Big Data may be a business buzzword that puts most consumers into a big sleep, but big alarms are sounding for Americans about Big Brother intrusions into their lives via the collection and analysis of vast amounts of highly personal information. Of course, Big Pharma and medical insurers are at the fore of invasive practices….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2018
With 100 deaths a day, when will the U.S. renew campaign for safer motoring?
How outraged and motivated to political action might you be if an avoidable disaster in a week claimed the lives of all the youngsters in your kids’ school? How upset might Americans be if a calamity wiped out in 24 hours seven NBA professional basketball teams, or two pro NFL squads? David Leonhardt, associate editor….
Continue ReadingWrestler scandal fuels rising concern on how schools, teams protect kids
Soon, many young people will be back to school and signing up for sports teams. Many will have to undergo physical exams before they can play. And it’s a tragic reality that grown-ups may need to think a lot how to protect young people from sexual predators who also are doctors. That’s because Ohio State University,….
Continue ReadingWatch this documentary before you let a surgeon use a robot to cut inside you
Robots are the shiny new toys of surgery in American hospitals. They promise ultra-precise, tiny cuts that give patients faster healing and better outcomes. Wherever you live, your local TV news outlets have likely run uncritical, gee-whiz stories about hospitals and surgeons bringing in these robots, featuring glowing patient testimonials. So what’s not to like?….
Continue ReadingMedicaid costs soaring? Blame Big Pharma’s big-dollar state-level campaigns
Uncle Sam long has allowed states to set the rules governing how Medicaid works, and a dozen or so of them have decided, with the purported goal of increased fiscal rectitude, to impose harsh rules to force poor, sick, disabled, and aged program participants to work more or to seek employment. But taxpayers might be….
Continue ReadingMore bad booze news: Liver disease deaths are rising, especially among young
Summer tipplers may want to steer away from that second glass of sangria, or rethink that next round of beers. That’s because there’s yet more bad news about Americans and booze abuse: Liver disease deaths are spiking, with fatalities tied to cirrhosis jumping by 65 percent between 1999 and 2016, while those connected with liver….
Continue ReadingBaltimore bounces sugary sodas off restaurant children’s menus, favoring milk, water, juices
Families dropping into Baltimore restaurants may be surprised by what is no longer on the children’s menu, thanks to an official mandate: sugary soft drinks. At the behest of public health officials, Baltimore has become the largest US city and an East Coast pioneer in enforcing a new restaurant ordinance that makes water, milk, and….
Continue ReadingWhen Big Pharma dives for dollars, crises erupt but dire needs go unanswered
Americans should be wary lest they get in between Big Pharma and a buck. That’s what investigators for a U.S. Senate subcommittee showed when scrutinizing how industry middlemen inundated the Show Me State with more than a billion doses of powerful prescription painkillers, making big profits but asking few questions how so many opioid drugs….
Continue ReadingIn health care, nursing homes not alone in confronting staffing problems
It’s unlikely to surprise anyone who has visited friends or loved ones at a nursing home that such facilities too often are woefully staffed. But why have federal regulators allowed themselves to be gulled about nursing home personnel levels, and how will not just these care-giving sites but also others, notably hospitals, deal with the….
Continue ReadingER intervention may be a key way to avert patients’ repeat suicide attempts
As the nation deals with record numbers of suicides, hospital emergency rooms, with a relatively simple intervention and diligent follow-up, may be able to reduce by half the high risk that patients they treat will try to take their own lives again. National Public Radio reported on a newly published Veterans Affairs study of more than 1,600….
Continue Reading