Viewpoints: Using Emergency Authority To Fight Opioids; Knowing If Alzheimer’s Is In Your Future…
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Emergency Legal Authority And The Opioid Crisis
Recently, six states have taken the unusual step of using their legal authority to declare their opioid-overdose situation an emergency. ... On October 26, 2017, President Donald Trump directed the acting secretary of health and human services to declare the opioid crisis a national public health emergency under the federal Public Health Services Act. ... As the federal government determines the specific actions that will follow its declaration, and more individual states consider issuing their own emergency declarations, policymakers, health care providers, and emergency managers can learn from aspects of the state emergency declarations that have already been issued. (Lainie Rutkow and Jon S. Vernick, 11/15)
The New York Times:
What If You Knew Alzheimer’s Was Coming For You?
Six years ago, at age 49, Julie Gregory paid an online service to sequence her genes, hoping to turn up clues about her poor circulation, blood-sugar swings and general ill health. Instead she learned she had a time bomb hidden in her DNA: two copies of a gene variant, ApoE4, that is strongly linked to Alzheimer’s. Most Americans with this genotype go on to develop late-onset dementia. (Pagan Kennedy, 11/17)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Data Sharing From Clinical Trials — A Research Funder’s Perspective
The Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation share a common vision for maximizing the value of data that are generated through the trials we fund. We are committed to ensuring that the data from published clinical trials can be accessed by researchers so they can validate key findings, stimulate further inquiry, and ultimately deliver lifesaving results. ... The recent announcement by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on data-sharing statements for clinical trials3 is a step in the right direction but falls short of realizing our vision. The ICMJE has not mandated data sharing as a requirement for publication, and we find the example statements it provides to be vague and open to interpretation. (Robert Kiley, Tony Peatfield, Jennifer Hansen and Fiona Reddington, 11/15)
Lexington Herald Leader:
$1 Cigarette Tax Increase Would Save Lives
Kentucky raised its tax on cigarettes by 27 cents in 2005 and by 30 cents in 2009 to reach the current 60 cents a pack, one of the nation’s lowest. Given the state’s desperate need for new revenue, the legislature is likely to consider upping the excise tax on tobacco products in 2018. Unless the per-pack increase is $1 or more, it would just be a tax on poor people, doing nothing to protect Kentuckians’ health. (11/16)
Los Angeles Times:
California Politicians In Washington Need To Defend The State's Pot Laws From Federal Attack
The Obama administration took a largely hands-off approach to cannabis after Colorado and Washington legalized it for recreational purposes in 2012. But while President Trump campaigned on respecting state laws, his pick of longtime legalization foe Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general instilled fear and uncertainty in the industry. Last year, Sessions said that "good people don't smoke marijuana." If the Department of Justice moves against California's cannabis industry, can members of the state's congressional delegation be counted on to stand up for their constituents? (Tom Angell, 11/17)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
The Quiet Room
At the end of an inconspicuous hallway and strategically placed far from the controlled chaos of the trauma room lies a dimly lit waiting area that we in the medical field call “the quiet room.” It is a bland spot; a few soft chairs surround a table that holds a box of crisp institutional tissues. There may be a picture or two on the wall, but generally it is an unassuming room where we physicians tell mothers about the deaths of their children, far too often because of firearm violence. (Peter T. Masiakos and Cornelia Griggs, 11/15)
