Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Each week, KFF Health News finds longer stories for you to enjoy. Today's selections are on syphilis, medical sexism, euthanasia, the year's best public health books, and more.
The Washington Post:
Ancient DNA Sheds Light On Syphilis Origins
In 1495, a devastating infection began to sweep across Europe, causing pustules and sores to erupt on people’s bodies and faces. Accusatory finger-pointing about the scourge, syphilis, began almost immediately. The Italians called it “the French disease”; the French called it “the Neapolitan disease”; the Russians called it “the Polish disease.” (Johnson, 12/18)
Harvard Public Health:
How Sexism In Medical Science Harms Women’s Health
Medical science has a problem with sexism. Excluding female biology creates public health risks from incomplete data and biased methods. (Wheeler, 12/18)
NPR:
‘Cancer Ghosting’ Is A Painful Reality For Many During And After Cancer Treatment
Nothing prepared Chelsey Gomez to lose relationships with her best friend at work, and even the younger brother she'd doted on, after getting cancer at age 28. She shared her diagnosis with them, and —poof! — they disappeared. They stopped calling, stopped texting. They didn't check in. More than the excruciating bone marrow transplant to treat Hodgkin Lymphoma, or the chemotherapy that nearly killed her, Gomez says what hurt most was confronting the idea that – to these people she loved – she did not matter. (Noguchi, 12/18)
The Guardian:
How A Young Dutch Woman’s Life Began When She Was Allowed To Die
At the last minute, Zoë decided to call off her euthanasia. But how do you start over after you’ve said all of your goodbyes? (Bakker, 12/17)
The New York Times:
Tackling The Difficult Subject At The Heart Of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’
It comes down to this: “It’s a Wonderful Life” is achingly, yet redemptively, a movie in which a man almost dies by suicide. (Piepenburg, 12/17)
Stat:
One Woman's Story Of Sickle Cell, Pregnancy, Sterilization, And Regret
As a small child, Pat Wells just thought she had a bad back. That was what the doctor said when her mother took her to the hospital. A bad back. Her mother would rub it with alcohol to help her go to sleep. They didn’t know that she carried a genetic blueprint for a misshapen molecule; that her hemoglobin proteins, which carried oxygen through her body, were catching on each other, forming unwieldy chains, warping the red blood cells they rode in, blocking her circulation. (Boodman, 12/19)
Forbes:
Anti-Predictions For Healthcare In 2025: What Won’t Change, And A Case For Optimism
While they may give us a broad and varied view into expectations (or hopes and dreams), the vast majority of predictions about how healthcare will change in 2025 are likely to be wrong. Here are six things that experts view as unlikely to change in healthcare in 2025, followed by a dash of optimism. (Joseph, 12/17)
Harvard Public Health:
The Best Public Health Books Of 2024
From mental health to social connections, the best public health books of 2024 tackle some of the field's most pressing challenges. (12/13)
