No longer brushed off: A Minnesota clinic tries to rewrite medicine's approach to miscarriage

To OB-GYN Barbara Toppin (above), patients' stories of miscarriage are painfully consistent. They're told their losses are so early in pregnancy they're likely due to chromosomal abnormalities. They're told testing is unnecessary unless they've lost two, or sometimes even three, pregnancies. They're told to just try again. She, along with a smattering of providers across the country, is pushing for a more aggressive approach. Read more.

By Sadia Rafiquddin

Dania Maxwell for STAT

Emotional dry cleaning: A writer helps doctors share their stories — and their pain

For the last few years through a virtual writing workshop, Laurel Braitman (above) has been performing a kind of emotional dry cleaning for health care workers — accepting their dirty laundry without judgment, and then helping wash, press and fold it into something crisp and worthy of being worn out into the world. Read more.

By Isabella Cueto

Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images

What do new weight loss drugs mean for the future of bariatric surgery?

The recent surge of interest in weight loss drugs could help reframe obesity as a disease and, at least in the short term, increase the number of patients seeking surgical treatment. But the long-term outlook of bariatric surgery is murkier, caught between competing visions of harmonious medical-surgical integration and potential obsolescence under the relentless pace of biotech innovation. Read more.

By Simar Bajaj

More great reads from STAT this week

Departing Stanford president retracts two widely cited papers, against lead author's wishes
Winners and losers from Medicare's list of drugs subject to price negotiation
How a 'weighted lottery' helped underserved patients get a scarce Covid drug
Opinion: Every senator should fill out a legislative advance directive
Listen: Housing is health care
KRAS, the ideal cancer drug target that became 'undruggable,' takes on a new glow