Insights

<p>After a 30-year career writing about health, Susan Brinks found herself in the throes of her own medical story.</p> <p>She has been a freelancer since being laid off from the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> in October 2008, and her COBRA -- the post-employment extension of her health insurance -- runs out on July 20.</p>

<p>Here’s our daily round-up of news and resources for your work and pleasure:</p> <p><strong>ScienceBlogs:</strong> If you’ve been following the ScienceBlogs/PepsiCo debacle, it’s over: ScienceBlogger PZ Myers reports that the blog network <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/pepsico_has_been_expelled.ph… “expelled” Pepsi’s “Food Frontiers” blog</a>.</p>

<p>By now, you've probably <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jul/07/scienceblogs-bloggin… about the controversy</a> over <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/">ScienceBlogs</a>&#039; decision to launch a blog sponsored and written by PepsiCo. ScienceBloggers <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/users/palmd">Dr.

<p><em>(Note: <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/users/palmd">Peter Lipson MD</a> and I are both members of Scienceblogs, which imploded spectacularly during the past 24 hours over the managers' decision to accept a paid blog by PepsiCo. Peter cross-posted his&nbsp;</em><a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/blogs/rethinking-blog-networks-and-eth… on the controversy</em></a><em> here at RoH, and with the OK of site managers here, I'm doing the same to comment and reply.)</em></p>

<p>Here’s what we’re reading today at ReportingonHealth:&nbsp;</p> <p>"You could nominate Gandhi to be head of CMS and that would be controversial right now." That gem of a quote, from a CBS News story on <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20009850-503544.html">Donald Berwick’s recess appointment to run Medicaid and Medicare</a>, &nbsp;comes courtesy of Tom Scully, who held that job under President George W. Bush.</p>

<p>Dr. Phillip D. Foley of Middletown, Ind., might have a second career as an inspector for the <a href="http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=SPEECHES&… Safety &amp; Health Administration</a>.</p> <p>This incredible human being was able to write an average of <a href="http://heraldbulletin.com/breakingnews/x546199543/Doctor-linked-to-over… prescription per minute</a> without hurting his wrist.</p>

<p>One of the wonderful things about blogs is their independence. Most are hosted by Wordpress or Blogger and there isn't much advertising or sponsorship. Notable exceptions are blog collectives, such as&nbsp;<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/">ScienceBlogs&nbsp;</a>and&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/">the Discover Magazine blog network</a>. These networks have significant advantages, including technical support, increased reach, and collegiality (your results may vary).</p>

<p>How will health reform affect the nation’s emergency rooms? The AP’s Carla K. Johnson provides a glimpse of the future in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR20100… story</a>, and it’s crowded. She writes:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.</em></p>

<p><img src="/files/u47/The_Clash.jpg" width="91" height="127" style="float: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;" />I’ve been thinking lately about what we can learn from culture clashes within groups of people living with various diseases. Patient groups aren’t monoliths, but sometimes they’re covered as if they are. Journalists don’t always distinguish between people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, for example. That’s a bigger deal than you might think.</p>