Viewpoints: Is Your Turkey Safe To Eat? Don’t Count On The USDA For The Answer; Another Tragic Lesson From Hospital Doctors On Gun Violence

Los Angeles Times: The Public Has The Right To Know About Tainted Turkeys And Sick Chickens
If the USDA doesn’t want to implicate a single turkey supplier, then perhaps it ought to consider the broader approach taken by other agencies faced with serious food-borne illness outbreaks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for example, reacted quickly to an outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce in April and within two weeks warned consumers to avoid all romaine lettuce from the entire Yuma growing region. And on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified a second, unrelated outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce and warned consumers to avoid any form of the lettuce from any source and from any location until authorities figure out where the bacteria originated, thus implicating all lettuce suppliers. Why the disclosure disparity at federal agencies? Hard to say, though the USDA has long been criticized by consumer advocates for being too cozy with the agricultural industry it is tasked with regulating. (11/21)

Chicago Tribune: Mercy Hospital Shooting And The NRA's Cynical Cry Of 'Stay In Your Lane'
Before the deadly shooting at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center is forgotten, before it fades into the list of routine, senseless outbursts of gun violence in America, remember this: Less than two weeks ago, the National Rifle Association told doctors who support tougher regulations on gun sales and a ban on semi-automatic firearms to “stay in their lane.” Emergency room doctor Tamara O’Neal was shot dead by her ex-fiance Monday outside Mercy Hospital. The shooter then went inside the hospital, where he shot and killed Chicago police Officer Samuel Jimenez and first-year pharmacy resident Dayna Less. Police said the shooter, who was found dead in the hospital, had a valid firearm owner’s identification card and a concealed carry license and, over the last five years, legally bought at least four guns. Northwestern Memorial Hospital surgeon Emil Fernando summed things up in a tweet: “Lemme guess, @NRA, still not “our lane” even when it happens in our own hospitals? I don’t think so.” (Rex Huppke, 11/20)

Chicago Tribune: Bullets Know No Boundaries And Gun Violence Doesn’t Stay In A Lane
As a society, we need more than just damage control. We need prevention, education and regulation of firearms. When tragedy struck Mercy Hospital, Dr. Tamara O’Neal was about to start her shift to save lives when her own life was taken. We mourn her loss as much as we fear the closeness of gun violence in our own world. There are no safe havens anymore. Gun violence is Las Vegas’ lane, Orlando’s lane, Thousand Oaks’ lane, Columbine’s, Pittsburgh’s, Sandy Hook’s, Santa Fe’s, Parkland’s, San Bernardino’s, Virginia Tech’s and now Mercy Hospital’s lane. To effect change, we need to recognize that we all share this horrific lane. Rather than bickering about who owns the problem, and who has the obligation to solve it, we need to recognize that we all must share that burden. We need to reach across the aisle and resolve to find a workable solution to keep the lanes safe for our children, neighbors, co-workers, and ourselves. The death toll caused by gun violence is quickly climbing. This is an emergency. (Amy Faith Ho, 11/20)

Stat: A Week Of Football Injuries Shows The Damage The Sport Can Inflict 
One year ago, we debuted the Football Injury Highlight Reel in STAT to bring attention to the enormous amount, and variety, of damage the game of football does to players. It emphasized non-concussion injuries, both because concussion garners so much press on its own and because other injuries, while severe, disabling, and costly, draw relatively little attention in debates about the future of football. This year’s equally grim edition focuses on non-concussion injuries that football players from youth leagues, high school, and the pros sustained between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12. While serious injuries and deaths are also occurring at the college level, this highlight reel calls attention to the risks to child athletes, with NFL players included as a point of comparison. And, like last year, this is just a snapshot of the slew of major injuries associated with the game. (Kathleen Bachynski, Lisa Kearns and Arthur Caplan, 11/21)

The Hill: We Should Just Start Phasing Out All Of The Cigarettes
The FDA recently announced its intention to ban menthol flavoring in cigarettes. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb should be commended for this initiative and those of us working in public health will do all we can to support him in what is sure to be a major fight with Big Tobacco. Banning menthol will go a long way to reduce smoking in the U.S., especially among African-Americans. We should use this moment to reflect more broadly on the role of cigarettes in our society. No one wants his or her child to smoke — ever. And for good reason. Long-term cigarette consumers lose, on average, a decade of their lives and can suffer from debilitating diseases along the way. The vast majority of smokers want to quit, have tried to quit and wish they had never started. They continue to smoke because cigarettes have been highly engineered to be as addictive as possible. (Laurent Huber and Chris Bostic, 11/20)

Los Angeles Times: American Women Should Have Access To Abortion Pills Before They Need Them 
Growing up, one of the first things I learned about sex was to always be prepared. As a young man coming of age in the 1980s, that meant having a condom in my pocket. There are many more options for preventing pregnancy and infections today: new hormonal birth control methods, external and internal condoms, dental dams, emergency contraception and even medication that reduces one’s risk of contracting HIV, called PrEP. As threats to legal abortion mount and access to abortion care becomes more limited in parts of the country, there’s another option we should be adding to the list: abortion pills in advance of pregnancy. (Daniel Grossman, 11/21)

Miami Herald: Be Careful, Democrats, ‘Medicare For All’ Will Cost Americans More Than Just Money
Now that Democrats are poised to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January, taxpayers can expect a major push to achieve the “progressive” goal of total government control over American healthcare. Their leading legislative proposals for government-controlled health system — H.R. 676 and S. 1804 — are broadly similar.Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, leader of the “Medicare for All Caucus” in the House, is rewriting the House bill to bring it more into line with the Senate bill, authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. The thematic message of Medicare for All is fetching, assuming one doesn’t read the fine print. When Americans start paying close attention, they’re not likely to find the substance of these bills very attractive. (Robert E. Moffit, 11/20)

The Detroit News: Mental Health Care Deserves Funding Fix
Beaumont Health recently announced it will begin construction on a new 150-bed, free-standing psychiatric hospital in early 2019. This is a need in Michigan, where the mentally ill have been woefully underserved since the closure of most state mental hospitals in the 1990s. In addition to increasing capacity, hospital systems should consider other alternatives to care for those struggling with mental illness. In 1993, community hospitals in Michigan had a collective capacity of 3,041 adult beds and 729 child/adolescent beds. Today, that number has decreased to 2,197 adult beds and 276 youth beds. The number of mentally ill people has not decreased, but the support has significantly. (11/20)