“Economics Behaving Badly” – The New York Times
A while back, I wrote a piece in the Hastings Center Report proposing a better way of teaching ethics to professionals, like medical students. I thought such education should be grounded less in philosophy and more in understanding the psychology of our moral behavior. Glad to see that my ideas have been picked up, in…
She drew the life-saving medication into the syringe, just 10cc of colorless fluid for the everyday low price of, gulp, several hundred dollars. Was that a new chemotherapy, specially designed for her tumor? Was it a “specialty drug,” to treat her multiple sclerosis? Nope. It was insulin, a drug that has been around for decades….
Shutterstock The average life expectancy of American men is almost four years less than men in Switzerland. In fact, among 17 high income countries, U.S. men ranked 17th in life expectancy. American women die young, too, with a life expectancy five years less than the average Japanese woman. Why is American life expectancy so poor? In part,…
There are promising ways to manage chronic pain so people, when they do feel pain, aren’t so bothered by it. In fact, a creative study led by a neuroscientist, Susanne Becker, uses insights from Ivan Pavlov to show the possibility of uncoupling the sensation of pain from the experience of pain. More here
When asked what enemies she was proud to have made during her political career, Hillary Clinton mentioned, in order, “the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies [and] the Iranians.” Pretty villainous company to place healthcare industries into. But Clinton is not alone among presidential candidates in vilifying pharmaceutical and insurance industries for, as…
Shutterstock Legalizing medical marijuana is controversial. Physicians have not always prescribed controlled substances wisely, as a look at our narcotic epidemic confirms. But marijuana is much safer than narcotics and, according to a recent study, might even save us money, by reducing people’s need for other, often more expensive medications. Most notably, marijuana can be…