Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
On Paper, More Americans Can Opt To Choose Aid-In-Dying Than Ever. But Reality Looks A Lot Different.
The New York Times: Aid In Dying Soon Will Be Available To More Americans. Few Will Choose It.
On Aug. 1, New Jersey will become the eighth state to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. On Sept. 15, Maine will become the ninth. So by October, 22 percent of Americans will live in places where residents with six months or less to live can, in theory, exercise some control over the time and manner of their deaths. (The others: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, California, Colorado and Hawaii, as well as the District of Columbia.) But while the campaign for aid in dying continues to make gains, supporters are increasingly concerned about what happens after these laws are passed. (Span, 7/8)
NPR: Looking For A New Doctor? Here's How To Pick One
Finding a good primary care doctor can feel a little bit like dating. It's awkward. Your expectations are high. You know it's rough out there, but you're still secretly hoping to find the one. So where do you begin? Just like dating, finding a doctor you click with is all about trusting your intuition. "What you get in a snapshot isn't that far from the truth," says Dr. Kimberly Manning, a primary care doctor and associate professor at Emory University. "In terms of interactions, in how someone talks to you — I think those things can be really powerful markers to help you decide if this is a good fit." (Gordon, 7/8)
The Washington Post: One-Third Of Babies Exposed To Zika In-Utero Suffered Developmental Problems Into Toddler Years, Study Says
A new study of toddlers exposed to the Zika virus during their mothers’ pregnancies found that nearly a third suffered developmental delays and other problems — even if they were born without the abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains often associated with the virus. The study of more than 200 babies, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, also shows that a very small number of children born with the congenital condition known as microcephaly had their symptoms improve. Conversely, a very small number of the children born without symptoms of microcephaly went on to develop it. (Bever, 7/8)
The New York Times: To Reduce Hospital Noise, Researchers Create Alarms That Whistle And Sing
Hospitals today can be sonic hellscapes, which studies have shown regularly exceed levels set by the World Health Organization: droning IV pumps, ding-donging nurse call buttons, voices crackling on loudspeakers, ringing telephones, beeping elevators, buzzing ID scanners, clattering carts, coughing, screaming, vomiting. Then there are the alarms. A single patient might trigger hundreds each day, challenging caregivers to figure out which machine is beeping, and what is wrong with the patient, if anything. (Rueb, 7/9)
Stat: Sean Parker Is Nerding Out On Cancer Research. And He’s Doing It In Style
It’s been more than three years since the man who helped build Napster, Facebook, and the internet as we know it stormed into the world of science.When [Sean] Parker announced that he would spend $250 million of his fortune on efforts to harness the immune system to fight cancer, he seemed to be following a familiar playbook: Yet another billionaire was pouring money into yet another problem that had resisted previous attempts to tame it. Under the auspices of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, or PICI for short, he vowed to fund the research of leading scientists like [Jim] Allison and [Padmanee] Sharma — and encourage them to work together in new ways, always with an eye toward accelerating the development of new treatments. (Robbins, 7/9)
The Associated Press: Flying Blind: Apps Help Visually Impaired Navigate Airport
Navigating airports can be tricky. They’re loud, crowded and not always laid out intuitively. They’re even more challenging for visually impaired people. Chieko Asakawa knows those challenges firsthand, and she has also devised a remedy. Asakawa has been blind since she was 14 and is now an IBM Fellow and a professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. This spring, she and other researchers at Carnegie Mellon launched a navigation app for Pittsburgh International Airport that provides turn-by-turn audio instructions to users on how to get to their destination, be it a departure gate, restaurant or restroom. (De Groot, 7/8)
WBUR: Good News About Democracy: It's Good For Your Health
Democratic countries with free and fair elections generally had higher overall life expectancies among residents who were HIV-free than did autocracies. Democratic experience also eased the burden of chronic, noncommunicable diseases like heart disease or stroke, according to the study. (Lambert, 7/4)
Boston Globe: Burned Out? You’re Not Alone. And The World Is Finally Paying Attention
In May, the World Health Organization announced that it is developing guidelines on mental well-being in the workplace and unveiled an expanded definition of “burnout,” based on new research in its International Classification of Diseases. Burnout is a syndrome resulting from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” according to WHO’s description, characterized by feelings of exhaustion, reduced effectiveness, and negative or disconnected feelings toward one’s job. (Johnston, 7/8)
Los Angeles Times: Want To Build A Dragon? A New Book Explains How To Use Gene Editing To Get It Done
Scientists are using gene-editing technologies to make mosquitoes that can't spread malaria, combat diseases caused by a single errant letter in a string of DNA and create designer babies that are protected against HIV. They may be thinking too small. A father-daughter team is plotting the best way to create a dragon. They've even written a new book to explore how they'd do it. (Miller, 7/8)
The Associated Press: Teen Odds Of Using Marijuana Dip With Recreational Use Laws
New research suggests legalizing recreational marijuana for U.S. adults in some states may have slightly reduced teens' odds of using pot. One reason may be that it's harder and costlier for teens to buy marijuana from licensed dispensaries than from dealers, said lead author Mark Anderson, a health economist at Montana State University. (7/8)
Health News Florida: Yes, There Are More Mosquitoes, And That Comes With More Disease Risk
Florida travelers are catching serious mosquito-born diseases abroad, including dengue fever, chikungunya, malaria and Zika virus. Still, officials say the numbers are low and there’s no reason to panic. To be clear, there are no outbreak zones for any of these diseases in Florida where people are catching the disease from locals. But an increase in mosquitoes does increase the possibility that people could catch it from someone who travels. (Aboraya, 7/8)
Los Angeles Times: Want To Do Something About Global Warming? Talk About It With Your Family And Friends
There's the old saying that you should never discuss politics or religion in polite company. Nowadays, it seems climate change has joined that list. Barely more than a third of Americans broach the subject often or even occasionally, according to a recent survey by researchers at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. All this not talking about climate change has given Americans a rather skewed perception of what the rest of the country thinks about the issue. (Rosen, 7/8)
