Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: How Much AI Is Too Much For Med Students?; Change In Counting Method For Measles Deaths Creates Confusion
I鈥檓 confident in my mastery over what doctors do 鈥� and less confident about my continued mastery of an ever-evolving universe of facts. (Rachael Bedard, 9/25)
By mid-September, the Pennsylvania Department of Health had reported four confirmed measles-associated deaths, surpassing the highest annual number of measles-associated deaths in the United States since 1992. Pennsylvania public health professionals are sounding the alarm as the number of measles cases statewide exceeds 800, with cases clustering among communities with a history of vaccine hesitancy. (Denys T. Lau and Jennifer D. Schoendorf, 9/25)
Pennsylvania officials have confirmed four measles-related deaths. Two, according to reports, are children. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been embroiled in a public battle of semantics over how to characterize the circumstances. To the rest of the nation, the debate obscures a more obvious problem. Measles 鈥� a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable and sometimes fatal disease 鈥� is on the rise. (9/25)
During the pandemic, we all heard some variation of 鈥渢hey died with Covid, not from it.鈥澛燭he phrase is back, this time attached to measles. On Aug. 25, Pennsylvania reported two measles-associated deaths in Lancaster. That day, a county commissioner relayed the coroner鈥檚 office鈥檚 position that one person had died 鈥淲ITH measles, but not FROM measles.鈥� (Jess Steier and Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, 9/25)
Obesity has been seen as something patients could overcome through lifestyle changes rather than recognized for what it is, a chronic disease. (Disha Narang, 9/25)