Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Reuters: Breast Cancer Survivor To Run London Marathon Topless To Help Erase Mastectomy Stigma
Louise Butcher hopes that when she becomes the first woman to run the London Marathon topless on Sunday, having had a double mastectomy in 2022, the thousands of supporters lining the course see a powerful image of strength. "I thought, how can we normalise it, how can we reduce that stigma surrounding mastectomies and not having breasts?" Butcher said in an interview with Reuters. "And there's no better way really than to do it during a marathon." (Ewing, 4/18)
The Atlantic: Women In Menopause Are Getting Short Shrift
After a decade working as an obstetrician-gynecologist, Marci Bowers thought she understood menopause. ... “Our answer was always estrogen,” she told me. Then, in the mid-2000s, Bowers took over a gender-affirmation surgical practice in Colorado. In her new role, she began consultations by asking each patient what they wanted from their body—a question she’d never been trained to ask menopausal women. (Gross, 4/17)
AP: Vertex Pharma Scientist Talks About The Long Road To Developing Non-Addictive Painkillers
For decades, patients seeking medication for pain have had two choices: over-the-counter drugs like aspirin or powerful prescription opioids like oxycodone. Vertex Pharmaceuticals recently reported positive results for a non-opioid painkiller, one of several medications the Boston-based drugmaker has been developing for various forms of pain. The Associated Press spoke with Vertex’s chief scientist Dr. David Altshuler about the company’s research and development plans. (Perrone, 4/15)
Scientific American: Turning Down The Noise Around You Improves Health In Many Ways
Experts describe ways to turn down the volume, from earbuds to smartphone apps that detect harmful noise levels. (Silberner, 4/16)
NPR: Death Doula Alua Arthur Says Life Is Better If You 'Get Real' About The End
As a death doula, Alua Arthur helps people to plan for the end of life and, when the time comes, to let go. She says that while we're conditioned to fear death, thinking and talking about it is instrumental to creating meaningful lives. (Mosley, 4/17)
The New York Times: Can A Sexless Marriage Be A Happy One?
In recent years, relationship experts and couples themselves have been gradually dismantling commonly held views and working to destigmatize the unconventional approaches that some take to stay together. (Montei, 4/17)
The Washington Post: Bennett Braun, Psychiatrist Who Inflamed A ‘Satanic Panic,’ Dies At 83
Bennett Braun, a psychiatrist who inflamed the 1980s “satanic panic” with his controversial treatment of multiple personality disorder, including in patients who alleged that he misused drugs and hypnosis while spawning false memories of devil worship, human sacrifice and child sex abuse, died March 20. (Smith, 4/18)
