Viewpoints: Shocking Health Lessons On Mistreating Immigrants In Detention Centers; Lining Up Teens To Help Suicidal Teens Is Better Than You’d Imagine
Editorial writers weigh in on these health care issues and others.
New England Journal of Medicine:
Sustained Animus Toward Latino Immigrants — Deadly Consequences For Children And Families
We all know about the administration’s horrific Zero Tolerance Policy, which has resulted in children being ripped out of their parents’ arms. We’ve also heard about the deplorable conditions in CBP detention centers, where children are not given adequate food, sit in soiled diapers for days or longer, sleep on concrete floors with lights left on 24/7, are exposed to infections in close quarters without adequate hygiene or medical care, and are physically and sexually abused. But myriad policies are inflicting further harm on migrant children. (Benard P. Dreyer, 9/26)
The New York Times:
It Takes A Teenager To Help A Teenager In Crisis
After losing his best friend to suicide, Taylor Harrison, then 18, was looking for ways to honor the memory of his friend, deal with his own grief, and help others going through a hard time. He decided to volunteer at Lines for Life, a nonprofit crisis-line organization in Portland, Oregon. Just a few months into his time there, Mr. Harrison took a call from a teenager who was thinking about walking in front of the next train. “It was really brave of you to reach out,” he told the caller. The teenager eventually decided the library was the safest place for him to go, and Mr. Harrison stayed on the phone with him while he took the bus there. (Catherine Cheney, 9/24)
Axios:
Employer-Based Health Insurance Is Unaffordable For Low-Wage Workers
Employer-based health insurance isn’t a monolith — the cost and generosity of that coverage varies widely. And that likely affects how open workers would be to “Medicare for All” or a public insurance option. (Drew Altman, 9/26)
The Washington Post:
How The Rise Of Urban Nonprofits Has Exacerbated Poverty
That sense sparked the rise of “eds and meds” as an urban renewal strategy. Education and medical institutions had to be rooted in place, and they thus served as important urban employers, a trend aided by mid-century federal spending, Cold War-era research projects, and Great Society programs that expanded student loans for higher education and insurance coverage via Medicare and Medicaid. Smaller nonprofits also benefited from federal spending, particularly via the War on Poverty programs, that funneled federal dollars to small, often neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations working in social services, housing, community safety, preschool education, youth development and more. (Claire Dunning, 9/24)
The New York Times:
A Beating Heart, Even After Death
Shows like HBO’s “Westworld” and the “Blade Runner” films depict a dystopian future where humankind and machine have merged, blurring the line between people and robots. As a cardiologist, I find myself face to face with both the promise and the peril of such a marriage — a reality for me and my patients rather than a distant hypothetical. Tens of thousands of Americans today have mechanical pumps keeping them alive, offering the first serious glimpse of what the union of human and machine will look like. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are sutured right into the hearts of patients with severe heart failure, mechanizing them to keep blood circulating throughout the body. While they don’t quite turn into cyborgs, most patients with LVADs don’t have a pulse, and if you put a stethoscope to their chest, instead of hearing the galloping of their heart, you would hear the hum of the pump. (Haider Warraich, 9/24)
Los Angeles Times:
California Is Targeting Vaping. Why Aren't Youth Alcohol And Cigarette Use Also In The Crosshairs?
This dramatic response to the problem of youth vaping stands in stark contrast to the way lawmakers and agencies have handled other similar — and as of now — more deadly health issues. One-third of high school seniors consume alcohol and half of them are drinking flavored alcoholic beverages. Alcohol is responsible for more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth each year; yet federal policymakers have not banned the sale of all flavored alcoholic beverages. (Michael Siegel, 9/25)
The Hill:
Suicide Prevention Remains A Top National Priority For The VA
September is National Suicide Prevention month. Accordingly, as it does nearly every year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report this month. The report contains startling statistics, such as the fact that, in 2017, 45,390 adults in the U.S. died by suicide, including 6,139 veterans. This means that the national suicide rate is 1.5 times higher for veterans than it is for non-veterans, after adjusting or population differences in age and sex. (Rory E. Riley-Topping, 9/25)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's EPA Is Playing Politics With California Instead Of Working To Clean Up The Air
The Trump administration’s latest attack on California is so transparently spiteful that it would almost be laughable if we weren’t talking about something as serious as clean, breathable air and a habitable planet.On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency chastised California for having “the worst air quality in the United States” and threatened to cut off federal transportation funding as punishment for submitting inadequate pollution-control plans. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler complained that about 130 such plans have been gathering dust at his agency, some of them for decades, waiting to be completed or improved. (9/26)
New England Journal of Medicine:
Losing Hahnemann — Real-Life Lessons In “Value-Based” Medicine
The announcement that Hahnemann Hospital would soon close came as a shock to many people. Is the hospital a casualty of the push to optimize the distribution of limited resources — or a cautionary tale about the greed and corruption underlying our health care ills? (Lisa Rosenbaum, 9/26)
Boston Globe:
Babies V. Massachusetts Courts?
Why it is so difficult for some judges in Massachusetts to believe that adults intentionally harm and kill infants? Admittedly, it is difficult to imagine an adult — seven times larger than a defenseless infant and with a developed and rational brain — grasping and violently shaking a crying child, and causing blunt force trauma to the head. The sheer monstrosity of the attack is unimaginable. (Deborah Eappen, 9/26)
