When first hearing about Abilify MyCite, the controversial new digital drug, one might likely recall the famous movie scene from "The Matix" when Neo ingests a red pill that also delivers computer code. It also might make one wonder about the kinds of people being remade through this new biotechnology.
Policy & Ethics
The negative impact of (1) "at-all-costs" breastfeeding campaigns, (2) the political zeal of "lactivism" and (3) societal pressures have done a proven disservice to women and families. So much so that formal health policy had to be changed.
Accountable Care Organizations want to share in the profits, but not the risk of providing health care. In the end, will being forced to take on risk result in this "innovative payment" program?
People want compassion. And unlike doctors – who are often in a hurry, seeing you in sterile and unwelcoming exam rooms – alternative medicine practitioners are masters at delivering compassion. And they genuinely seem to care about your well-being.
It's no surprise that controlling your future, by stopping the development of medical conditions, draws a captive audience. But is that what genetic testing actually does?
As if our policies for treatment of pain patients aren't horrific enough? If you happen to be black or Hispanic and suffer from Sickle Cell Disease, life is far worse. Do patients with a known, easily-diagnosed disease get a break with pain relief? No, it's quite the opposite. Disgraceful.
When lawyers and marketing firms can directly target patients via their mobile phones – while, yes, even in the ER – the time is yesterday to preserve the once-presumed protected health information.
There's a shortage of physicians needed to intervene in acute strokes. Cardiologists have the skills, but not the experience or judgment. Should they fill the gap? Will more patients be helped or harmed?
Keith Humphreys, a psychologist, writes about opioids for The Washington Post. But he has an unusual take on the matter. Does Humphreys know what he's talking about? Let's see.
Can the FDA's tactics – to impact the current opioid problem – also predict its successor? The goal is to head off escalation before problems are crises, and the move is a departure from the status-quo, reactive nature of prior policies.
With the proposed consumer privacy initiative in California a reaction to internet data abuse, it's time, long overdue, to discuss the murky territory once-presumed-protected health information has entered.
Baby powder causes cancer in California but not in South Carolina. That makes sense, right? Because as everybody knows, when you cross into the Golden State your risk of cancer immediately quadruples.