Viewpoints: Lessons Learned From Kavanaugh’s Health Law Decisions; Future Of Abortion Rights Rests In The States

WBUR: Don't Expect Brett Kavanaugh To Protect The Affordable Care Act
In his health law decisions, [Brett] Kavanaugh found that Congress explicitly authorized the challenged portions of the ACA. It's likely he would uphold health law regulations, as long as there is explicit Congressional authorization to do so. (Carmel Shachar, 7/12)

The Washington Post: Where The Real Fight Over Abortion Will Take Place
In Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat running for a second term, has called for a special legislative session to codify abortion rights into state law. In Wisconsin, former state representative Kelda Roys, battling in a crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary, has declared that if federal protection of abortion rights is eliminated, she would pardon anyone charged with violating the state’s 169-year-old law criminalizing the procedure. ...With the coming shift in power on the Supreme Court, abortion-rights forces across the country are about to learn two things the other side figured out a long time ago: This is a battle that must be waged over the long haul. And it is one where the fight begins at home. (Karen Tumulty, 7/11)

Bloomberg: New Weapons Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
It’s frustrating enough when progress in medicine plods along slowly, but downright alarming when it starts to backslide. Bacterial infections were considered essentially conquered in the 20th century, and now resistant strains are projected to kill more people than cancer by 2050. While some people dispute the projected death rate, it’s agreed that bacteria are evolving resistance to antibiotics faster than the drug pipeline can produce new ones. (Faye Flam, 7/11)

The New York Times: For Gays, The Worst Is Yet To Come. Again.
I was recently honored for my birthday with an all-star reading of my play “The Destiny of Me.” It was obviously a very emotional experience for me. I’m supposed to be dead by now. Most of the guys who got infected with H.I.V. in the 1980s are long dead. The play is about a middle-aged man infected with H.I.V. undergoing an experimental treatment at the National Institutes of Health. In his hospital room he finds himself remembering his life since childhood. He realizes his entire life has been one long battle to be accepted as a homosexual. (Larry Kramer, 7/11)

WBUR: Ageism Ignores And Insults The Competence Of Adults
Familiar though I have long been with an array of ageisms that include unrelenting Congressional attempts to unravel the safety nets of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, I’ve been hearing personal stories that shock and upset me. They report everything from real violence to casual insults. (Margaret Morganroth Gllette, 7/12)

USA Today: Trump Administration Missed Deadline, Families Aren't Reunited
President Donald Trump's suggestion Tuesday that the solution to the humanitarian crisis of family separation is that families should stop seeking entry to the U.S. is nonsensical. The administration has manufactured this crisis itself by adopting inhumane, unlawful and fiscally unsound policies. Its failure to reunite children under 5 years of age — toddlers — with their parents by a federal judge’s deadline shows the incredible toll this policy is taking on families, as well as the costly logistical nightmare it has created. (7/11)

New England Journal of Medicine: The Suffering Of Children
Every pediatrician has his or her own tips for putting young patients at ease in the exam room. Mine include referring to even the tiniest Spanish-speaking patients as usted rather than tú, as a sign of respect, and sitting at or below their level to avoid looming over them. Most important, I examine children in a parent’s lap whenever possible. I will even vaccinate them in that position if the parent feels comfortable holding the child. For most children, there is no safer, more comforting place in the world than a parent’s embrace. That is why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Medical Association, along with hundreds of other national organizations, have decried the U.S. government’s recent policy of tearing undocumented immigrant children from the arms of the people who would carry them to safety. (Fiona Danaher, 7/12)

New England Journal of Medicine: Housing Immigrant Children — The Inhumanity Of Constant Illumination 
On the Wednesday before the summer solstice in the United States, President Donald Trump ended his administration’s policy of forced separation of immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.–Mexico border — a practice characterized by the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as a form of child abuse with long-lasting adverse effects on the developing brains of the 2300 children already subjected to this trauma. Nonetheless, there are still 1100 immigrants being held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at a warehouse on Ursula Ave. in McAllen, Texas. The Ursula facility, as it’s called, is reportedly the area’s first central processing center for immigrant children and families. Alarmingly, according to press accounts, its “overhead lighting stays on around the clock.” It is critical for their health and safety that children be allowed to sleep in the dark at night and be exposed to bright outdoor light during the day. (Charles A. Czeisler, 7/12)

New England Journal of Medicine: The Calorie-Labeling Saga — Federal Preemption And Delayed Implementation Of Public Health Law
Eight years after passage of the Affordable Care Act, its provisions for calorie labeling in food-establishment chains have finally been implemented. The long delay has exposed a broken regulatory system that is often unaccountable to the public. (Jason P. Block, 7/12)

Stat: Facing Deaths Of Despair From The Depths Of Despair In West Virginia
I left my home state of West Virginia 30 years ago to embark on a career in internal medicine. What drew me back in 2015 was the opioid crisis — and the even bigger health crisis it is part of. Opioid addiction takes a greater toll in West Virginia than in any other state. In 2016, the last year with complete statistics, a West Virginian was dying of a drug overdose every 10 hours. As a physician who helps manage the largest medical system in West Virginia, I’ve learned that as big as the opioid addiction crisis is in our state, it is not the root problem. Instead, it is a symptom of a much larger problem, one of hopelessness, isolation, and despair. (Clay Marsh, 7/12)

The New York Times: A Doctor’s Responsibility
As a physician, do I or don’t I? I‘m walking home from the subway with my 12-year-old daughter when we pass a man sitting on the sidewalk, head hanging down over his knees. Living in New York City, we see a lot of people, sadly, like this. Their numbers are increasing, as the surge of opiate addiction meets the surge in housing prices. Everyone has to make a personal decision about if, when or how one should do something, or just walk on. If you’re a parent, there’s the additional challenge of navigating these heartbreaking dilemmas with your child. For doctors, it’s a little different. The American Medical Association code of ethics says that doctors have “an ethical obligation to provide care in cases of medical emergency.” (Danielle Ofri, 7/10)

The New York Times: How To Have A Better Conversation About Mental Illness
SYDNEY, Australia — As public conversation about mental health has grown louder and busier in recent years, mental illness has become more than a category of disease with social and psychological dimensions. Especially in the case of depression and anxiety, mental illness has come to be seen as a proxy for what is wrong with the modern Western world. (Lisa Pryor, 7/11)

Stat: Everyone Deserves A Holistic, Patient-Centric Health Care System
As health care evolves to become more consumer-centric, it’s crucial that providers and care advocates evolve with it. For the first time, we’re seeing a noticeable shift in the way providers care for patients, from providing mostly episodic acute care to being focused more on their patients’ health outcomes and overall well-being. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, I believe that transforming care delivery involves understanding patients more holistically and tailoring care to effectively meet their needs. (Karen Lynch, 7/12)