Palliative Sedation May Serve As Loophole For Places Where Aid-In-Dying Remains Illegal
The practice involves giving patients enough sedatives to induce unconsciousness. Often, it's enough so that they never wake up. In other public health news: the flu, e-cigarettes, voices, gene therapy, raw centipedes, and more.
The Washington Post:
Assisted Suicide Is Controversial, But Palliative Sedation Is Legal And Offers Peace
Toward the end, the pain had practically driven Elizabeth Martin mad. By then, the cancer had spread everywhere, from her colon to her spine, her liver, her adrenal glands and one of her lungs. Eventually, it penetrated her brain. No medication made the pain bearable. A woman who had been generous and good-humored turned into someone hardly recognizable to her family: paranoid, snarling, violent. (Ollove, 7/30)
Stat:
At Sanofi, A Flu Expert Sees Potential For Improved Vaccines
Sanofi is one of the world’s leaders in influenza vaccine production, through its vaccine arm Sanofi Pasteur. And if anyone at Sanofi knows vaccines, it’s Dr. Gary Nabel, the company’s chief scientific officer, who happens to be a former head of the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center. When Nabel dropped by STAT for a visit, we thought we’d explore some flu vaccine-related issues. (Branswell, 7/31)
The Washington Post:
E-Cigarette Maker Juul Targeted Teens With False Claims Of Safety, Lawsuit Says
When a San Diego-based mother posted an emergency alert on Nextdoor, a community discussion app, she hoped a Good Samaritan could help, according to court filings. Her son was hysterical after losing a flash drive with his homework near the local McDonald’s, she wrote, uploading a photo along with the message. A neighbor quickly replied, explaining that the chewing-gum-sized object in the picture was not a flash drive: It was a Juul vaping device. (Paul, 7/30)
The Washington Post:
Helping Transgender Women Find Their Voice
It is vital to transgender women to find the feminine voice that matches their gender identity, gives them confidence and helps prevent harassment. ... The problem for transgender women is that finding a feminine voice is no easy task. As The Washington Post reported, testosterone, which transgender men take to build up their muscles and grow facial hair, also increases the size of their vocal folds, making their voices deeper. Estrogen, however, which most transgender women take, can’t shrink the vocal cords. (Nutt, 7/30)
Stat:
A Shortage Of Cell And Gene Therapy Experts Sets Off Battle For Talent
Gene and cell therapy companies collectively raised $2.3 billion in equity financing in the first 4 1/2 months of this year, putting them on pace to exceed their $4.5 billion haul last year, according to a database maintained by the news organization BioCentury. For cancer alone, there are 753 cell therapies being developed worldwide, according to the Cancer Research Institute, a nonprofit group. Half of them have reached human testing. That’s the point at which it becomes essential for a company to have an experienced professional who knows how to oversee a manufacturing operation of far greater complexity than the kind traditionally used by pharma to make synthetic compounds. (Robbins, 7/31)
The New York Times:
Maybe You Were Thinking About Eating Raw Centipedes. Don’t.
Scientists in China now have hard evidence that eating raw centipedes is a really bad idea. That might go without saying in most parts of the world. But centipedes are an established remedy in traditional medicine in China. (McNeil, 7/30)
Stat:
VCs Are Pouring Money Into Digital Health. Are They Making Smart Bets?
One of the hottest fields in health care investing is digital health. Companies in the space collectively raised $3.4 billion in venture capital in the first half of this year, spread across 193 deals, according to a count from the venture firm Rock Health. If that pace continues, the sector will set a new record this year — both in terms of number of deals and VC money invested overall. But is all that cash being invested wisely? To tease out that question, STAT sat down to chat with veteran health care VC Lisa Suennen, who works as the lead health care investor for General Electric’s corporate venture arm. (Robbins and Feuerstein, 7/30)
MPR News:
How The Medical Community Is Working To Prevent Suicides
In Minnesota alone, the rate increased 40.6 percent between 1999 and 2016, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So what are medical professionals doing to prevent suicides? (Wurzer, 7/30)
Politico:
World’s Doctor Gets Second Chance On Ebola
Nobody wants a deadly Ebola outbreak, but for the world health chief, the latest episode has been invaluable. The World Health Organization’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this month declared an end to an Ebola outbreak that started in May in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, four years after the agency’s high-profile failure to contain the spread of the virus throughout West Africa. (Jennings, 7/29)
Kaiser Health News:
For Many College Students, Hunger Can ‘Make It Hard To Focus In Class’
As students enter college this fall, many will hunger for more than knowledge. Up to half of college students report that they were either not getting enough to eat or were worried about it, according to published studies. “Food insecurity,” as it’s called, is most prevalent at community colleges, but it’s common at public and private four-year schools as well. Student activists and advocates in the education community have drawn attention to the problem in recent years, and the food pantries that have sprung up at hundreds of schools are perhaps the most visible sign. (Andrews, 7/31)
