Big health policy changes amid California budget woes, ob-gyns refuse overweight patients, and news on Morgellons, plus more from our Daily Briefing.
The construction of a dam near an Indian reservation on the Missouri River forced residents to less fertile land and put an end to their farming habits. Since then, American Indians have experienced a lack of nutrition, leading to diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
If you want to know how tough someone’s life has been, look inside his mouth. Teeth are made of the hardest substance in the human body. But poverty, neglect and disease can crack them, break them, ruin them. The patients at the SOME dental clinic on O Street NW have been through a lot. Their teeth tell the story.
Whooping cough is still a major concern for California kids, tainted tomatoes are recalled, and more from our Daily Briefing.
My two articles (I was originally writing three, but ended up with two lengthy articles) for the Fellowship were definitely acquired through an illuminating process.
Over and over I encountered heads of medical institutions in the area who gave me their polished spin on why there weren't enough physicians in the area and why our huge Medi-Cal population wasn't being served. The two are intertwined as not having enough doctors/resources for the privately insured means that the physicians who DO live here will flock to the patients who pay. Which are not Medi-Cal patients.
Tulare County, a poor, semi-rural county in California's Central Valley, has a one-third of its population on Medi-Cal — California's version of Medicaid. This is more than any other county in the state, yet the resources to care for the Medi-Cal population are few.
Dr. David C. Martin may be onto something. In three Antidote posts last week, he made the case that health care workers should not wear surgical scrubs out in public. If seen doing so, they should be confronted. Now, doctors are talking back.
Decision makers in Sacramento have 4 months to settle their differences about the state's chemical regulations
On Monday, Dr. David C. Martin, a retired Sacramento anesthesiologist, introduced the idea that the public should be on the watch for health care workers wearing hospital scrubs outside of a medical setting, especially in restaurants. Martin's plea for a public health response continues.
You probably have been to a restaurant near a hospital and seen a doctor, nurse or medical assistant wearing scrubs and standing in line for a sandwich. You probably didn’t give this a second thought, but Dr. David C. Martin thinks you should be alarmed.