When Big Pharma pursues rapacious profits and regulators snooze, patients suffer terrible consequences, as new revelations about the opioid crisis show. Kaiser Health News Service , via the Washington Post, and The New York Times both have done excellent investigative digging into drug makers’ role in fueling the prescription painkiller mess that authorities estimate claims….
Continue ReadingOrthopedics & Sports Medicine
Wrestler scandal fuels rising concern on how schools, teams protect kids
Soon, many young people will be back to school and signing up for sports teams. Many will have to undergo physical exams before they can play. And it’s a tragic reality that grown-ups may need to think a lot how to protect young people from sexual predators who also are doctors. That’s because Ohio State University,….
Continue ReadingNHL sells its players short by failing to acknowledge harms of head blows
The 2018 Stanley Cup may rest for a bit as the pride and joy of enthusiasts in the nation’s capital and of its title-winning team. But as fans of the pro and amateur game look to the future, they may have reason to be downcast about hockey’s most important component: its players. Author Ken Dryden….
Continue ReadingLet’s bust this myth now: Don’t expect insurers to help cut medical bills
Patients who expect their health insurer will work in their interests to contain costs by medical providers might just as well hope for assistance from leprechauns, unicorns, or the tooth fairy. Marshall Allen, a reporter for the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative site ProPublica, has just penned a strong myth-busting piece, cross-posted on the National Public Radio….
Continue ReadingOverrun by sports performance chatter? Can questions on MBI bust the bunk?
If you can get your favorite sports fans peeled away from the latest broadcast pro event ─ whether it’s the basketball playoffs, hockey championship series, golf tourneys, or the heating up baseball season ─ a conversation of sorts could be sparked by dropping numbers on them. See what kind of rise you can get by….
Continue ReadingWinter Games and Super Bowl offer health takeaways, too
The Winter Olympic Games and the Super Bowl can offer fans not just exciting sports spectacles but also important health insights and information— everything from the risks of viruses and the value of hand washing to the dangers of head blows and why Americans may be slowly changing their minds about how they feel about….
Continue ReadingGymnastics scandal offers a tragic reminder of challenges in protecting kids
His basic credentials would come under fire, but they were sufficient for the “doctor” to insinuate himself into major institutions, and, worse, into the lives of hundreds of girls and young women on whom he inflicted a tragic toll. His combination of enthusiasm — he was a rah-rah kind of guy— extreme controlling conduct, and horrific “treatments”….
Continue ReadingRepeated, lesser head hits, and not just concussions, linked to brain harms
As the science keeps getting deeper, the news keeps getting worse about the harms that can be inflicted by repeated blows to the head in sports — and in life. The path-breaking medical scientists at Boston University and elsewhere, who have helped to establish how concussions, notably in football, may lead to the onset of….
Continue ReadingSafety and injury prevention should be part of our new year exercise plans
Millions of Americans may be hitting the gym as part of their new year resolve to get fitter. They also need to exercise caution and common sense to avoid injuries that could leave them in worse shape. As the Washington Post reported, the 2018 health club crush will result in “hundreds of thousands of [exercisers]….
Continue ReadingVegas shooting victims finding tough road to recovery from mass tragedy
When illness, accidents, and natural- or man-made calamities strike, victims discover in their long slog to recovery that our health insurance system only aggravates their pain and anxiety. That’s a painful lesson that hundreds of Americans will keep struggling with in 2018, months after a madman rained gunfire from high-powered rifles down into a Las….
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