Celebrating Fourth of July freedoms

Each week First Opinion celebrates Americans' ability to speak their minds.

July 7, 2024 Check out STAT+

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By Patrick Skerrett Editor, First Opinion

While every week is a good week for celebrating the freedoms that Americans enjoy — and often take for granted — Fourth of July week is an especially appropriate one. I am especially grateful that we can speak our minds, even if it runs counter to what leaders would prefer us to say. I try to capture that in First Opinion. This week, Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, who has been reporting on the health of presidents and presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan was running to occupy the Oval Office in 1980, makes the case for why President Joe Biden needs a full medical evaluation — and why voters deserve to know the results. A primary care physician calls on Medicare to take care when deciding whether to cover the new weight loss drugs for older adults. Sen. Dick Durbin and FTC chair Lina Khan explain a crackdown on patent shenanigans by pharmaceutical companies. And more. This week's First Opinion Podcast explores the racist science of psychologist Richard Lynn and asks why scientific journals are so reluctant to retract his egregious work. As ever, if you have an idea for First Opinion, or a polished essay, please send it to first.opinion@statnews.com.

Scott Olson/Getty Images President Biden needs a full medical evaluation. Voters deserve to know the results Doctor with 40 years experience in presidential health says Biden debate performance shows need for an examination: normal aging or neurological condition? By Lawrence K. Altman Medicare should wait on approving coverage for new obesity drugs The new anti-obesity drugs have been tested in few older people. Medicare may be right not covering them until more is known about this group. By Alissa S. Chen Senate, FTC cracking down on pharma patent shenanigans In this First Opinion essay, FTC Chair Lina Khan and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin urge action on drug company patent abuse as a way to lower high drug costs. By Dick Durbin and Lina M. Khan Listen: Why is eugenics still alive and well in scientific publishing? This week's episode of the First Opinion Podcast explores the racist research of Richard Lynn and why journals are reluctant to retract it. By Patrick Skerrett Psychiatrists aren't fulfilling the social contract that subsidized their training Psychiatrists who won't see patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid, which supported their training, are violating a social contract. By Richard G. Frank My stalled relay race to get access to ALS drugs in development Trying to get access to drugs in development for ALS through the FDA's expanded access program has been like a terribly uneven relay race. By Lynn Brielmaier Adobe STAT+ | Can the National Institutes of Health navigate multiple storms and rebuild its bipartisan support? Several calls for reforming the NIH may be difficult for the agency to fend off without making some concessions. By Nick Manetto The rare pediatric disease voucher program creates new treatments. I have new data to prove it A few naysayers in Congress dispute the effectiveness of the rare pediatric disease voucher program. NORD has data showing it works. By Pamela K. Gavin

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