Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
AP: Committee Reviewing Euthanasia In Canada Finds Some Deaths Driven By Homelessness Fears, Isolation
An expert committee reviewing euthanasia deaths in Canada’s most populous province has identified several cases where patients asked to be killed in part for social reasons such as isolation and fears of homelessness. (Cheng, 10/17)
AP: Canadian Doctors Who Provide Euthanasia Struggle With The Ethics Of Killing Vulnerable Patients
A homeless man refusing long-term care, a woman with severe obesity, an injured worker given meager government assistance, and grieving new widows. All of them requested to be killed under Canada’s euthanasia system, and each sparked private debate among doctors and nurses struggling with the ethics of one of the world’s most permissive laws on the practice, according to an Associated Press investigation. (Cheng and Wang, 10/16)
Also —
The New York Times: These Tiny Worms Account For At Least 4 Nobel Prizes
When scientists win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, they typically thank family and colleagues, maybe their universities or whoever funded their research. This year, as the molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun accepted the most prestigious award of his career, he spent a few minutes lauding his experimental subject: a tiny worm named Caenorhabditis elegans, which he called “badass.” ... The one-millimeter nematode has helped scientists understand how healthy cells are instructed to kill themselves and how the process goes awry in AIDS, strokes and degenerative diseases. (That work was the subject of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.) (Rosenbluth, 10/17)
The New York Times: How Neanderthals And Other Early Humans Evolved To Eat Starch
As soon as you put starch in your mouth — whether in the form of a dumpling, a forkful of mashed potatoes or a saltine — you start breaking it down with an enzyme in your saliva. That enzyme, known as amylase, was critically important for the evolution of our species as we adapted to a changing food supply. Two new studies revealed that our ancestors began carrying more amylase genes in two major waves: the first one several hundred thousand years ago, possibly in response to the invention of fire, and the second after the agricultural revolution 12,000 years ago. (Zimmer, 10/17)
Stat: How Tragedy Led A Former Rocker To Take On Health Care
After his wife’s death the day after delivering their baby, D.A. Wallach began confronting what he sees as a lack of health care standards. Wallach, once the lead singer for the indie rock group Chester French, is now a partner at Time BioVentures, a Southern California venture capital firm focused on health care and life sciences. Together with Tim Wright, a pharma insider who spent decades working in drug development, the pair has invested in over a dozen startups ranging from medical devices to online mental health providers. (Facher, 10/18)
Stat: Robert Califf On Heart Disease, Obesity Drugs, And What Worries Him
Robert Califf, a cardiologist and commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been deeply involved in cardiovascular research: investigating health outcomes, health care quality, and clinical research in large, complex studies. In a recent conversation with STAT, though, he invoked his role as a grandfather, challenged in a grocery store checkout line to resist the ultra-processed foods marketed to American children and adults. (Cooney, 10/16)
