Viewpoints: Pros And Cons Of All Those Health Care Jobs; Organ Donation Process Is Making Progress, But Still Too Many Lives Are Lost
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Bloomberg:
Lots Of Health-Care Jobs Isn't Always A Good Sign For Economy
In midsize (and sometimes larger) cities around the U.S., health care is often viewed with pride as a key local industry. Having good hospitals in the neighborhood is a plus, of course, and highly paid medical personnel are also nice for local economies to have around. But very few of these hospitals and medical professionals are attracting patients from faraway cities. Instead, what has been happening is a regional centralization of health care, with rural areas and small towns losing out and health-care activity migrating to population centers. If health care is a really big part of your local economy, it’s often less something to brag about than a sign that there’s not enough else going on in your local economy. (Justin Fox, 6/23)
The Hill:
Organ Donation: We Need To Make It Stronger And More Efficient
OPOs were on Capitol Hill recently talking with lawmakers about ways to strengthen the organ donation system through policies focused on: promoting use of organs from more complex donors, improving clinical support, aligning hospital reporting procedures to ensure more meaningful and accurate data and providing OPOs access to donor hospital health records. It was clear from these discussions that we all share the same goal: working to ensure that more lives are saved through donation and transplantation. A strong and successful infrastructure is in place. We must continue to build on it and make the organ donation process even stronger, more efficient, and better able to meet demand. (Diane Brockmeier, 6/21)
Boston Globe:
Getting An Accurate Count On Medical Errors
Those numbers are among many reports and studies offering vastly different estimates of medical mistakes nationwide. Not all these studies count hard numbers of actual events as they occur. Some extrapolate totals from ancillary data. Others may vastly undercount incidents, with a reliance on providers to self-report. (6/24)
The New York Times:
Don’t Tell Me When I’m Going To Die
Starrett Kreissman, a trim 59-year-old, was hiking with her husband, David Dolan, when the coughing started. She brushed it off, but Mr. Dolan suggested she get checked out. An exam turned up more questions, so her doctor scheduled some scans. On Ms. Kreissman’s 60th birthday, she had an answer: Stage 3 lung cancer. Mr. Dolan recalls that visit to the oncologist as a “wall of words — a half-listened-to recitation of treatment techniques, additional tests, second opinions and alternative perspectives.” (BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
Weight Discrimination Is Rampant. Yet In Most Places It’s Still Legal.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City obsessively monitored the weight of its waitresses, according to 22 of them who sued it in 2008. They would be suspended, for example, if they gained 7 percent more weight than they had when they were hired. But a New Jersey judge threw out the suit, explaining that state law was silent about weight discrimination. The state Supreme Court affirmed the decision three years ago. (Rebecca Puhl, 6/21)
The New York Times:
You Are Doing Something Important When You Aren’t Doing Anything
This summer I’m aspiring to be the grasshopper, not the ant. Remember Aesop’s fable? The grasshopper fiddled away the summer months, while the ants toiled to ready their grain stores for winter. When autumn arrived, the ants refused to share food with the hungry grasshopper. The ostensible moral: There’s a time for work and a time for play. (Bonnie Tsui, 6/21)
The Washington Post:
Alzheimer's Photo Winner Picked By Bob And Diane Fund
This is Elia. Elia Luciani was born in 1923 in Carrufo, Italy, a small mountain village northeast of Rome. She lived a full life — she had her first child at 16, moved to Canada in the 1950s and worked for 30 years as head of a clothing factory’s sewing department. In her 90s, she was diagnosed with dementia. “This wonderful photo mom took encapsulates her life,” said her son, Tony. “Here she is, taking a self-portrait shot in a dresser mirror, partially hiding her aging face behind a small camera and surrounded by meaningful family photos.” (Laurent, 6/23)
Stat:
For Want Of A Form, A Baby's Life Could Be Lost
Doctors and nurses often decry paperwork, and for good reason: Some spend almost half their working hours inputting information into the electronic health record, and many say the constant barrage of paperwork causes frustration and burnout. So I wasn’t surprised when I asked the medical director of a Baltimore clinic when he manages to complete a particular form for his patients and he said, “After the workday,” eyeing the paperwork piling up on his desk. Though I did wonder how long after the workday he meant. The form I asked about is the Maryland Prenatal Risk Assessment (MPRA). It’s one of many that medical providers in the state are required to fill out for their pregnant patients whose care is covered primarily by Medicaid. But in the city of Baltimore, 20% to 30% of those patients never have an MPRA completed for them. (Erin Sherman, 6/24)
The New York Times:
The Long, Cruel History Of The Anti-Abortion Crusade
Amid the anti-abortion measures being pushed through state legislatures, consider the mazy history of abortion in the United States. Women, capable of determining and managing their reproductive rights, have been undermined by men in power before. Prior to the 1840s, abortion was widespread and not illegal in our country. (John Irving, 6/23)
The Washington Post:
My Terrifying Ordeal: After Getting Bit By A Feral Dog In India, I Needed Rabies Shots
By the time I realized the dog was about to bite me, it was too late. I’d seen the gaunt canine milling around, but feral dogs seemed to congregate on every corner in India, so one more roaming the grounds of Amritsar’s Partition Museum didn’t garner any special attention. At least not until it sunk its incisors into my knee, leaving two bloody puncture marks. It could have been worse, but in a country where rabies kills thousands of people each year, it could have been so much better. (Shannon VanRaes, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
San Francisco’s E-Cigarette Ban Isn’t Just Bad Policy, It’s Bad For Public Health
Anyone over 21, and with an ID to prove it, can purchase cigarettes, booze and even marijuana in retail establishments across San Francisco. But as soon as next month, one age-restricted product won’t be available for purchase, not even online. That’s because San Francisco officials, in a misguided attempt to curb teen vaping, are moving to ban sales of all electronic tobacco products to anyone within the city until the federal government adopts regulations on them. ... We hope the supervisors will see the light before then. Not only is it bad public policy to outlaw a legal product that’s widely available just outside the city’s borders, but it’s bad public health policy to come down harder on the lesser of two tobacco evils. (6/24)
