Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Each week, KHN finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week’s selections include stories on covid, abortion, dementia, chemotherapy, broken bones and more.
The Wall Street Journal:
Covid’s Hidden Toll: One Million Children Who Lost Parents
A year and a half into the Covid-19 pandemic, contagious variants have been killing many in the prime of parenthood, a group that remains mostly unvaccinated in many parts of the world. From March 2020 to April 2021, an estimated 1.1 million children lost a primary caregiver to the virus, according to a recent study in the medical journal the Lancet. Many of the most affected countries are in Latin America, which accounts for about one-third of coronavirus deaths despite having just 8% of the global population. On a per capita basis, Peru has been the hardest hit, with an estimated 10.2 children per 1,000 losing a primary caregiver, according to the study published in the Lancet. Mexico, Brazil and Colombia also are in the study’s top five. (Dube and Magalhaes, 9/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
Behind Israel’s Swift Rollout Of Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters
Throughout the global effort against Covid-19, Israel’s public health experts have been consistently ahead of their counterparts elsewhere in the world. By securing an early supply deal with Pfizer for its vaccine, sweetened in part by a promise to share data from Israel’s extensive network of health maintenance organizations, they have had an edge in understanding how the vaccine behaves in the real world. (Lieber and Grove, 9/28)
The New York Times:
Why Scores Of Female Athletes Are Speaking Out On Abortion Rights
Crissy Perham had never spoken publicly about her choice. In 31 years, Perham, a three-time Olympic medalist, told only a handful of people what it was like to be pregnant as a struggling college sophomore and decide to have an abortion. She kept quiet about the freedom and the second chance that ending her pregnancy gave her. Kept quiet about how it helped pave the way for a swimming career and the success she experienced once it was over. But now, she said, speaking up is a must. (Streeter, 9/27)
The Washington Post:
‘Race-Norming’ Kept Former NFL Players From Dementia Diagnoses. Their Families Want Answers
For Michelle Haselrig, widow of former Pittsburgh Steeler Carlton Haselrig, the moment she realized her husband’s race might have deprived him of money from the NFL concussion settlement came this summer, after a friend texted her a news story about something called “race-norming.” For Laurie Dirden, wife of former Houston Oiler Johnnie Dirden, that moment came last month, she said, when a doctor told her that if her husband were White, he would’ve met the settlement’s definition for a dementia diagnosis, and a six-figure payment, last year. (Hobson, 9/29)
The Washington Post:
D.C. Boosts Spending On Housing To Fight Homelessness Problem
The District is preparing to embark on an unprecedented effort to combat homelessness. At a moment when the decades-long crisis seems to have reached a boiling point, with people at risk of eviction as federal pandemic protections end and residents in bitter arguments over how to address the growing encampments on the streets, the city plans to try something new with an increase in public spending with the potential to come close to ending chronic homelessness altogether. (Weil, 9/24)
The New York Times:
Cancer Without Chemotherapy: ‘A Totally Different World’
Dr. Seema Doshi was shocked and terrified when she found a lump in her breast that was eventually confirmed to be cancerous. “That rocked my world,” said Dr. Doshi, a dermatologist in private practice in the Boston suburb of Franklin who was 46 at the time of her diagnosis. “I thought, ‘That’s it. I will have to do chemotherapy.’” She was wrong. Dr. Doshi was the beneficiary of a quiet revolution in breast cancer treatment, a slow chipping away at the number of people for whom chemotherapy is recommended. Chemotherapy for decades was considered “the rule, the dogma,” for treating breast cancer and other cancers, said Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi, a breast cancer specialist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But data from a variety of sources offers some confirmation of what many oncologists say anecdotally — the method is on the wane for many cancer patients. (Kolata, 9/27)
The New York Times:
One Broken Bone? You May Be At Risk For Another
Let’s say you’re a woman in your mid-50s, or perhaps a man in your early 70s, and you break a leg or a hip after falling from a six-foot ladder. That would be distressing, to be sure, but neither you nor your doctor would likely be surprised by the severity of your injury given the nature of the accident. And, chances are, your doctor would not likely warn you after your fall that weakened bones may have contributed to your break, or that you might be at risk of breaking another bone next time from a minor mishap, like tripping over the dog. And so, after the break is immobilized in a cast or surgically repaired, your doctor would likely do nothing more to head off the possibility of a future fracture. (Brody, 9/27)
The Wall Street Journal:
Sore Is Good, Pain Is Bad: The Workout Of A 79-Year-Old Who Twice Summited Mount Everest
When Bill Burke retired from practicing corporate law in 2003, he craved an activity that would indulge his passion for travel and challenge him mentally and physically. He had already been hiking in the mountains around his home in Costa Mesa, Calif., and learning the art of alpinism had more appeal than tennis or golf, he says. He attended a high-altitude climbing course, upped his training and within a year was peak bagging mountains around the world. By age 67, he had climbed the highest mountain on every continent, including Mount Everest twice. Today, he is one of the most respected mountaineers in the world and even has a peak near the Nepal-Tibet border named for him. (Murphy, 9/25)
The Washington Post:
Police Arrested A Man Who Didn’t Comply With Their Commands. That’s Because He Is Deaf, A New Lawsuit Says.
When police in Idaho Springs, Colo., saw a vehicle roll through a stop sign on a September evening in 2019, they followed it into a laundromat’s parking lot and turned on their flashing lights. The driver, Brady Mistic, parked his car and stepped out of the vehicle. He later said he did not understand what was happening, or even that he was being pulled over — Mistic is deaf and communicates primarily through American Sign Language. In the confusion, the situation escalated. According to a new lawsuit filed by Mistic, the officers threw him to the ground, stunned him with a Taser and put him in handcuffs. He tried to use some of the words he is able to speak: “No ears.” It seemed to make no difference. (Lipscomb, 9/27)
CBS News:
He Lost His Vision At 7, But Went On To Become A Starting Quarterback
Jasen Bracy, a 15-year-old starting quarterback, has a clear vision of what it takes to win on the field, even though he’ll never see it with his own eyes. Bracy developed retinal cancer as a toddler. By the time he turned 7, his sight was gone. He liked other sports, but he really wanted to play football. His parents’ response: “No way!” said his dad, who is also named Jasen Bracy. “How is this going to be possible for him to get out there and play?” (Evans, 9/28)
The New York Times:
Marilyn Golden, Effective Voice For The Disabled, Dies At 67
Marilyn Golden was a college student on a summer backpacking trip in Switzerland when she fell from a tree after a rotting limb snapped. Her back was broken. She spent two years of rehabilitation at Houston Medical Center and had used a wheelchair ever since. “I got radicalized, in a general sense, after I got hurt,” she said.Ms. Golden would devote the rest of her life to championing civil rights for people with disabilities, all the while rejecting as “ridiculousity” the notion that people like her with disabilities desired or deserved pity. (Roberts, 9/28)
