The Biden Administration this month will tackle one of the major, persistent challenges that perplexes and damages the health and well-being of most regular folks: what they eat, as well as their regular sources of food. The scheduled Sept. 28 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health will be only the second of its kind….
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Risks rising for little kids ingesting button- and lithium coin-batteries
As manufacturers press to shrink electronic devices, small children across the country are getting put at high risk of big harms by swallowing small button- and lithium coin-batteries, research shows. The round, shiny, and ubiquitous batteries have proven to be irresistible to the pint-sized and curious, who gulp them down after they find them scattered….
Continue ReadingMedicine struggles with hype, disinformation, and miscommunication
The quality of medical-scientific information is strained — and patients should know this, be warned, and watch for ways to protect themselves from bungled communication, bluster, hype, misinformation, and disinformation. Although regular folks may have unprecedented access via the internet to resources on medical services and developments, a trio of recent news articles underscore the….
Continue ReadingGen Z becomes stoner generation with record-high pot and hallucinogen use
Generation Z and young millennials have become the nation’s leading group of stoners, setting record highs for their use of marijuana, hallucinogenic drugs, nicotine, and booze. This has occurred even as federal regulators have gotten called out for failing to crack down, after chest-thumping promises to do so, on the noxious but popular practice among….
Continue ReadingAsk the doctors and they’ll fess up: MD misbehavior occurs too often
Patients may be reluctant to think ill of their doctors or to imagine that highly educated, rigorously trained professionals could mistreat or cause them harm. Doctors themselves know this picture is way too rosy for some of their colleagues. In a survey of 1,500 practicing MDs, all of whom voluntarily responded to an online questionnaire,….
Continue ReadingChief launches CDC shakeup, citing ponderous agency’s pandemic flubs
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the world’s premier public health agencies, will try to revamp itself after taking months of a political, scientific, and reputational battering for too often performing in shambolic fashion in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Rochelle Walensky (shown, right) appointed the agency’s chief in December 2020,….
Continue ReadingWhen admitting a loved one to a nursing home, be sure to read what you sign (because you could be sued later)
When seniors need full-time institutional care, or when the injured or debilitated require similar 24/7 attention, loved ones — and even friends — must take care to read and re-read any documents that nursing homes and other long-term care facilities shove before them to sign during the stressful admissions process. That’s because the owners and….
Continue ReadingHospitals’ ‘charity’: 2.3% of patient revenue vs. $60 billion in tax breaks
Play this one out in your mind: a guy you know at church — he’ll be the first to let you know he makes $200,000 a year — tells you about how he gave to charity a junker car worth not more than $4,600 (2% of his income). Now what’s your reaction if you learn….
Continue ReadingOpioid drug overdose crisis is ripping up communities of color
The opioid drug abuse and overdose crisis is not only smashing fatality records, it also is slamming poorer people and communities of color and taking a savage toll on younger black Americans. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has analyzed data from Washington, D.C., and 25 states, finding in its study published online,….
Continue ReadingHeart association adds a new safeguard to its list: a good night’s sleep
Get some sleep! That’s not just a late-night nudge for the kids from their parents. It is strong new advice patients will hear from their cardiologists and other doctors, as the American Heart Association has added sleep to its list of important ways for folks to avoid cardiovascular conditions, stay healthier, and live longer, the….
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