Viewpoints: MAHA Helped RFK Jr. — Now It May Sink Him; New Pancreatic Cancer Drug Impresses Doctors
Editorial writers delve into these public health issues.
Will MAHA stay committed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? (Rachel Bedard, 4/16)
Every once in a while, an advance in treating cancer is so stunning that doctors get chills. Such is the case for Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer therapy daraxonrasib, which in a late-stage study allowed patients with advanced disease to live twice as long as those who only received chemotherapy. (Lisa Jarvis, 4/15)
A Florida father recently sued Google after his son, Jonathan Gavalas, died by suicide following months of interaction with the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini. The case has rightly focused attention on how chatbots apparently reinforce delusions and foster emotional dependency. (Marc Augustin, 4/16)
There is a kind of labor at the center of medicine that rarely appears in a chart. It does not sit in the problem list or the billing code. It unfolds in conversation, often quietly, as a patient tries to give shape to something real but not yet defined. They reach for words that are approximate — tired, off, not quite right. The words are not false; they are insufficient. What is being described is not a diagnosis but an experience, and experience resists compression. (Freddy Abnousi and Celina Yong, 4/16)
Health is a growing and profitable sector. Sales of GLP-1 weight loss drugs have been on the rise, with demand expected to boom as oral formulations are launched and affordability improves. (Lara Williams, 4/16)
