Viewpoints: Red And Blue States Battle Over Confusing New Abortion Laws; AI Fails To Spot Mental Health Crisis Risks
Editorial writers tackle these public health topics.
The Boston Globe:
The Abortion Fight Goes To The States
In 2023, Idaho passed a bill making it a crime for anyone in the state to transport, harbor, or recruit a minor seeking an abortion without parental consent, even if the minor terminates the pregnancy in a state where abortion is legal. (Mary Ziegler, 12/18)
Stat:
AI Chatbots Fail To Spot Risk Of Violence In Mental Health Crises
“How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” “Major depressive disorder.” Thomas Matthew Crooks, the individual who attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump earlier this summer, made these online searches just before he shot at the former president. He also searched for images of prior mass shooters, the location of the rally where he eventually shot Trump, and the location of a local gun store where he purchased bullets the day of the attempted assassination. (Declan Grabb and Max Lamparth, 12/19)
The Boston Globe:
How America's Broken Health System Fuels Dangerous Rage
After more than 40 years in medicine, in both clinical practice and in leading the Lown Institute, a nonprofit health care organization that focuses on equitable, accountable, and high-value care, I know how badly decayed and increasingly corrupt the nation’s health care system has become. (Vikas Saini, 12/19)
Newsweek:
When It Comes To Health Care, The U.S. Is Doing It Wrong
Almost every other economically developed democracy offers citizens baseline health insurance that guarantees most necessary medical procedures will be accessible and either free or highly affordable with a minimum of bureaucracy. There's little quibbling; people accept they'll need this one day and so don't mind the taxman. Sure, the issue is complex, medical treatment options can be subjective, not everything works well and finances can go awry. But developed countries have largely made it work, and the people are grateful. Except in the United States. (Dan Perry, 12/17)
Newsweek:
Government Needs To Do More To Ensure Obesity Drug Safety
The Biden administration has proposed expanding Medicare coverage for anti-obesity medications, and with Elon Musk touting the benefits of such drugs, demand is sure to spike. If coverage is structured properly, it could greatly help our country's chronic disease and obesity epidemics. But Donald Trump's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will also need to ensure the drugs are safely produced. (Joe Grogan, 12/17)
Stat:
Pulling Back On U.S. Global Health Security Work Puts Us All At Risk
Our phones buzz with the same question every time an unusual outbreak makes the news: “What’s happening?” As physicians and frequent responders to infectious threats around the world, people assume we have immediate answers. But in the chaotic early days of an outbreak, even seasoned experts are navigating through more questions than certainties. This was recently the case with reports of a “mystery illness” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). (Craig Spencer and Nahid Bhadelia, 12/19)
