A few highlights from around the web that made it into our feeds this week.
They Lost Their Legs. Doctors and Health Care Giants Profited.
Enraging, yet critical reporting. A detailed expose on a predatory network of medical device companies bankrolling private clinics and paying doctors to perform procedures on patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Procedures that many never needed in the first place, and then led to amputations. It reads as a bit of a wake-up call to all of us. Looking at the direct ways profit-driven systemic exploitation can flourish and hurt patients.
Additionally, we spoke with vascular surgeon Nick Morrissey, MD, about how this happens and what we can do to protect ourselves when seeking treatment. Both are important reads. (From nytimes.com)
A New Approach to M.S. Could Transform Treatment of Other Diseases
Once regarded as a “dead-end disease,” this fascinating deep dive follows the trajectory of Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) discovery and treatment. The ways many small interventions over time added up to some huge medical breakthroughs, transforming the prognosis for many who suffer from this neurological disease. A quality look at how specialized centers function well as one entity, and a harbinger for the evolution of treatment in a host of other diseases and conditions. (From thenewyorker.com)
Extreme heat: what does it do to us and how can we adapt?
It’s happening to us, and all around us—the heat is rising. All over the world, record temperatures climb, and heat is becoming harder to manage in our day-to-day lives. This podcast does a great job of explaining what heat actually does to our bodies and how we can cool ourselves and our environments without exacerbating the climate crisis. (From theguardian.com)
We’re on a poetry kick, so here’s a short one that packs longstanding power:
From Beneath This Calm Exterior
by David Steinberg
Slowly, slowly
we grow together,
skin across the wound
of our separateness.
Also, check out The Culture Consult:
- Dr. Craig Smith on What He’s Been Reading Lately
- Dr. Abraham Kirkhely on What He’s Been Reading Lately
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