New Barriers to Care Depression is a scourge, widely considered the second greatest cause of health disability worldwide. It has always been tough to treat. New studies show it having a worse course the older we get. Yet new governmental regulations are making the possibility of adequately treating depression in older folk so onerous less […]
Normal Isn’t Normal Anymore
“I don’t know what’s happening to me, I don’t feel normal, I don’t where I am.” Or “I don’t know why I get so angry these days, just pissed off, I feel so many more emotions than I did.” Sound familiar? Not just patients express new feelings of distress and disturbance, but people at the bus […]
Rating Scales Can Kill You
Rating scales pervade health care. Once again, we learn that they can kill. The latest scandal again comes from our single national, regionalized health care system, the VA. The newest story involves a VA hospital in a logging town in Eastern Oregon. There will be many others. The Trouble With Roseburg The VA hospital system has […]
Survivor Bias and Health Care
Why should I pay for anyone else’s health care? is a sentiment frequently expressed. Congressmen like Mo Brooks point out that the “good, healthy” people should not be “subsidizing” the care of others. So how did we come to the point where leaders believe the risks of life, its uncertainty and luck, do not apply to […]
Steal from the Poor, Give to the Rich, Harm Them Both
President Trump is correct – “everybody has better health care than the US” (at least in developed countries.) So why does he support the House’s new version of the American Health Care Act, that could kill many thousands of Americans while simultaneously worsening health care for all, including the rich? Statements by people behind the […]