Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: The Next Pandemic Could Be Caused By Fungus; Doctors Are Leaving A Broken Medical System
Bloomberg: 'Last Of Us' Keeping You Up? Killer Fungi Like Cordyceps Explained
As the world gets warmer, fungi could adapt in a way that would make our bodies more welcoming hosts. “The question that I’m asked all the time is ‘Could a fungal disease emerge to cause a pandemic?’,” says Arturo Casadevall, a microbiologist and immunologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studies how fungi cause disease. “The answer is: I don’t know. But there’s no reason that it can’t.” (Lisa Jarvis, 2/4)
The New York Times: Doctors Aren’t Burned Out From Overwork. We’re Demoralized By Our Health System
Doctors have long diagnosed many of our sickest patients with “demoralization syndrome,” a condition commonly associated with terminal illness that’s characterized by a sense of helplessness and loss of purpose. American physicians are now increasingly suffering from a similar condition, except our demoralization is not a reaction to a medical condition, but rather to the diseased systems for which we work. (Eric Reinhart, 2/5)
Stat: FDA: Base Blood Donation Policy On Science, Not Stigma
As a doctor, I have dedicated my life to saving the lives of others. But as a gay doctor, I have long been unable to do one simple thing that saves lives: donate blood. For more than 30 years, policies in the United States have banned gay and bisexual men from donating blood. That could change — ending decades of discrimination — if the Food and Drug Administration’s newly announced proposal for blood donation is made permanent. (Scott Jelinek, 2/5)
Modern Healthcare: Nurses Have Solutions To The Staffing Crisis, If Leaders Will Listen
The nursing shortage is having a devastating impact on the nation’s fragile healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted why nurses are critical to healthcare, but it’s also exposed a harsh reality—nurses are undervalued and undersupported. And the challenges they face are unprecedented. (Kate Judge, 2/6)
Stat: How Technology Can Improve Access To Mental Health Care
From telehealth and TikTok to artificial intelligence and virtual reality, the mental health care industry is embracing technology — but it’s making many clinicians uneasy. From concerns about the ethics of mental health influencers to the inaccuracy of mental health advice on TikTok and to complaints about teens misdiagnosing themselves, many experts are uncomfortable about the role technology is playing in mental health support. (Jessica Watrous, 2/6)
Columbus Dispatch: 'Doctors Have Our Ultimate Trust'. Ohio Must Stop Those Who Prey On Patients
There are few people we are more vulnerable with than our doctors. On our physician's instruction, we ingest medications, change habits, submit to invasive examinations and — when circumstances call for it — agree to be sedated and displayed nearly naked on surgical tables for operations. (2/6)
Dallas Morning News: What Would Life Be Like With Multiple Sclerosis And No Insurance Or Help?
My transformation from doctor to patient, while I was directing a clinic for underserved and uninsured fellow Texans, highlighted the gross inequalities in our health care system. I can’t know exactly how my life with MS would have played out, but without insurance, it would have been different: (Dr. Lisa Doggett, 2/6)
