New stuff I’m learning about living dying what matters most - Thu, Mar 21 2019

Yahoo – Nicole Pajer – Mar 6, 2:45 AM

A cancer diagnosis can be devastating, regardless of the outlook. The news can also be hard on friends and family, as they struggle to figure out what they can do to help a loved one after the diagnosis. Beth Pauvlinch, who wrote about caring for…

Jeff Cohn Some excellent tips here, including don't underestimate a comforting gesture, don't be a know it all, and volunteer for specific tasks

“One of the most difficult things we ever have to do is to tell a child he or she has a very serious condition and may not survive it, or that a parent has a condition they may not survive,” said Dr. Alan Stein, a professor of child…

Jeff Cohn This is really hard, and talking with them honestly is better than dishonesty or avoidance, IMO

Alice, a preteen with newly diagnosed leukemia, and her parents were understandably distraught when she was diagnosed with cancer. As I sat down to discuss treatment options with Alice's parents, I was glad I had something positive to share with…

Jeff Cohn Seems there should be a way for these drugs to be stockpiled and always in surplus of what's likely to be needed, with someone (the government?) paying for the production/inventory

Eleven years ago, I was shocked to be diagnosed with advanced lymphoma. To offer an informed second opinion, an oncologist recommended that I have a standard-of-care CT-guided thoracic biopsy. The goal was to collect a tissue sample from one of the…

Jeff Cohn The description of the process of going through a CT-scan guided biopsy is quite graphic and frightening. I guess the question is, what clinical research SHOULDN'T include the perspectives of patients?

When Beverly Dunn called her new primary care doctor's office last November to schedule an annual checkup, she assumed her Medicare coverage would pick up most of the tab. The appointment seemed like a routine physical, and she was pleased that the…

Jeff Cohn Who makes up these rules?

The World Health Organization designated Zika a global health emergency in 2016, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told women who were pregnant or might become pregnant to stay away from nearly 100 countries or regions. The…

Jeff Cohn Leaving to one's judgment is a tough place to be...

To hear politicians talk about it, there are very stark battle lines in the United States over health care. But what the US public has to say and how poorly politicians and policy makers listen drives much of that conclusion. And much of it is…

Jeff Cohn ' People just want a health care system that works for them and their familieS...and they’re less particular about how that happen..Take a top pocketbook issue, multiply it by matters of life and death, and you have health care.'

Poets and politicians have long known that hearts and minds are linked. Now neuroscientists and cardiologists have shown again, in a study published this month in The European Heart Journal, that the connection is more than metaphorical. It turns…

Jeff Cohn Nor is it all in the heart- like many organs/systems that we've compartmentalized, the brain and the heart are actually connected

When the majority of health professionals are experiencing feelings of exhaustion, disillusionment, detachment, and depression, could this possibly be problem that individuals can solve? Absolutely not. In recent surveys of of physicians, 44%…

Jeff Cohn Can't possibly be that > 50% of physicians have personal deficits that, when successfully worked on, will solve the burnout crisis. AND YET some of what is ailing physicians IS within their control, and coaching/wellness programs can help SOME feel better

(CNN) Have you ever found yourself staring at an empty bag of cookies you just devoured? Don't beat yourself up. Your brain is wired to eat that cookie -- and the next 10. It's as automatic a response as running away from a loud noise. But…

Jeff Cohn How to deal with our desires to binge eat without denying ourselves