Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

The New York Times: Meet The Cook Who Wants You To Love Hospital Food
It’s not easy working in a kitchen where your customers don’t exactly have high expectations for the food. That’s the daily challenge for Bill Freeman, a cook at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. At many hospitals, food is an afterthought, and what to eat is often the last thing on a patient’s mind. Mr. Freeman, an upbeat Pittsburgh native, has a different approach — he wants his meals to be part of people’s recovery. He makes each dish from scratch, whether it’s a three-egg omelet or French toast, accommodating numerous dietary restrictions and even adding thoughtful touches like flower garnishes. His creations land in the rooms of everyone from new parents to cancer patients, none of whom ever get to meet Mr. Freeman, the face behind their lovingly prepared club sandwich. (Krishna, 2/7)

ProPublica: What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing
Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs. Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation. (Fields, 2/12)

Stat: Are Seed Oils Bad For You? The Science Behind The MAHA Crusade
When guests at the Make America Healthy Again inaugural ball sat down for dinner last month at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., they were greeted with menus featuring butternut squash salad, a choice between a prime filet and lobster dish and a vegetarian chickpea option, and three words sure to appeal to many involved with the movement: “No seed oils.” (Todd, 2/12)

AP: This Is What Happens To The Body When HIV Drugs Are Stopped For Millions Of People 
Millions of people take drugs known as antiretrovirals that keep HIV from spreading in the body. Stopping those drugs lets the virus start multiplying in the body again, and it could become drug-resistant. HIV can rebound to detectable levels in people’s blood in just a few weeks, putting sexual partners at risk. Babies born to mothers with HIV can escape infection only if the woman was properly treated during pregnancy or the infant is treated immediately after birth. If the drugs are not taken, a body is heading toward AIDS, the final stage of infection. (2/13)

The War Horse: Veterans Suffering With PTSD, Aid Each Other With Psychedelic Treatment
Lena Ramsay lives with two aging chihuahuas—Diesel and Daisy—in rural Maine, down a long dirt road overlooking a glassy pond surrounded by layers of thick wilderness. It’s here, in her quiet 5-acre outpost, that she started feeling a lot better. A deployment in Afghanistan left her with a traumatic brain injury, a shattered ankle, and a broken vertebra. Like many veterans, she obliged when VA doctors prescribed pain and sleep medication to help numb constant physical pain. But the antidepressants and sedatives she was also taking for PTSD, anxiety, and depression barely touched the gnawing anguish that would occasionally leave her unable to sleep, in a ball beneath her kitchen table. (Marshall-Chalmers, 2/13)

The New York Times: California’s Scary Product Warning Labels Might Be Working, Study Says 
Products must state if they contain chemicals tied to cancer or other risks. As a result, manufacturers have pulled back from using the chemicals, researchers found. (Tabuchi, 2/12)

The Marshall Project: Why This Physician Testifies in Favor of the Firing Squad
Executioners have only turned to guns a handful of times in the last century. The last time was in Utah in 2010. But recently, in at least 10 states, death row prisoners said they would prefer the firing squad over other options. They’re doing this because 10 years ago the Supreme Court ruled they needed to suggest such alternatives in order to fight lethal injection. At the center of these legal debates sits Dr. James Williams. Born in Canada and based in Texas, he is now arguably America’s leading expert on the firing squad. He has appeared in courtrooms across the country to testify about the method’s effectiveness — always on the side of prisoners, never the state. His expertise is based on a career spent treating gunshot victims, teaching police how to shoot more effectively, and competing in shooting competitions. Before all that, he survived a gunshot himself. (Chammah, 2/4)