Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: The Mental Health Of School Shooters; Sandra Day O'Connor And Abortion; And New York's Measles Outbreak
New York Magazine: What Happens To The Mental Health Of School-Shooting Survivors?
A trauma expert weighs in on three apparent suicides in the aftermath of the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings. (Anna Silman, 3/26)
The New Yorker: How Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Helped Preserve Abortion Rights
The story of how the first female Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, dealt with abortion law reveals much about why this issue is so difficult, and why we may be headed back to the age of proverbial back alleys. (Evan Thomas, 3/27)
The Atlantic: Big Pharma’s Go-To Defense of Soaring Drug Prices Doesn’t Add Up
How is it that pharmaceutical companies can charge patients $100,000, $200,000, or even $500,000 a year for drugs—many of which are not even curative? (Ezekiel Emmanuel, 3/23)
WIRED: How Much Prenatal Genetic Information Do You Actually Want?
Now that dozens of tests are on the market, patients can scan their unborn children for less serious diseases too. But what will we, as a society, do with that information? (Megan Molteni, 3/27)
Vox: New York’s Orthodox Jewish Community Is Battling Measles Outbreaks. Vaccine Deniers Are To Blame.
Anti-vaccine advocates have swayed parents in New York to refuse immunizations for their kids, sparking two of the largest measles outbreaks in the state’s recent history, according to local health officials. (Julia Belluz, 3/27)
The Economist: A New Way To Sniff Out Parkinson’s Disease
Scientists have found a way to identify Parkinson’s disease with help from a “super-smeller,” a person with an exceptionally sensitive sense of smell. Also, Kate Brown of MIT tells us what she uncovered during decades of researching the Chernobyl disaster. And Chinese scientists may have worked out how to recharge pacemakers. Podcast. (3/27)
