Planet RFK Jr.

Plus: The recovery community says it offers refuge from opioid addiction. But it's still hostile to lifesaving addiction medications

November 16, 2024 Check out STAT+

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Matt Rourke/AP RFK Jr. as potential HHS secretary Earlier this week, President-elect Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the nation's top health care job, leading the Department of Health and Human Services. Let's get into what we know so far: Could RFK Jr. strip legal protections from vaccine makers as HHS Secretary? How did the biotech and research industry respond to the nomination? Industry veterans, investors, lab leaders, and others were in some cases shocked and deeply disillusioned by the announcement. With a push from RFK Jr., baseless fears about fluoride go mainstream. Moderate GOP Senators: Don't ask me about confirming RFK Jr. RFK Jr. is crowdsourcing candidates for Trump administration health policy jobs. We're in for a long ride following RFK Jr.'s role in government. Keep up with our politics newsletter here.

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Chantal Heijnen for STAT 'What's your pain right now?' Sickle cell, loss, and survival in America She was 41, and had spent too much time in the hospital. Sometimes, she didn't even tell her mom she was here. She didn't want to worry her. Now, a nurse unscrewed her IV from the fluid drip, attached a syringe in its place. Slowly, carefully, she pushed the plunger in, sending a stream of opioids into Clemons' arm. Read more. By Eric Boodman Mike Belleme for STAT The recovery community says it offers refuge from opioid addiction. But it's still hostile to lifesaving addiction medications  Programs like Narcotics Anonymous are where parents send children for addiction recovery; where judges send defendants; where religious leaders send congregants; and where bosses send employees. But in dozens of interviews, former Narcotics Anonymous participants and residents of sober living homes, detox facilities, and rehab centers described a culture that ignores medical consensus and silences dissent.  Read more. By Lev Facher More in the War on Recovery Switzerland had a drug overdose crisis. Then it made methadone easy to get. Barriers to methadone treatment:  Inside one woman's journey to obtain her daily methadone dose. Buprenorphine and prevention of hospitalization: Higher doses help more people stay in treatment. Everyone deserves addiction treatment that works, writes Nora Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse. DEA waiver on telehealth prescribing of buprenorphine expires this year: Lawmakers push for finalization of telemedicine rule.

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