By Edward Jung (PO ’22) Developing a concrete definition for the relationship between a doctor and their patient is a difficult question whose answer lies within the intersection of medicine, ethics, and the law. Medical students are taught in medical school that their primary obligation is to patients; yet, from the Hippocratic Oath to Hollywood’s…
By: Andy Liu (HMC ’23) Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, nations across the world have rapidly intervened to contain the virus’ spread. Much has been made of the different approaches that the world’s developed nations have taken toward containing COVID-19; whether it’s the United States’ federal approach, with individual states having their own…
By Christopher Tan (PZ ‘21) Crippled by US sanctions, embroiled in political unrest and rattled by the death of its most important general; the last few months have tested Iran’s hardline leadership. Yet, through tight control of the media, vote-rigging and revolutionary zest; Tehran has quelled whatever threats these posed to its regime. As the…
By Shuyan Yan (PO ’23) On Feb.7th, Chinese social media saw a massive outpouring of outrage and grief due to the death of Doctor Li Wenliang from coronavirus. Li Wenliang was one of the eight people who first revealed the information about several mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan. However, like the other seven, he was…
By Lucie Abele PO ’22 As of December 2019, health care is among the political issues that matter most to voters and grows increasingly relevant as prescription drug costs rise and the population ages. The health care policies of each of six potential presidential candidates, selected from the frontrunners of the Republican and Democratic parties,…
Maggie Bynum (SC ‘20) On March 3rd, 2019 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted a final rule to the National Register that will have a detrimental effect on reproductive health services in the United States. The rule outlines several changes to Title X, also known as the Family Planning Program. Since its…
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The Affordable Care Act (ACA)—President Obama’s foremost legislative accomplishment—has seen countless challenges in court. That continued last week, eight years after the law was first passed, when Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth ruled the ACA unconstitutional on the grounds that the individual mandate exceeds…
By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC ’19) On May 30, 2018, President Trump approved legislation that made the right-to-try federally legal. The right-to-try gives terminally ill patients the option to take non FDA-approved drugs for investigational treatment purposes. Before becoming federally legal, the right-to-try was permitted in 41 states. The program was first introduced in Colorado in…
By Jessie Levin (PO’ 18) Introduction: Imagine a world where illnesses do not exist and where parents can dictate the specific traits that they want for their future children. Although this world seems like it is thousands of years away, the technology to bring this to fruition is here. If a parent wanted to design…
By Sophie Roe (PO ’19) On July 30, Medicare and Medicaid turned 54. Interestingly, what began as a federal-state government health care program is now being called a “welfare program.” Although Medicaid is overseen by the Federal Government, states are granted an incredible degree of discretion to structure and implement the program as they see…