Viewpoints: Dangerous Roads; Cracking Down On Stem Cell Clinics, Half-Hearted Fight Against Hep A
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The New York Times:
America Is Now An Outlier On Driving Deaths
This week, millions of Americans will climb into their cars to visit family. Unfortunately, they will have to travel on the most dangerous roads in the industrialized world. It didn’t used to be this way. A generation ago, driving in the United States was relatively safe. ... Over the last few decades, however, other countries have embarked on evidence-based campaigns to reduce vehicle crashes. The United States has not. The fatality rate has still fallen here, thanks partly to safer vehicles, but it’s fallen far less than anywhere else. (David Leonhardt, 11/19)
Los Angeles Times:
The FDA Closes A Huge Loophole Used By Bogus Stem-Cell Clinics, But Delays Serious Enforcement For 3 Years
There was good news and bad news in the regulatory initiative the Food and Drug Administration rolled out on Thursday, aimed partially at clinics marketing unproven stem-cell therapies directly to consumers. The good news is that the FDA firmly closed a loophole exploited by many of these proliferating clinics. Those that say they’re using liposuctioned fat to produce stem cells that they reinject in a patient to treat a host of medical conditions, the FDA says, are selling a drug. That means they need to be specially licensed and subjected to inspection. Here’s the bad news: The agency is giving the clinics up to 36 months to comply with the regulations. That’s far too indulgent. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Want L.A's Hepatitis A Crisis To Get Even Worse? Follow Venice Beach's Lead
With Southern California confronting a deadly epidemic of hepatitis A, a highly contagious ailment that spreads through contact with the feces of an infected person, urban centers ought to be doing everything possible to improve sanitation. That’s especially true in enclaves frequented by the homeless. ... Venice Beach, another hub of homelessness, has a key infrastructural advantage: Because the beach and the boardwalk are among the most visited tourist destinations in the state, there are public restrooms built to accommodate crowds on summer days. That means plenty of restrooms for the homeless .... But rather than exploit those bathrooms to help protect residents and visitors from biohazards, the powers that be close the beachside bathrooms every night at midnight, and keep them locked until 5 a.m. (Conor Friedersdorf, 11/20)
Bloomberg:
Take That Scary Hypertension News With A Grain Of Salt
Since worry can increase your blood pressure, it’s counterproductive to fret about the alarming headlines declaring that hypertension now affects half of all Americans, including about 80 percent of those over 65. The numbers don’t reflect a sudden decline in the public’s health; instead, health authorities have expanded the definition of hypertension so it now includes some 30 million more people. And yet despite this dramatic shift, surprisingly little has changed in the scientific understanding of hypertension, or in what your doctor is likely to recommend. (Faye Flam, 11/17)
The Washington Post:
Teenage Depression And Suicide Are Way Up — And So Is Smartphone Use
Around 2012, something started going wrong in the lives of teens. In just the five years between 2010 and 2015, the number of U.S. teens who felt useless and joyless — classic symptoms of depression — surged 33 percent in large national surveys. Teen suicide attempts increased 23 percent. Even more troubling, the number of 13-to-18-year-olds who committed suicide jumped 31 percent. (Jean Twenge, 11/19)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin Kids Are Hurt By State's Mental Health System
To make residential treatment systems work, we need to treat the system like a complex of group homes, not a large reformatory. We are warehousing human beings, not treating them. (Eli Gottifried, 11/17)
Modern Healthcare:
We Need To Have Those Conversations About End Of Life
Death is inevitable. Clinicians know when it is imminent. Pushing against impending death not only creates undue burdens on the system and the dying patient, but is often contrary to the way most people want to die. Yet many healthcare providers continue to engage in a costly and futile battle. (Anna-Gene O'Neal, 11/15)
