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Why People With MS Need Permission from Insurers To Take Life-Saving Drugs. It’s Not The Reason You Think.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the number one cause of non-traumatic disability among young adults. MS is a chronic, incurable illness that destroys some of the body’s most basic neurological functions. Fortunately, there are now a slew of amazing medicines that often slow the disease considerably. These medicines can be the difference between whether or not a person…
The Question Isn't Whether We Are Overdiagnosing Cancer, But How Much
Medical experts now agree that as a result of aggressive screening programs, we have an epidemic of cancer overdiagnosis in the United States. With mammograms finding tiny cancers and PSA tests discovering unpalpable prostate cancers, we are now unearthing some cancers too early for our own good. What do experts mean by “overdiagnosis,” you ask?…
Do Oncologists Lie to Their Patients About Their Prognoses?
Andrews was easily the most anxious patient I took care of that month, a gray Michigan February (is there any other kind?) which I spent in the hospital caring for patients admitted to the general medical ward at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Medical Center. (Andrews is a pseudonym, as are all the patients I blog about, unless…
Buying Junk Food With Taxpayer Dollars: Whether Interventions to Encourage Healthy Purchasing Work
One of my elderly relatives was in line at the grocery store one day and saw the person ahead of him charging what looked like a cart full of junk food to her food assistance card. My relative was incensed: Why, should his hard earned tax dollars be used to pay for someone’s Cheetos? Currently,…
The Upside of Metastatic Prostate Cancer
The American Urological Association (the AUA) is outraged that the Unites State Preventative Services Task Force doesn’t support, has even “disparaged,” PSA screening. Dr. John Lynch, a member of its Board of Directors, even appealed to prostate cancer survivors to lobby against the Task Force’s recommendation, painting a dire picture of life without this controversial screening test:
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If You Look for Cancer, You'll Find It
What would you like first: the good news or the bad news? Let me start with the bad. Life expectancy among patients in the U.S. with thyroid cancer lags behind that in Korea. In fact, the vast majority of patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Korea are cured of that illness, a statement I can’t…