Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: How Much AI Is Too Much For Med Students?; Change In Counting Method For Measles Deaths Creates Confusion
The New York Times: A.I. Has Made Me A Better Doctor. It’s Made Med Students Worse.
I’m confident in my mastery over what doctors do — and less confident about my continued mastery of an ever-evolving universe of facts. (Rachael Bedard, 9/25)
Stat: How The U.S. Government Is Changing The Way It Counts ‘Measles Deaths’
By mid-September, the Pennsylvania Department of Health had reported four confirmed measles-associated deaths, surpassing the highest annual number of measles-associated deaths in the United States since 1992. Pennsylvania public health professionals are sounding the alarm as the number of measles cases statewide exceeds 800, with cases clustering among communities with a history of vaccine hesitancy. (Denys T. Lau and Jennifer D. Schoendorf, 9/25)
Bloomberg: Dismissing Data Is The Wrong Way To Handle Measles
Pennsylvania officials have confirmed four measles-related deaths. Two, according to reports, are children. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been embroiled in a public battle of semantics over how to characterize the circumstances. To the rest of the nation, the debate obscures a more obvious problem. Measles — a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable and sometimes fatal disease — is on the rise. (9/25)
Stat: Died From Measles Vs. Died With Measles: Where The Truth Is Found
During the pandemic, we all heard some variation of “they died with Covid, not from it.” The phrase is back, this time attached to measles. On Aug. 25, Pennsylvania reported two measles-associated deaths in Lancaster. That day, a county commissioner relayed the coroner’s office’s position that one person had died “WITH measles, but not FROM measles.” (Jess Steier and Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, 9/25)
Chicago Tribune: Gov. JB Pritzker's Honesty About GLP-1s Is Good Medicine For Illinois
Obesity has been seen as something patients could overcome through lifestyle changes rather than recognized for what it is, a chronic disease. (Disha Narang, 9/25)
