Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
A Doctor's Quest To End Gun Violence: 'In Medicine We See A Problem And Say Let’s Act'
The Boston Globe: Doctors Tackle Daunting Task Of Ending Gun Violence Research Ban
Days after the Orlando gay nightclub shooting, a fed-up emergency room doctor from New Orleans flew to Washington, hoping the assault-rifle massacre that claimed 49 victims might spur movement on gun legislation. In particular, Dr. Jay Kaplan, like many of his colleagues, wanted Congress to lift a 20-year-old amendment that effectively bans most federally sponsored academic research into gun violence. It seemed like low-hanging fruit to Kaplan, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. (Jan, 7/5)
California Healthline: For This Man, Reducing Gun Violence Is A Life’s Mission
As the ancient Chinese proverb says, from crisis comes opportunity. That is certainly true for Garen Wintemute, a leading gun-violence researcher and emergency room doctor who finds “teaching moments” in the grief-filled days and weeks following mass shootings in America. He is currently seizing a window of opportunity recently opened by the recent mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. Wintemute, once named a “hero of medicine” by Time magazine, has led the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis Medical Center for 25 years. (Craft, 7/1)
The Washington Post: Schools Around The Country Find Lead In Water, With No Easy Answers
The ongoing crisis in Flint, Mich., has shined a spotlight on the public-health hazards that lead continues to pose in U.S. drinking water. In particular, it has led to renewed pressure to test for the problem in the nation’s schools, where millions of young children, the age group most vulnerable to lead poisoning, spend their days. ... Public health officials agree that no amount of lead exposure is safe. Even at low levels, lead can cause serious and irreversible damage to the developing brains and nervous systems of young children. The result can be lasting behavioral, cognitive and physical problems. In short, it can alter the trajectory of a child’s life. (Dennis, 7/4)
The Wall Street Journal: New Weight-Loss Tactics For The Moderately Obese
The Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a host of new weight-loss interventions that make millions more people eligible for obesity treatments. Among the devices are balloons that inflate inside the stomach and leave less room for food, electrical impulses that trick the brain into thinking the stomach is full and a tube that lets people drain out some of their stomach contents after meals. The new interventions don’t require major surgery and are reversible; several are aimed at the estimated 60 million Americans who are only moderately obese, with a body-mass index of 30 to 40. (Beck, 7/4)
Georgia Health News: Her Favorite Zombie: How Games Helped A Worker Get Healthy While Having Fun
The recent team-building exercise was what her company, health scientists and IT experts refer to as “gamification.” This gaming trend includes “sedentary disruption activities” — getting people out of their seats and onto their feet, even if only briefly. Some health games have gained acceptance as team-building exercises, too. (Kanne, 7/4)
Kaiser Health News/NPR: Episiotomies Still Common During Childbirth Despite Advice To Do Fewer
Episiotomy, a once-routine surgical incision made in a woman's vaginal opening during childbirth to speed the baby's passage, has been officially discouraged for at least a decade by the leading association of obstetrician-gynecologists in the United States. Nonetheless, despite evidence that the procedure is only rarely necessary, and in some cases leads to serious pain and injuries to the mother, it is still being performed at much higher than recommended rates by certain doctors and in certain hospitals. (Wiener, 7/4)
The Washington Post: I’ll Never Go Through Shoulder Surgery Again, So Here’s What I Did
When I tore my rotator cuff in 2008, I had conventional laparoscopic surgery to repair it. The outcome was excellent, but the recovery was long and horrible. The orthopedist wouldn’t let me drive for six weeks, or run, swim or lift weights for three months. I suffered through weeks of torturous physical therapy. It was nearly six months before I felt normal again. So in 2014, after a nurse improperly administered a vaccination that resulted in chronic pain and an MRI revealed another rotator-cuff tear, I vowed I would not go through shoulder surgery (or its aftermath) again. (Cimons, 7/4)
