bleeding hearts and a proclivity for redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. They would agree with Peter Montague that “the growing gap between rich and poor has not been ordained by extraterrestrial beings. It… Read more
Will Ferrell, MoveOn.Org use humor to support health care reform
Can sarcastic humor make a convincing case for health care reform? Will Ferrell, the comedian, and MoveOn.org, the liberal political advocacy organization, are giving it a try. They’ve created a video that defends beleaguered insurance company executives. The video is available on YouTube and features well known celebrities. The cast, the humor, and Internet-only availability… Read more
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The health care shell game
Source: Tax Tea Party When it comes to health care reform, there are moral issues and financial issues. If there are indeed 46.3 million Americans without health insurance; if 45,000 people die every year from preventable causes because they have no health insurance; if the US ranks 21st out of the 21 wealthiest nations on… Read more
Acne, allergy, and toe nail fungus make you uninsurable
Source: The Long-Term Care Company One reason we need health care reform is the insurance industry practice of canceling or refusing insurance coverage. Since insurance companies are profit-making endeavors, it’s understandable that they don’t want to insure someone with a history of cancer, diabetes, or even arthritis. What about those people who truly believe they’ve… Read more
How Australia does preventive health care
Source: textually.org The Australian government is about to introduce a number of public health measures dealing with smoking, alcohol, and obesity. The measures are designed to reduce chronic diseases and make Australia the world’s healthiest nation by 2020. Australia’s National Preventative Health Taskforce has published a report that includes 174 recommendations for preventing disease. Among… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? Political structure
Source: Amazon A country’s health care system reflects its character, ethics, and cultural values. Politics, medicine, and economics may shape the particular design of a system, but when it comes to deciding who will be included, that’s a moral question. The United States is the only industrialized democracy that does not guarantee health care to… Read more
Carl Jung's Red Book, an illustrated chronicle of horror and madness
Source: Amazon Anyone who has an interest in Carl Jung will want to read this New York Times article on the upcoming publication of Jung’s The Red Book. For most of the last century, the very existence of this work has been only a rumor. Jung wrote this illustrated journal between the ages of 39… Read more
Global warming makes me sick
There’s an unfortunate parallel between the politics of climate change and the politics of US health care reform. They differ in scale — global vs. domestic. But consider this: Who suffers the most from the lack of universal health care in the US? The poor and unemployed. Who will suffer the most from climate change?… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? The historical background
Some segments of the American population receive excellent health care. Statistics on their life expectancy, mortality, and risk factors for disease compare favorably to citizens of other advanced countries. What throws off the numbers for the US — the reason our overall statistics are 23 points behind Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan on a… Read more
Couples who prefer to sleep alone: Your room or mine?
Source: Timeless Lesons In pursuit of a good night’s sleep, an increasing number of couples now choose to sleep alone. Couples who share a bed suffer 50% more sleep disturbances than those who sleep apart, according to recent research by a sleep specialist in Britain. In a separate study, a British sociologist found that when… Read more
Your insurance industry at work
Source: State of the Division Here’s something about health care reform that can unite the Left and the Right. They should find this equally offensive. The one Congressional committee that has yet to agree on its legislative reform plan is Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee. An 18-page summary (PDF) of what we can expect was… Read more
The health care debate: Seeing ourselves through the eyes of others
Source: The Guardian I wonder if the behavior of Europeans is restrained by a desire to maintain their self-image in the eyes of neighboring countries. Is there social pressure in France to avoid outrageous behavior because your nation would immediately be ridiculed by England and Germany? Does national pride operate as a constraint? That certainly… Read more
After health care reform, will Big Insurance be the enemy of Big Food?
Source: eHow Michael Pollan has a great editorial in today’s New York Times on Big Insurance and Big Food. Could health care reform motivate the insurance industry to lobby for healthier food? The argument goes like this. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care dollars are spent on preventable… Read more
Kennedy's posthumous letter, Obama on American character, a Congressman's apology
Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina Source: The New York Times Two years ago, when Democrats were preparing for the presidential primaries, a liberal political expert advised against discussing health care for the uninsured. Everyone loves to say they care about the issue, he said. No one – with the possible exception of Ted Kennedy… Read more
The doctor/patient relationship: What have we lost?
I collect stories of how the doctor/patient relationship has changed over the last half century. There’s a new generation of doctors and patients who’ve only known the 12-minute office visit. For them, an extended, personal conversation between a patient and her physician is as antiquated as Marcus Welby, MD. In the 12 to 15 minutes… Read more
Swine flu and hand washing: The how, the when, and the why
Source: PR Newswire There are a number of things about the H1N1 (swine) flu that are different from the seasonal flu we see each year. For example, adolescents are at a greater risk of dying than younger children. This is just the opposite of what we typically expect. In a normal flu season, at least… Read more
Swine flu, kids, and a "wash your hands" rap video
Source: Feelgood Health Here’s a well-written story by a mother (Brigid Schulte) whose son caught the flu at summer camp. She ended up nursing a houseful of sick patients, including herself. Everyone survived, but it was no picnic. The subtitle of the article is “During the Swine Flu Season, Think Before You Share a Drink… Read more
Flu season: Should we stop shaking hands?
Source: The New York Times Click photo for larger view. What with the start of school, the flu season may already be here. Washington State University has already reported over 2000 students with flu symptoms. Public health officials recommend staying three to five feet away from anyone who coughs or sneezes. Also from anyone who… Read more
Preparing for the flu: Why don't we do it in our sleeves?
Source: Coughsafe.com Goodness! I’ve been sneezing into my elbow and didn’t realize it was socially unacceptable. It makes so much sense. You should never sneeze into your hands unless you can wash them without first touching something. Handkerchiefs collect germs and tissues should be used only once. This first video is from the CDC and… Read more
Doctors in the trenches speak out – Part three
Here’s the third and last installment from the documentary Money-Driven Medicine. The topics this time focus on the financial issues of health care: Insurance premiums, competitive hospitals, the control of medicine by profit-driven corporations, the disconnect between money and health. The first and second installments are in previous posts. Is it possible for opponents and… Read more
Doctors in the trenches speak out – Part two
Here’s a second installment from the documentary Money-Driven Medicine. The producer, Alex Gibney, is an Oscar-winning filmmaker (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). See the previous post for the first installment. Bill Moyers: “Money-Driven Medicine is one of the strongest documentaries I have seen in years and could not be more timely. The more… Read more
Doctors in the trenches speak out – Part One
I grow weary of the politics of health care reform. Powerful interest groups buy the politicians. The need to get re-elected takes precedence over the national interest. Paul Krugman writes: “Actually turning this country around is going to take years of siege warfare against deeply entrenched interests, defending a deeply dysfunctional political system.” My sympathies… Read more
What's next for health care reform? Reconciliation
Source: Gearlog Optimists predict that media coverage of Senator Kennedy’s death will shame Republicans into changing their opposition to health care reform. Nicholas Lemann, writing in the New Yorker, says, “Kennedy’s death … will cost Obama a vote in the Senate, but this may be outweighed–is it too much to hope?–by the good feeling that… Read more
A reason not to marry: Medical bankruptcy
Source: Canadian Family Physician If you’re a middle-class family and you learn that your beloved spouse is going to require long-term care, do you know what hospital social workers recommend? Get divorced. Otherwise you’ll go bankrupt. And do it as soon as you can. It takes five years after a divorce before your assets are… Read more