Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

The New York Times: The Moral Crisis Of America’s Doctors 
Some years ago, a psychiatrist named Wendy Dean read an article about a physician who died by suicide. Such deaths were distressingly common, she discovered. The suicide rate among doctors appeared to be even higher than the rate among active military members, a notion that startled Dean, who was then working as an administrator at a U.S. Army medical research center in Maryland. Dean started asking the physicians she knew how they felt about their jobs, and many of them confided that they were struggling. (Press, 6/15)

The New York Times: Scalpel, Forceps, Bone Drill: Modern Medicine In Ancient Rome 
Doctors are generally held in high regard today, but Romans of the first century were skeptical, even scornful, of medical practitioners, many of whom ministered to ailments they did not understand. Poets especially ridiculed surgeons for being greedy, for taking sexual advantage of patients and, above all, for incompetence. (Lidz, 6/13)

The New York Times: How A Toilet Plunger Improved CPR 
In 1988, a 65-year-old man’s heart stopped at home. His wife and son didn’t know CPR, so in desperation they grabbed a toilet plunger to get his heart going until an ambulance showed up. (Silberner, 6/15)

The Washington Post: She Survived A White House Lightning Strike. Could She Survive What Came Next?
It had been 174 days since lightning struck a tree across from the White House, where Amber Escudero-Kontostathis and three others were sheltering from the Aug. 4 storm. She was the only one who lived. ... Surging up through her foot, it fried her nervous system, stopped her heart and burned gaping holes in her body. For days, she couldn’t move. She had to relearn how to walk. (Wan, 6/12)

The New York Times: These Wheelchairs Are Helping Disabled Travelers Enjoy The Beach 
Beach wheelchairs are becoming more common at America’s shorelines, thanks to laws, government initiatives and growing demand by disabled travelers. The wheelchairs available at many public beaches either for rent or at no charge have PVC or steel frames and balloon-like tires. A three-wheeled version with a reclined frame lets disabled beachgoers float in the surf. (Angel, 6/7)

The Hill: America’s War On Cancer Rages On — From Nixon’s Salvo To Biden’s Moonshot 
More than 50 years since the United States declared a war on cancer, the disease remains the second leading cause of death among Americans. According to federal data, cancer killed nearly 608,000 Americans in 2022, behind only heart disease. Yet researchers, oncologists and advocates say the scientific and political landscapes today are dramatically different than in 1971, when then-President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law. (Weixel, 6/12)

The New York Times: His Home Sits Alongside America’s First Superfund Site. No One Told Him
Mitchell Montgomery said he knew there was something curious about his new home when he moved in last year, surrounded as it was by empty streets and overgrown lots — and priced below the going rate for many rental houses in Niagara Falls. When he brushed his teeth, for instance, he sometimes noticed a peculiar smell coming through the drain. It seemed like his 8-year-old son’s asthma was getting worse, and his pregnant girlfriend was having occasional nosebleeds and headaches. (McKinley, 6/12)

The Wall Street Journal: The Simple Way To Fight Aging, According To Experts 
Longevity researchers have spent decades hunting for a magic pill to slow the aging process. But the best solution—at least for now—may be the simplest one: Move more. (Janin, 6/12)

The Washington Post: How Younger Generations Are Redefining The Stages Of Grief
The grieving process is undergoing its own transformation, becoming a more public and shared experience. The shift is fueled in part by the pandemic, which forced a global reckoning with grief, and a generation of digital natives, who are at ease using social media to share virtually all aspects of their lives, including grief. (Zimmerman, 6/14)

The Washington Post: How Does Trauma Spill From One Generation To The Next?
The idea that trauma can be transmitted across generations — originating with long-dead relatives and passed down to future great-grandchildren — can be a difficult concept to grasp. But with regular news of mass shootings, covid deaths, police killings and climate disasters, a growing number of therapists and their patients, particularly among the millennial and Gen Z cohorts, are turning their attention to the far-reaching impact of trauma, past and present. (Zimmerman, 6/12)