The shortage of cytarabine, a drug critical to the cure of one form of leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, entered public consciousness in early 2011. With cytarabine-based therapy, the cure rate is 40%; without it there are no cures. This resulted… Continue Reading
Today, Texas holds the notorious record of the highest rate of uninsured citizens. Of 26 million Texans, at least 6 million — about 28 percent of the state’s population — are uninsured. This number includes about 1.25 million uninsured children. Accepting Medicaid is estimated to add nearly $90 billion to the state’s economy, boost economic output by $270 billion, create nearly 200,000 jobs, provide additional insurance to 1.5 million people (therefore cutting the rate of uninsured people significantly), and ultimately save lives. Continue Reading
If we were told that we could prevent 20,000 cancers every year in the United States, save about 10,000 lives and prevent hardships related to treating these cancers, no effort would be spared. Universal HPV vaccinations can make this a reality, but instead, resistance to this sound medical practice continues. Continue Reading
The idea that a code of professional conduct dating to the ancient Iron Age could possibly retain any relevance in our modern era seems preposterous. Yet, the challenges of contemporary health care mean that the ideals of the Hippocratic Oath,1 first formulated in Greece almost 2,500 years ago, remain as important today as then. Human technology has changed dramatically in the last 25 centuries; human nature has not. Continue Reading