Clinical care for Obesity and Diet Related illnesses needs more attention to Societal Determinants of Health Article from NEJM website about how despite rates of obesity starting to level off overall, the lowest income and minority populations continue to show a sharp increase. A focus on those factors as contributory needs to be a part of the discussion.
Social stigma makes the opioid crisis hard to confront (7min) There are many reasons why the opioid crisis is so hard to confront. One of them is social stigma. It often extends beyond users themselves, to their families. People see addiction as a moral weakness, and by extension, the moral weakness of their families.
When drinking ruins your liver - should you qualify for a transplant? When patients develop alcohol liver disease, they are often forced to wait 6 months to prove they can abstain from alcohol before they will be considered for a transplant. Is that a fair amount of time? Is that a fair practice at all?
Withholding surgery: How gaps in policy fail people who inject drugs A recent New York Times article described a harrowing situation faced by some people who inject drugs and develop endocarditis, a life-threatening infection caused by bacteria that enter the bloodstream and settle in the heart. The article described doctors in Tennessee deciding whether to perform repeat costly heart surgeries on patients who were re-infected with endocarditis as a result of ongoing illicit drug use—and at times declining to operate. There are policy failures that are to blame, too, for how and why resources are allocated this way. This looks at those failures and how our bias influences both the policies and how they are applied.
Injecting Drugs can ruin a heart - how many second chances should a user get? A life-threatening heart infection afflicts a growing number of people who inject opioids or meth. Costly surgery can fix it, but the addiction often goes unaddressed.
Wit by Margaret Edson A powerful investigation into the aspects of life that make it worth living, the nuances of relationships and how one’s approach to life and death can change throughout the process of “living out” one’s end.
We Need a Heroic Narrative for Death by Amanda Bennett A powerful talk arguing that having hope for a happy ending of a loved one’s life does not warrant a diagnosis of “denial.” A call to match the heroic narratives we have in life with a heroic narrative for death.
Dying Father has Last First Dance with Daughter by Gabe Gutierrez Video and short text - Rachel Wolf had always dreamed of her wedding - gown, makeup, guests, and family. When her father, Dr. James Wolf, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had only 3 months to live, she knew she had to find a way, groom or no groom, to have a first dance with him.
Wit by Margaret Edson A powerful investigation into the aspects of life that make it worth living, the nuances of relationships and how one’s approach to life and death can change throughout the process of “living out” one’s end.
We Need a Heroic Narrative for Death by Amanda Bennett A powerful talk arguing that having hope for a happy ending of a loved one’s life does not warrant a diagnosis of “denial.” A call to match the heroic narratives we have in life with a heroic narrative for death.