Viewpoints: Two Practical Steps Could Have Prevented This Measles Outbreak; Singleton’s Death Needs To Make More Blacks Adopt Healthy Lifestyles

Boston Globe: US Can Contain Measles Outbreak With These Two Simple Steps 
The current measles outbreak — the largest in almost three decades — has resulted in more than 60 suspected cases this year in Massachusetts, and 764 across the United States. Measles’ revival is nothing less than a public-health tragedy: In 2000, the United States had declared the potentially fatal disease eliminated. Now that it’s back, states have been left scrambling to adjust to this unexpected new reality.There are two practical steps the Legislature should consider, especially if the outbreak continues to worsen. The first is to sharply limit or eliminate the religious exemptions that have allowed some parents to skirt mandatory vaccination rules for school-age children. The second is to allow teenagers to get vaccinations without parental consent, just as teens can already consent to a handful of other medical services on their own. (5/8)

The Washington Post: John Singleton’s Death Is Another Warning Sign For Black Men. It’s Time We Listen.
Five months into a plant-based whole-foods diet, I continue to experience the benefits. Weight, cholesterol, blood pressure — all down. Energy up. I’m glad I made the change. Diet-related diseases are crippling and killing black men at disproportionately high rates. Just last week, African American filmmaker John Singleton died after suffering a stroke. He also had high blood pressure. Few life-threatening conditions are more easily treated than high blood pressure. Eat plants instead of animal flesh, exercise and meditate — you’ll see improvements within days. (Courtland Milloy, 5/7)

Axios: The Silent Affordability Crisis Facing Sick People
People with major medical illnesses are having serious problems paying for the health care they need — a crisis that is flying under the radar while attention is focused on hot policy issues like the Affordable Care Act and Medicare for All. The big picture: A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Times shows that a strikingly large share of people with serious medical conditions are struggling to pay their medical bills, often wreaking havoc with their family budgets and causing them to cut back on care. (Drew Altman, 5/8)

The Hill: Trump's Comments On Late-Term Abortions Are Wildly Misleading And False 
“The baby is born. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby, they wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.” Thus, President Trump grossly mischaracterized the painful complexity surrounding medical decision-making for infants with life-limiting conditions. And with these words, the president revealed his deep misunderstanding of the medical care of not just infants, but of all patients who are approaching the end of their lives. (Elisha Waldman and Christine Bishop, 5/7)

The Washington Post: How The U.S. Health-Care System Puts People With Diabetes In Danger
The blood sugar rises, and nausea and vomiting follow. The blood acidifies, the breath hastens, dehydration and then delirium ensue: That’s how ketoacidosis, a feared complication of diabetes, progresses. Diabetic ketoacidosis, which results in nearly 190,000 hospitalizations a year, is a condition I treat frequently as an ICU physician: We infuse intravenous insulin, saline and electrolytes, while carefully tracking sugar levels and blood chemistries and vital signs. If all goes well, the sugar normalizes, acid levels fall, the breath begins to slow, the appetite returns. Not always, however: Every year, hundreds of people die of the condition. (Adam Gaffney, 5/8)

JAMA: Filling In The Evidence About Sunscreen
Understanding the effectiveness and safety of sunscreen ingredients will require a collaborative effort by industry, clinicians, and scientists. The power of collaboration is exemplified by the significant influence of the pharmaceutical industry, patient advocacy, regulatory modernization, and professional effort by dermatologists, surgeons, and oncologists in the recent development of highly effective therapies for patients diagnosed with melanoma. A similar collaborative effort is needed with regard to sunscreen, because preventing skin cancer is superior to treating it after diagnosis. The FDA monograph process should also be reformed into an efficient, systematic process that ensures routine safety testing, generation of high-quality evidence of benefit, and improved labeling for OTC medications in a manner that preserves FDA autonomy in judging the balance of benefit and risk for intended uses of drugs. Industry and the biomedical community should partner to develop sunscreens with minimal systemic absorption that are proven to prevent skin cancer and melanoma. (Robert M. Califf and Kanade Shinkai, 5/6)

Stat: Cancer Is Nudging Me To Picture Dying As 'The Most Peaceful Sleep'
“It was the most peaceful sleep.” That’s how my paternal grandmother referred to the time she was technically dead for several minutes before doctors shocked her back to life. She lived another decade after that, but never once to my knowledge expressed a fear of dying.As I trained to become a physician-scientist with a focus on neuropsychiatric disorders, I often thought of my grandmother’s description of temporary death. I learned that there were credible physiologic explanations for her to have experienced death as an immensely restful sleep.It’s an idea that resonates even more strongly with me since I was diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer. (Adam Philip Stern, 5/8)

The Washington Post: The End Of The Everything May Be What We’ve Been Needing
A new United Nations report projecting the extinction of one-eighth of all animal and plant species should rattle the cages of any remaining skeptics regarding climate change and the central role humans have played in Earth’s accelerating destruction. ...Robert Watson, a British chemist who served as chair of the panel, wrote in a statement that “the health of ecosystems on which we and all species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” (Kathleen Parker, 5/7)

Vox: The 3 Most Important Things I’ve Learned As A Health Care Reporter
You probably know that I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about the health care system — it is my job here at Vox, after all.But what you might not know is that, over the past year, I’ve have spent a lot of time as a patient of the American health care system — more than any year of my life. (Sarah Kliff, 5/6)

Sacramento Bee: Police Encounter Can Mean Death Sentence For The Disabled
The danger faced by people with disabilities in a police encounter is laid out in a 2016 study by the Ruderman Family Foundation, which found that one third to one half of those killed by police are people with disabilities. Individuals with physical, mental health, developmental or intellectual disabilities may not understand the shouted commands of law enforcement. (Astrid Zuniga and Doug Moore, 5/8)

The CT Mirror: Appreciating Nurses Starts With Protecting Them On The Job
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest union of registered nurses in the country and the largest in Connecticut. Collectively, we have the power to fight for the only thing we have ever asked for — the ability to safely and adequately care for our patients and their families. (John Brady, 5/8)