Viewpoints: Steps Communities Can Take To Address Health Disparities; Police Officers Are First Responders In The Heroin Epidemic

Stat: Decisive Action By Communities Can Reduce Health Disparities
[Alpha] Whitaker, a single mom in Indianapolis who put herself through college, had to turn down a dream job because she didn’t have a safe way to get to work. Her bus route ended 10 blocks from the job, and she would have had to walk through a dangerous neighborhood — twice — every day. In choosing safety, Whitaker gave up a job with full health benefits, a 401(k) plan to help her save for her daughter’s education, and a salary that would have allowed her family to move to a safer neighborhood. These things — financial security, health insurance, education, and neighborhood — influence health. (Risa Lavizzo-Mourey and Victor Dzau, 2/28)

The Columbus Dispatch: Police Always Have Been Life-Savers
It's understandable that some Columbus Police officers are resistant about taking on treating heroin users who have overdosed, as the city expands its successful test of stocking cruisers with the antidote naloxone. Police officers aren't medics, and they have a big enough job on their hands responding to crime. But times change, and first responders' roles must adapt. (3/1)

San Jose Mercury News: Tell Patients About Their Doctors' Misdeeds
The California Medical Board has also placed Los Gatos internist Mary Hutchins on probation after she excessively prescribed narcotics and psychotropic drugs to multiple patients. If you are a patient of one of those doctors, wouldn’t you want to know their status? And what happened? You deserve to know. (2/28)

The Incidental Economist: The Health Care System Treats Patients Like Garbage
I started and stopped writing this post many times because it’s mostly whining. But, dammit, it’s a consumer’s right to whine, so here it is: in my experience (YMMV) — and that of many others I know — the health care system largely treats patients like garbage. I was reminded of this fact during my recent experience dealing with my daughter’s broken arm. It started well enough. Our pediatrician has late hours and an X-ray machine, so we were able to skip the Friday night (and more expensive) emergency department visit for our initial diagnosis, and therefore missed all the attendant waiting and frustration. (Austin Frakt, 2/28)

Sacramento Bee: Modernize California Laws Targeting People With HIV 
The overwhelming stigma her story illustrates is one of the greatest challenges I’ve encountered in my 20 years as a physician treating women and girls living with HIV. I see this every day in my clinic: Many of my patients do not feel safe revealing their status to anyone for fear of rejection or violence. To make matters worse, California still has a number of laws on the books that, instead of promoting public health, criminalize people living with HIV and add substantially to the stigma surrounding it. (Edward Machtinger, 2/28)

Arizona Republic: Lawmakers Want Doctors To Obey Your Dying Wishes
Here’s good news for those who believe that free people deserve choices at the end of their lives. It comes from the Arizona House of Representatives by way of an astonishing 60-0 vote in favor House Bill 2076, a bill that furthers an individual’s right to self-determination. Now the Senate needs to pass the measure and Gov. Doug Ducey needs to sign it into law. (Linda Valdez, 2/28)

Stat: The Environmentalist No. 1: A Scientific Defense Of The Environment, Health
The health of the environment determines human health. The crowding and squalor of medieval cities, for instance, spurred the Black Death, which claimed the lives of about 60 percent of people living in Europe. The Great London Smog in the 1950s killed thousands of people in just one five-day period. Closer to home and the present, lead poisoning of children has been the longest-standing health epidemic in the United States. Lead in gasoline and paint has damaged the brains of millions of children since the 1920s. Fortunately, bans on leaded gas and lead paint have dramatically reduced the harms, although we still have much to do — as the Flint water crisis reminds us. (Joseph G. Allen, Ari Bernstein and Tracey J. Woodruff, 2/28)

RealClear Health: The Critical Ingredient To The Success Of Vaccination Programs
Only a few weeks into a new administration and with it comes unwelcome medical news. The age-old debate about the safety and appropriateness of vaccination has been renewed and a vocal stage has been delivered to a small group of anti-vaccination zealots. Reports have circulated that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, a highly visible critic of vaccination, has been invited to chair a commission on vaccination safety by the new administration. If it comes to pass, one result can be accurately predicted: This panel will become a confused platform of ideological rhetoric which diminishes trust in those scientific bodies charged with making sound judgments for the public welfare. This inevitable outcome is particularly unfortunate since there has never been any advance in medical history that has had a more positive impact on our lives than vaccination. (Bill Miller, 3/1)