Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Lessons On Using Physicians As Guards Protecting The Border; Not So Fast When it Comes To Deregulating Slaughterhouses
New England Journal of Medicine: Physicians As Border Guards — The Troubling Exam For Immigrants
Rules proposed by the Trump administration depend on physicians performing “exams” to spot immigrants who are sick enough to become reliant on the government for living costs. The impact would be devastating for immigrants who are denied visas. (Khameer Kidia, 4/11)
The New York Times: You Say Industry Can Regulate Itself? Prove It
The system of slaughterhouse regulation is out of date. The industry has succeeded over time in sharply reducing the kinds of problems visible from the slaughterhouse floor — the government says its health inspectors increasingly are policing aesthetic issues — but the incidence of some illnesses caused by pork consumption has stopped falling. (4/11)
New England Journal of Medicine: Preying On Prescribers (And Their Patients) — Pharmaceutical Marketing, Iatrogenic Epidemics, And The Sackler Legacy
Though the Sackler family did not invent the practice of selling drugs to physicians, they were pioneers whose story illustrates the ways marketers developed, naturalized, and monetized the interface between the pharmaceutical industry and prescribing physicians. (Scott H. Podolsky, David Herzberg and Jeremy A. Greene, 4/10)
The Wall Street Journal: New Hopes For Dementia Care
A colleague called the other day, asking for help finding care for her brother, who was recently diagnosed with dementia. That’s a common enough request, but this colleague is a doctor, and she had already taken her brother to an elite academic medical center that did lots of tests and offered to enroll him in research studies. That wasn’t the help her brother was looking for, however, or at least not all of it. He wanted to know how long he could keep working, how he should organize his finances, and how long he could live at home as his illness progressed. His physician couldn’t answer those questions and didn’t really know who could.As the baby boomer generation ages, many more Americans are going to be asking the same questions. More than five million Americans already suffer from dementia, a broad category that includes Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments that cause irreversible, progressive and ultimately fatal cognitive decline. Dementia affects not just memory but also executive function, learning, language and basic movements like walking and swallowing. (Tia Powell, 4/11)
The Hill: Potential Discrimination In NYC's Measles Public Health Emergency Order
On April 9, 2019, New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot — backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio — declared a public health emergency requiring measles vaccinations for all residents living in four specific zip codes in Brooklyn. ...We do have concerns with the ethics and constitutionality of NYC’s decision to apply its mandate solely within four zip codes. Targeting specific populations opens the city to the claim of unfair discrimination. At first glance, it might make sense to target only specific geographic areas at the epicenter of measles cases. Over-reaching in relation to public health mandates in some instances can be legally problematic. (Lawrence O. Gostin and James G. Hodge Jr., 4/11)
The CT Mirror: Legalize Marijuana, But Limit THC Content
On March 25, the general law committee passed house bill HB 7371, moving Connecticut one step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana. Although the bill is comprehensive, there is something strikingly absent: limits on the amount of THC in commercial products, including marijuana edibles. (Paige Marut, 4/12)
