There's this sub on Reddit called 100 Years Ago. It's exactly what the name sounds like: Posters comb through newspapers from exactly a century past to post interesting articles, cartoons, and person-on-the-street interviews. On Tuesday, a user posted a cartoon — apparently from the Daily Mirror — first published on Feb. 20, 1924. "Can We Define Influenza?" argues that 20th centurions label every health complaint influenza. "Every unrecognised form of injury or ailment is put down to 'influenza' nowadays. Was it always so?" the caption asks. Truly, nothing is new. I'm a sucker for history's lessons for medicine's futures, so if you have an idea for a First Opinion related to the past — such as a long-forgotten episode or debate that sheds light on something happening now — please email me.
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On First Opinion this week: Years ago, David Sable helped create an approach to IVF that uses genetic tests to help people who might otherwise never have children. On Thursday, he wrote about the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that destroying fertilized embryos (or, as it calls them, "extrauterine people") violates state law. It's "an unthinkable ruling … that effectively limits IVF to one fertilized egg at a time," he writes, explaining how the ruling threatens would-be families. Mariela Torres Cintrón explains how Medicare leaves behind Puerto Ricans. Is there a better way to handle after-hours primary care for both physicians and patients? New rules and fees could throttle crucial researcher access to data from Medicare and Medicaid. And a psychiatrist and endocrinologist explain how they work together to help patients navigate the complicated relationship between GLP-1s, weight, and mental health.
Recommendation of the week: I'll be rewatching the "Succession" season 2 episode "Vaulter" and raising a glass of sparkling cider to the late, often-not-great Vice Media. Much of their coverage was not to my taste, but they also published some fantastic journalism, and its apparent demise is certainly the end of a very particular media era.
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