Since Ronald Reagan, banning and un-banning the use of US aid to support agencies that discuss or refer patients for abortion services has been a partisan tradition. Republican presidents make a point of ordering the ban in their first days in office, and Democrats make a point of rescinding it. Donald Trump, in this as […]
“This group just made it more difficult for women to get access to healthcare worldwide. You tell me what’s wrong with this picture,” laments the US Senator for California, Kamala Harris, in her caption of a recent photo of President Donald Trump and his team. The photograph in question shows the new world leader signing an executive […]
Donald Trump may or may not have a mental illness. As a doctor, it would be unprofessional of me to comment on that question. Or would it? Like many liberal-minded people, I find Trump’s opinions and actions abhorrent. I have joined in social media condemnation of his policies and questioned his personal integrity. I have […]
Donald J Trump is now the 45th president of the United States of America. I’ve just returned from a trip to the Middle East where everywhere I went I heard folks talking about the impact of the new administration on US foreign policy (particularly in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict)—there is indeed a great deal of […]
Health, as we all know but are inclined to forget, is driven not by healthcare but by social determinants. But how do you produce social determinants that promote rather than undermine health? Political action is one way, but another is to strengthen communities. Jennifer Miller, chief executive of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, described […]
Did the Women’s March on Washington, across the US, and in major cities around the world have anything to do with medical care? Yes and no. I’ve lived and worked in Washington, DC for more than 30 years, and I’ve seen a lot of demonstrations, and participated in a fair number as well. But I’ve […]
Although I’m not usually political by a long shot, the presidential transition in the US today has made me reflect on Barack Obama’s legacy and his mantra of: “Fired up, ready to go!” I transplanted these words temporarily and thought back to where I currently stand as a junior doctor. When I left medical school […]
Donald Trump has big pharma in the crosshairs. Using classic #TrumpSpeak, the soon to be 45th President of the United States hinted recently that Medicare, the biggest buyer of drugs in the US, could soon be able to negotiate drug prices directly with the pharmaceutical industry. This is something big pharma has spent years and […]
As our measurements and metrics in medicine proliferate and multiply, it is exceedingly tempting to think that our increased ability to measure correlates directly with an increased ability to care or cure . . . but is this really the case? It’s been reasonably well established that just doing a test to “rule out” a […]
When the US Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) recently announced it will require all public housing developments in the US to go smoke free, federal officials were correct to attack a significant and pervasive problem—smoking exposure among low income Americans. However, it’s less clear if their attempted solution is the best and most effective […]