Some fictional scenarios to contemplate: What would happen to a military leader who was briefed and admitted to knowing of severe threats but downplayed them, resulting over a few months to the United States seeing its Indo-Pacific and European Commands wiped out — combined losses of roughly 180,000 in U.S. forces? How would the governor….
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In the quest for a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, researchers turn to novel approaches and ‘warp speed’
Dear Reader, Will it be a shot in the arm — or the foot? Americans have invested high hopes in a Covid-19 vaccine. Its development is racing ahead, with researchers deploying novel approaches and governments spending billions of dollars to try to get billions of human bodies to self-generate coronavirus-fighting defenses. But how safe and effective….
Continue ReadingTaming the cognitive biases that mess with our decision-making
Dear Reader, The plague of misinformation, disinformation, and uncertainty swirling through our pandemic world has one distinct upside for our human brains.: the chance to better understand and cope with the cognitive biases that influence our thinking. This is not just for the other guy. Every one of us is in the grip of ways….
Continue ReadingWill Covid-19 pandemic throw rigorous science into pandemonium?
Dear Reader, The United States built a rigorous system over decades to protect patients from harm while receiving new types of medical treatment. New drugs and new vaccines, in particular, have been barred from widespread use until they have first been proven to work and be safe. Many therapies have flunked the test, and in the process experimental….
Continue ReadingNews gets worse on Covid-19’s grim toll in facilities caring for the elderly
The news about the institutional care of vulnerable seniors during the Covid-19 pandemic just keeps getting worse in too many unacceptable ways. Just consider: The coronavirus has hit more than 2,100 nursing homes, killing more than 2,300 people, the Wall Street Journal and NBC News both have reported, based on the news organizations’ separate outreach….
Continue ReadingWhat are viruses, anyway, and why should we care?
Dear Reader, They teem in a sub-microscopic world that has flourished almost since the dawn of time. They’re barely a life form of their own — stripped-down flecks of genetic material encased in protein. These particles are so minuscule that 100 million of them might fit on the head of pin — and that tiny mess itself….
Continue ReadingFor 70+ women and their MDs, more reasons to rethink routine mammograms
As Americans live longer, clinicians may need to reconsider whether they need to subject older patients to routine screenings that may trigger even more costly, invasive, painful, and unnecessary medical testing and procedures. For women 70 and older, for example, yet more new evidence raises doubts about mammograms designed to detect breast cancers. As the….
Continue ReadingTrump storms into medical-ethics minefield by flogging drugs’ untested use
President Trump has stormed past accepted professional practices and triggered alarms about ethical decision making by caregivers, as he persists in his noisy advocacy for treating seriously ill patients with Covid-19 infections with an unproven pair of prescription drugs. Promoting this drug regimen — on social media and in White House news conferences — has….
Continue ReadingPatients get rule-making boost to access and use important medical records
The Trump Administration, to its credit, has put out finalized new rules that aim to give patients greater access to and use of their all-important medical records, now mostly captured and contained in electronic form. Federal officials had to battle a handful of wealthy, powerful corporations that own and install proprietary software and computing systems….
Continue ReadingUniversity of Michigan doctor accused of decades of sexual misconduct
The University of Michigan is investigating allegations that Robert E. Anderson, former head of the university health service and physician to UM football teams coached by Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr, sexually assaulted youthful patients across decades. Anderson worked for the university for more than 30 years and died in 2008. As the New York Times….
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