Viewpoints: Transgender Troops Deserve The Right To Serve Their Country; Pick Up The Pace: Find A Universal Flu Vaccine

The New York Times: A Growing Problem For The Military Transgender Ban — Facts
Since President Trump announced in March that the Pentagon would prohibit many transgender people from serving in the military, thousands of Americans have been in limbo, not knowing whether their careers were over or whether they would be barred from even joining the armed forces. Federal courts have put a temporary hold on this directive, which bans “transgender persons who require or have undergone gender transition” unless the Pentagon grants them an exception. In the meantime, a growing body of research and expert opinion supports the only fair and just solution: Repudiating Mr. Trump’s cruel decision and giving transgender people the same right to serve their country in a military uniform as any other citizens. (4/29)

USA Today: Flu Season Deaths Can Be Prevented If We Embrace Fresh Thinking
The worst U.S. flu season in nearly a decade appears to be winding down, but the truth is, it’s always flu season. Even now, as Americans begin to put away the thermometers, hand sanitizers and cough drops, researchers are preparing for the next flu season. As early as February, they began trying to predict which influenza strains will dominate so they can create the right cocktail for next season’s vaccine. (Bruce Gellin, 4/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: We Need To Remind Ourselves That Vaccines Save Lives
Here in the United States, there were almost 18,000 cases of whooping cough reported in 2016, a disease easily prevented with a vaccine. To make sure everyone benefits from vaccines, there are challenges to overcome. (Sue Desmond-Hellman, 4/27)

Bloomberg: When Science Gets Demoted: The Case Of Vitamins
Proponents of science-based medicine are fond of saying that there’s a name for alternative treatments that pass scientific tests:  medicine. But what they don’t mention are those parts of long-established medicine that get demoted to “alternative” status — or should be. (Faye Flam, 4/27)

Stat: Delays In Adding New Newborn Screening Tests Harms Babies, Families
Individuals with genetic diseases often face an excruciatingly long diagnostic odyssey. Between the time they first experience symptoms and the time they get a definitive diagnosis, some see the disease progress, others suffer irreversible damage, and many may experience significantly decreased quality of life. By identifying some of these diseases very early in life, newborn screening programs save and improve the lives of thousands of infants in the U.S. every year. (Robert Moy, Seamus Levine-Wilkinson and Joseph Sterk, 4/30)

Sacramento Bee: NRA Gun Ban At Pence Speech Baffles Parkland Survivors
Guns won’t be allowed when Vice President Mike Pence speaks Friday at a National Rifle Association convention in Dallas in order to protect his safety. The NRA says the Secret Service ordered the ban, but survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting are calling the move hypocritical, noting the organization’s fierce opposition to gun-free zones in most public places. (Don Sweeney, 4/29)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Science, Not Religion, Should Determine Public Policy On Abortion
Thanks to peer-reviewed scientific research, we now know that a little heart starts beating just 16 days after conception. The first brain waves are detected at 50 days. Every organ and fingerprint are present at 9 weeks. At 20 weeks, the unborn child has a fully developed nervous system that can feel the excruciating pain of abortionists' cutting tools.... Scientific consensus is clear. It is not up for religious or philosophical debate. Human life begins at conception.  (Joel Berry, 4/29)

The Washington Post: Patient Histories Should Tell Personal Stories Too
One of the fundamental skills we learn early in medicine is how to take a patient history. We are encouraged to tell a story. Yet these stories have a specific formula. They go something like this: “Mr. A is a 60-year-old man with high blood pressure and diabetes who presents with new left lower extremity weakness.” We describe when the weakness started, what makes it better and what makes it worse, and any other accompanying symptoms. Most often, we elicit a story of disease but not one of the patient who is experiencing an illness. The best stories are cut short. Mr. A’s story may not communicate that he has been homeless for months because he lost his job. Or that his daughter is getting married in a few months and that he is most concerned that he will not be able to walk her down the aisle. Both of these stories — about the illness and about the patient — are important in different ways. (Ersilia M. DeFilippis, 4/28)

The Washington Post: Doctors Should Let Dying Patients Make Their Own Decisions
”Sometimes less really is more. I’ve learned this can be true when deciding on the best course of health-care treatment. Sometimes “no” is the better option. After spending 11 hours in the ER going from scan to scan, my 79-year-old father asked me to help him get the facts about his prognosis. We knew he had glioblastoma — the same brain cancer Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been diagnosed with — and we knew generally how bad this cancer is. We also knew that his doctors were urging us to go after the cancer with everything they had. “Don’t you want to do everything to save your dad?” one doctor asked me. Yes, I loved my father. But he, my mother and I also knew that glioblastoma is invariably fatal. Doing everything was not the only choice. (Randi Redmond Oster, 4/27)

The Hill: Should Sugar Be Classified In The Same Category As Heroin?
Most people are aware of the types of drugs that are federally classified as substances with no medicinal benefit and high abuse potential: heroin, LSD and marijuana are examples of these drugs and they are indeed classified as illegal. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the two government agencies responsible for classifying drugs.The FDA recently received a Citizen Petition for Stricter Regulation of Added Sugar "to amend the Drug Schedules to include added sugar to either Schedule I or Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act." This idea is not new to many members of the medical community who believe that sugar is a poison. (Lynn Webster, 4/29)

Sacramento Bee: California Insurance Commissioner: Poizner, Lara With An Asterisk
Steve Poizner was California’s insurance commissioner from 2007 to 2011, and he was a very good one. In a critical statewide job that balances consumer protection against the solvency of insurers, he stood up to big health and auto insurance companies that tried to gouge policyholders while making sure the industry stayed in the state and made enough profit to pay its claims. (4/29)