Regardless of people's views on capital punishment, it's unlikely that many would approve of chemically torturing prisoners to death. But because European drug companies now refuse to sell U.S. prisons drugs that can be used for lethal injections, some have tried using untested alternatives for executions. The results have been horrific. The reason? Pharmacological ignorance.
Policy & Ethics
Energy emissions are in the news, but some claims are just more politicization of science. To paraphrase Virgil, Americans should beware environmental Greeks bearing expensive gifts.
It's no exaggeration that the World Health Organization has helped saved hundreds of millions of lives. As such, something like a halo surrounds whatever it chooses to do. That said, the Washington Post reports that the WHO spent more on travel than on fighting AIDS, hepatitis, malaria, and tuberculosis – combined. Were these smart choices?
Can someone please explain the logic here? Does this make any sense at all?
Regarding the issue that, “patients have long been aware that many unseen dollars drive medical decisions and events,” the sunshine of disclosure has been recommended as the cure. But does it work?
Medical bills are tough to understand, making the transparency of prices an impossible dream for nearly every patient. To give the consumer a better sense of what's behind these bizarre billing practices, here's a common-sense guide.
If your only source for news comes from the idiots at Mother Jones or Sourcewatch, you probably don't know much about the real American Council on Science and Health. In that case, you believe their manufactured claims – that we are some kind of sinister group organization – and not that we want to give readers useful information.
When the House of Representatives says it will "defund" Planned Parenthood, it sounds simple. But it's not – because lawmakers will have to enact new rules about who gets paid via Title X and Medicaid. That would mean that many women (and some men, too) wouldn't have access to a wide variety of both contraceptive, and general, health care.
Physicians give advice, that’s what we do. But a recent meta-analysis suggests that "what people advise others to do is often different than what they choose for themselves.” Here's why.
The actor and musician knows how to convey a message that effects medical change, helped in part by his visit top be with sick kids at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Now, let's see if Hollywood follows suit.
A young man who recently received a lung transplant, following a terrible case of pneumonia that caused his lungs to collapse, has died. He made national headlines because his petition to receive new lungs was initially rejected because he had smoked marijuana.
Several years after Obamacare was approved, healthcare costs continue to rise in America. The question of why – and, perhaps more importantly, how much of these costs should be covered by the government – continue to spark intense political debate. New research may shed some light on this issue.