Viewpoints: Soaring Veteran Suicide Rate Is A National Scandal; Shutdown Complicates Cancer Treatments
Editorial writers focus on these health care topics and others.
USA Today:
Veteran Suicide Rates Skyrocket While VA Mental Health Services Stagnate
I'm supposed to be a statistic. On July 14, 2012, drowning in grief and guilt, I tried to kill myself. Like so many veterans, I had found civilian life desperately difficult. War had drained me of joy. The sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield had been relentlessly looping in my head. The suffering seemed endless. And so, thinking there were no other options of escape, I turned to suicide. (Danny O'Neel, 1/16)
Sacramento Bee:
Shutdown Tale Of Woe: IRS Employee To Miss Cancer Treatment
Chris DeLeon feels a financial sting of unpaid furlough familiar to hundreds of thousands of his fellow government employees as the partial federal shutdown stretches into its fourth week. But the stakes are higher for the 53-year-old IRS employee. His health is at risk. And, perhaps, his survival. (Rory Appleto, 1/15)
Stat:
Climate Change Is Affecting Health Now. Our Leaders Must Take Action
Among the scientific and policy highlights of 2018 were landmark reports on climate change and human health. These brought more insight and urgency to the reality that climate change is happening now and harming our lives in a host of ways. How the U.S. and the rest of the world respond in 2019 will chart the course for our future. Both reports — one written by 13 federal agencies and released by the Trump administration, the other written by an international group of health experts and published in the prestigious journal the Lancet — specifically point to the fact that climate change is harming human health. (Richard Carmona and David Satcher, 1/16)
The Washington Post:
To Lower Maternal And Infant Mortality Rates, We Must Bring Back Midwives
The United States, currently the most expensive place in the world to give birth, has a higher infant mortality rate than any of the other wealthy countries, according to a recent CDC report, a statistic condemned by the Washington Post as a “national embarrassment.” Yet even with maternal mortality on the rise and access to affordable health care shrinking, the majority of Americans turn away from a potential solution: midwifery. (Wendy Kline, 1/16)
Stat:
Recruiting Top Life Sciences Executives Requires Solid Strategies
This year will likely prove to be a banner year for new and seasoned corporate life sciences executives looking to change jobs in the life sciences. With the industry continuing to benefit from the fast pace of technological advancements, the growing influx of venture capital, and an expanding global marketplace, 2019 will bring greater demand for the top leaders needed to catapult life sciences companies forward. Increasing competition for top life sciences executives across interconnected sectors means that accomplished candidates often attract multiple offers from firms operating in biotech, precision medicine, genomics, and medical diagnostics. (Leslie Loveless, 1/15)
The Hill:
Vaccines Cannot And Do Not Cause Autism — There's No Debate
I’m a pediatrician and physician-scientist with a lifelong passion to develop, produce and test new vaccines for poverty-related neglected diseases. My wife Ann and I are also the parents of an adult daughter with autism and associated intellectual disabilities. This past weekend the journalist, Sharyl Attkisson, wrote an op-ed piece in The Hill claiming that a “debate” about vaccines and autism has just reopened. (Peter Hotez, 1/15)
Seattle Times:
Congress Should Override New Birth-Control Restrictions
A court ruling on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to let more employers deny insurance coverage for birth control.Yet this temporary injunction offers only fleeting and uncertain protection. Rather than waiting for a final ruling in the case, Congress should step in now to guarantee that women can continue to access contraceptives, irrespective of their employers’ moral or religious stances. (1/15)
The Lund Report:
Can CCOs Lead Us To Universal Health Care?
Will coordinated care organizations serve as a transition to universal health care? Perhaps they will. For the past year the Oregon Health Authority, under the leadership of Patrick Allen, has been soliciting and distilling public input for the upcoming coordinated care organization contract re-negotiation process. Your participation is needed if these organizations are to be trusted to play a central role in publicly funded universal health care for Oregon. (Michael Huntington and Bruce Thomson, 1/15)
The Detroit News:
Reduce Costs Of Fighting Cancer
Though most cancer treatments are administered intravenously, patients can take medication orally as well, which often reduces the side effects of chemotherapy. That can help cancer patients keep living and working as they did before their diagnosis. But the oral medication is more costly than medicine administered through an IV. Michigan should do what it can to lower those costs and offer a greater range of treatment to cancer patients. (1/15)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
How A Healthcare Provider’s Addressing Opioid Epidemic
As a response to the ever-escalating opioid epidemic in the U.S., Piedmont Healthcare President and CEO Kevin Brown in June convened a task force to review how our health system should address this damaging public health crisis. The latest statistics show that there are 46,000 deaths annually involving opioids, including 929 in Georgia in 2016. From 1999 to 2010, opioid-related overdose deaths in Georgia increased by 500 percent. (Lily Henson and Frederick E. Willms, 1/15)
