Lawsuit May Upend Local-First Mentality When It Comes To Organ Donations
There are vast geological disparities when it comes to availability of organs for donation, but a recent lawsuit may change that. In other public health news: sugar, nursing homes, hospitals gowns, "raw water," dental health and meat allergies.
Los Angeles Times:
In A Turf Battle For Organs, A Policy Review Rattles The National Transplant System
Tethered to a breathing machine at a Manhattan hospital, 21-year-old Miriam Holman would die without a lung transplant. But her odds of finding a suitable organ were especially low in New York, where waiting times are among the longest in the country. Just across the Hudson River in New Jersey, patients in far better condition routinely receive lungs much more quickly. Pockets of the South and Midwest also have dramatically shorter waiting times. The disparities stem from a principle that has always guided the national transplant system: local first. Most organs stay in the areas where they are donated, even if sicker patients are waiting elsewhere. (Zarembo, 1/3)
Los Angeles Times:
A Popular Sugar Additive May Have Fueled The Spread Of Not One But Two Superbugs
Two bacterial strains that have plagued hospitals around the country may have been at least partly fueled by a sugar additive in our food products, scientists say. Trehalose, a sugar that is added to a wide range of food products, could have allowed certain strains of Clostridium difficile to become far more virulent than they were before, a new study finds. The results, described in the journal Nature, highlight the unintended consequences of introducing otherwise harmless additives to the food supply. (Khan, 1/3)
Stat:
He Wants To Upend The Nursing Home Industry — And Reinvent Senior Living
But here on the black-stone edge of a gloomy Cayuga Lake stood the pioneering geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas, a few feet away from his weapon of choice in this battle: a 330-square-foot, plywood-boned home he calls a Minka. ...The idea sounds, in one sense, simple: create and market small, senior-friendly houses like this one and sell them for around $75,000, clustered like mushrooms in tight groups or tucked onto a homeowner’s existing property so caregivers or children can occupy the larger house and help when needed. (Tedeschi, 1/4)
The New York Times:
The Hospital Gown Gets A Modest Makeover
As 2018 dawns and with it the new tax plan, the future of health care for many individuals remains uncertain. But there is at least one type of improvement in coverage Americans can look forward to: the end of the dreaded exposed rear end, that hospital cliché created by back-tying gowns that has been immortalized in movies including “Something’s Gotta Give” (courtesy of a medicated Jack Nicholson stumbling down the hallway) to “Yes Man” (Jim Carrey this time, spotted on the back of a motorcycle). The fashion world has woken up to a new dressing opportunity. (Safronova, 1/3)
The Washington Post:
‘Raw Water’ Is The Latest Health Craze. Here’s Why Drinking It May Be A Bad Idea.
Hold your canteen under a natural spring and you'll come away with crystal clear water, potentially brimming with beneficial bacteria as well as minerals from the earth. That's what proponents of the “raw water” movement are banking on — selling people on the idea of drinking water that contains the things they say nature intended without the chemicals, such as chlorine, often used in urban water treatment processes. In some areas of the country, including the West Coast, it has become a high-dollar commodity — water captured in glass bottles and sold straight to you. (Bever, 1/3)
PBS NewsHour:
This New Treatment Could Make Your Next Trip To The Dentist More Bearable
A new method of treating tooth decay using silver nitrate may make the pain, and expense, of traditional treatments obsolete. (Wise, 1/3)
Georgia Health News:
Sudden Meat Allergy May Come From Surprising Source
Researchers think the alpha-gal allergy is caused by a bite from the Lone Star tick. There’s no definitive proof of that, but there is strong circumstantial evidence. Dr. Scott Commins, an allergist and researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the thing that most alpha-gal allergy patients seem to have in common is a history of tick bites. (Knight, 1/3)
