The economic argument for saving lives

Here are latest stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ --------------------------------------------------------------- Here are latest stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com [Family medicine physician](. Established practice with a top 5 health care system. 4 day schedule. Telephone call: 3 to 4 weeks per year. Rewarding, stable salary structure. Qualify for the [Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program](. [Family medicine physician](. Financially stable environment. Resources and support to provide excellent patient care, and dedication to physician well-being unmatched in the industry. [3-year salary guarantee: $240,000](. [Occupational medicine physician](. Leadership opportunity. Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. No call. Recently named one of the fastest-growing and [best places to live in the nation](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Plus: Jun 13, 2020 [The economic argument for saving lives]( The COVID-19 narrative is strong and pervasive: we must sacrifice either jobs or lives. This debate has seemingly polarized our society on moral and ethical grounds. For many healthcare professionals, the intrinsic value of life is self-evident. No price can ethically be placed on the value of health and human life. Fortunately, from an economic […] [We should be collectively tired as a society]( Here we are again, mourning the death of another black person at the hands of the people that are supposed to protect and defend our rights. Another casualty in the 400+ year struggle that we have had in this country to be granted the same right to liberty, the same access to success and the […] [Why racism is a public health crisis]( On May 25, 2020, the world was already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic with a lockdown with no end in sight, when a video taken on a bystander’s cellphone went viral of a man being arrested by several police officers, put on the road in a prone position and one officer kneeling on his neck […] [Introducing smartphone users thumb]( Until about 50 to 100 years ago, the tradition was to name diseases after the doctors who used to describe them for the first time. Such diseases are called eponymous diseases. There are numerous examples, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Marfan’s syndrome, and Wilson’s disease, to name a few. Often, specific signs and symptoms were named […] [Medicine vs. racism: white coats for black lives]( Six years ago, Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, MO, igniting the White Coats For Black Lives movement. I was a medical student at the time. As we prepared for a die-in in protest of Michael Brown’s death and the officer’s acquittal, my medical school class erupted into debate. Some felt strongly that we should […] [My people are dying. My country is burning. And I’m stuck in the medical education system.]( Medical students across the country, such as myself, are struggling to come to terms with the pandemic. The most affected of this group is the current fourth years, trying to embark on their journey of picking a specialty and finding a residency position. As we are considered “non-essential,” we must deal with the consequences of […] [The impact of COVID-19 on Africa]( Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, Africans have been told to stay put and “prepare for the worst.” Even though Africa is at a less advanced stage, WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus indicates Africa, in particular, may suffer direct effects of the disease itself and indirect effects on the economy. Considering […] [We shouldn’t be our own doctors, but we can’t forget what we know]( Like a lot of doctors my age, I was too busy to have checkups, working 60 hours a week plus night and weekend call. But that all changed in 2013 when at age 67, my dentist felt a submental lymph node. A CBC had 35,000 white cells, and I had chronic lymphocytic leukemia. When I […] [Opening up America for the sake of mental health]( Fighting to protect the health of the economy and the health of the people are not mutually exclusive endeavors. In fact, they are strongly related. While COVID-19 does present a significant threat to the physical health of at-risk individuals, the shut-down poses a more significant threat to the mental health of all individuals. As a […] [Health care workers in the time of COVID: reluctant superheroes?]( Invisible and unassuming, the radioactive spider slowly descends from the ceiling, and before he knows it, Peter Parker’s life has changed forever. With that one bite, he is transformed from a normal man into a reluctant superhero. Only, that infamous spider is COVID-19, and Peter Parker is a health care worker during these troubled times. […] [We need to stop seeing patients as dollar signs]( I am a newly minted surgical specialist, less than one year into practice. Residency was no walk in the park, but the clinical experience, along with hours of studying, reading papers, and reviewing practice guidelines, undoubtedly gave me the tools to practice modern, evidence-based medicine. As residency came to a close and the light at […] [How CRISPR technology can solve our COVID-19 testing problems]( To contain COVID-19 and re-open the economy, the U.S. should be performing 500,000 tests per day. We are nowhere near that number. Widespread implementation of CRISPR-based testing would address deficits in the current testing landscape. The most common method of testing for COVID-19—reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)—costs $100 per test, takes four-six hours to run, […] [During the pandemic, faith keeps us together [PODCAST]]( Thank you for listening to the podcast. There were some audio difficulties during this interview, which I hope you can overlook. It certainly does not take away from Dr. Syed’s message and her wonderful interview. “An essential part of daily living for many people is faith. No matter what faith you belong to, people practice […] [The economics of primary care in a COVID-19 world]( Much has been written about the response of the governmental agencies in the foreseeability of COVID-19 spread and management in the United States. Travel restriction from mainland China seemed to be a very timely intervention. However, instead of considering it as an initial step in a prolonged exercise of vigilance in preventing the disease from […] [Listen a little closer. Understand a little deeper. Heal a bit better.]( When news started coming in that throngs of protestors were gathering in Chicago to protest the horrific killing of George Floyd, my initial feelings of anger were tempered by a hope that maybe this time things would turn around for our black brothers and sisters. Quickly, as the protests became infiltrated with violence, and I […] [Coronavirus is an elusive enigma]( How did coronavirus become so widespread? By the time Dr. Zhang Jixian first reported the cases, it is thought that 180 patients were already infected. The problem with this is that SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19, presents in many different ways and spreads in patients with no symptoms. By the time we were […] [Where’s the big COVID data?]( The United States has been the most impacted country in the current COVID-19 crisis. Is COVID, the only common denominator? What else is common to the over 100,000 deaths in the United States, who is collecting and analyzing the death data comprehensively apart from the snapshot of admission and discharge diagnosis from death certificates? Out […] [The war on drugs: America’s secret racist war today]( When former U.S. President Richard Nixon officially declared his crusade against drugs, notoriously referred to as his so-called “War on Drugs,” on June 17, 1971, America’s police-prison-profit industrial complex could at best prognosticate and at worst balefully pray for the downstream disproportionate impact criminalization of narcotics would have on certain communities from then until now. […] --------------------------------------------------------------- If a friend sent you this email and you want to subscribe, go to [KevinMD](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 345 Hudson Street New York NY 10014 USA [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](