Letter to the New York Times: Death statistics do not motivate change

One of the key points in the NYT article One Year, 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths: How the U.S. Guaranteed Its Own Failure (1/18/2021) is that science has been “sidelined at every level of government”. The politicization of science at the expense of human suffering is not unprecedented. The most recent data from the CDC states that there are over 480,000 preventable deaths each year due to tobacco. The 2020 Surgeon Generals’ Report shows how many evidence-based interventions to reduce tobacco use are under-utilized. Additional examples of this science denialism abound; human-induced climate change, the obesity epidemic, and gun violence, to name a few. As part of the recovery from the pandemic, we need to commit to a stronger link between science and public policy and call out those politicians who reject it.

 Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General (hhs.gov)

Are you paying too much for your implantable defibrillator?

Health insurers and other groups that take economic risk in health care should be aware of a recent JAMA study that shows that 96.4 % of patients receiving new defibrillators had the procedure performed by a physician who had a financial relationship with the manufacturer. Patients were more likely to receive a device from the manufacturer that provided the highest payment to the doctor. Association Between Industry Payments to Physicians and Device Selection in ICD Implantation | Cardiology | JAMA | JAMA Network

IS IT TOO SOON TO LEARN FROM THE PAST? October 12, 2020

The US Coronavirus response shows that we continue to make the same mistakes as we did with tobacco. In this article, Dr. Alan Blum reviews lessons we are doomed to forget again. Money and politics will always cloud our ability to recall. At a time when people are proclaiming that ‘Black Lives Matter,’ the truth is that very few lives matter when balanced against profit or political victory.

https://cancerletter.com/articles/20200918_2/