On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that provided women with a legal basis for a right to get an abortion. (Full text of opinion and dissent here --pay attention to page 148 to the end, the dissent.) This will make it difficult and dangerous for women in states whose legislatures oppose abortion to terminate a pregnancy. Many women, regardless of what state they live in, now believe that it is illegal for them to get an abortion. The amount of misinformation going around regarding this subject has been large, and now it is frustratingly larger. In the face of all this confusion, I would like to praise the JAMA (Journal of the AMA) for publishing a very nice, straightforward article about how to provide medical abortion in the first 10-11 weeks of pregnancy. By medical, I mean pills. There is a pretty simple combination of a couple of common medications, one to reverse the effects of progesterone and the other to permit the cervix to open to allow p...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.