Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Make Sure Purdue Pharma Can't Walk Away From The Opioid Epidemic; Affordable Care For All Has Never Been More Important
Los Angeles Times: How To Hold Purdue Pharma Accountable For Opioid Epidemic
The country’s other major public health crisis — the prescription opioid epidemic — has killed far more Americans than have died so far from COVID-19. Yet a major injustice to the opioid victims and their families is playing out mostly in the shadows in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. That is where Purdue Pharma, the privately owned drug company responsible for the blockbuster OxyContin narcotic painkiller, filed for bankruptcy protection last September. U.S. business history is littered with huge companies seeking the safety afforded only through bankruptcy courts: a halt to all pending civil litigation. That is no small matter for Purdue since over 2,600 lawsuits charge it was instrumental in creating America’s opioid crisis through deceptive promotion and marketing. (5/17)
CNN: US Primary Health Care Can Be Cheaper And More Equal. Here's How
Americans across the country have joined forces in fighting a common enemy: the Covid-19 pandemic. But one question starkly divides us during this crisis: Who is most at risk of dying from the virus? The answer does not reflect well on the US. (Amy Compton-Phillips, 5/17)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: The Need For Universal Health Care Has Never Been More Obvious
The pandemic has wrought pain and death on our neighbors, friends and coworkers and has hurt the economic well-being of Americans. In addition, it has demonstrated the frailty and inadequacy of our current patchwork health care system. As the number of persons laid off increases weekly, the number of uninsured Americans rises. We watch as others lose their health insurance or feel the pain of our own loss at a time when we see that the coronavirus does not select its victims by any fault of their own. (Pamella Gronemeyer, 5/14)
Stat: Hospitals Should Have To Report Radioisotope Infiltrations
Medical imaging has experienced tremendous growth since the discovery of X-rays: the x-ray-based CT scanner, advances in positron emission tomographic (PET) imaging, the development of single photon tomographic imaging (SPECT), and the use of magnetic resonance for imaging (MRI). These procedures, some of which require the use of radioactive isotopes, have led to improved diagnoses and treatment for a wide range of disorders. One thing that hasn’t kept pace is a reporting requirement for errors that occur when using radioisotopes — radioactive substances used to diagnose and treat disease. (David Townsend, 5/18)
Stat: J&J Should Make Bedaquiline Affordable For People With TB
As nurses who worked in 5B, the first U.S. hospital ward dedicated HIV/AIDS, which opened in San Francisco General Hospital in 1983, we have been directly affected in profound ways by the disease and its opportunistic infections... Back then, there were very few people who survived AIDS or its opportunistic infections because effective drugs had not yet been discovered. One difference now is that there is a cure for TB — but only for those who can afford it. (Sasha Cuttler, Mary Magee and Guy Vandenberg, 5/18)
