Medicine – Page 2 – Black Shards Press

Government Medicine in Action

Posted on July 1, 2009 by marc

So there’s no confusion, I’ll make my position clear from the beginning: The idea of government-run healthcare is a bad joke. It’s not just the bad healthcare that government agencies give that’s the problem – it’s also about the medicine and the healthcare options that they take away. Now a panel of advisors to the Food and Drug Administration has advised that agency to forcibly ban the use of drugs like Vicodin and Percocet that combine acetaminophen and narcotics. The reason for their elimination? Risk of overdose.

Reich Wrong on Social Security, Medicare

Posted on May 13, 2009 by marc

Writing about the $13T in unfunded Social Security obligations, Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor, says “Social Security is a tiny problem” and “Medicare is entirely different. It’s a monster.” Reich is right that Social Security is the lesser of two evils; however, he’s dead wrong about Social Security being a little problem.

Houston Doctors Use Stem Cells to Treat Stroke Victims

Posted on March 31, 2009 by marc

Doctors at Houston’s Texas Medical Center recently pioneered a new experimental treatment for stroke victims in which the patient’s own adult stem cells are harvested and injected into the bloodstream. Dr. Sean Savitz, a neurology professor and the study’s lead investigator, hopes to show that the stem cells will take it from there, migrating to…

ADHD Medicine’s Value Over Time

Posted on March 26, 2009 by marc

In 1999, a group of researchers led by William Pelham released the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA), a paper that failed to note the benefits that children receive from their medicine decline over time. The MTA ran into controversy when an academic review of the paper questioned why it played down negative…

The Case for Universal Healthcare

Posted on March 3, 2009 by marc

The U.S. healthcare system is broken. No one seriously disputes that any longer. The current national discussion is all about how far to nationalize healthcare. This presupposes both the existence of a problem and that the free market cannot fix it. But do we know the latter assumption is true? How long has it been…

Obama’s Health Care Plan to be Mandatory?

Posted on February 24, 2009 by marc

Ezra Klein says that Barack Obama will ask Congress to include a mandatory participation clause when he spells out the broad strokes for his proposed health care plan: Administration officials have been very clear on what the inclusion of “universality” is meant to communicate to Congress. As one senior member of the health team said…

Medicine in the Era of Big Government

Posted on November 24, 2008 by marc

My wife is having surgery today. She’s chosen her doctors as best she can with the limited information available regarding their abilities, which is to say word-of-mouth, and we’ll soon be off to the relatively new facility in Bryan, Texas for her operation. It’s a relatively minor procedure, but I have to admit to being…

Equality in Fact, Law, and Medicine

Posted on October 31, 2008 by marc

Dennis Prager’s comment that equality is not an American value stirred up a few left-wingers like Ali at ThinkProgress. His aghast reaction, like those of many TP commenters, was based on a superficial reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Neither document guarantees equality in fact, merely in law. We come into this…

Forgotten Purposes

Posted on October 14, 2008October 14, 2008 by marc

A 61-year-old man faces an early death. Fortunately, a drug exists that *might* help. Doctors, recognizing the case is imminently terminal, recommend trying it. The FDA grants special approval for the treatment. And money is not an issue. What could go wrong? Frederick Baron may be about to find out. Seems that Biogen is refusing…

Hallmark Store Demonstrates Decency

Posted on August 25, 2008 by marc

This little ditty says that some Hallmark stores owned by a small-time franchisee are refusing to sell the company’s new greeting cards that celebrate homosexual themes. Good for them. Franchise owner or not, a business person should be able to determine what merchandise is on the shelves of his/her store. Here’s hoping they have the…