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January 26, 2025 Check out STAT+

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By Torie Bosch First Opinion editor

Well, I'm sick, yet again. People warned me that once my baby was in daycare, we would all constantly be sick, but somehow knowing it was going to happen hasn't made it any easier. If you have suggestions on how to make it through this cold and flu season, let me have 'em.  Recommendation of the week: All seasons of "Law & Order" are now on Hulu, so naturally I've started using them as background noise while doing other things. The early season episodes on abortion, parental medical rights, and even organ transplant may look a little dated, but they are a reminder that so much of what troubles us now has been that way for decades.

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Adobe Final sale: my eight-year struggle to return recalled breast implants After a voluntary double mastectomy to lower cancer risk, I learned that my breast implants put me at risk of lymphoma — and no one would remove them. By Oceana Callum The national decline in overdose deaths is leaving Black communities behind There has been a stunning 14% decline in the national overdose death rate. But that change isn't reflected among Black people. By Natrina L. Johnson and Miriam Komaromy Permitir a ICE en hospitales es una catástrofe de salud pública en desarrollo "Las incursiones de ICE en hospitales son un ataque directo a los principios fundamentales de la ética médica y la salud pública," escribe Eric Reinhart. By Eric Reinhart Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Allowing ICE in hospitals is a public health catastrophe in the making "ICE's incursions into hospitals are a direct attack on the foundational principles of medical ethics and public health," writes Eric Reinhart. By Eric Reinhart 'Rationing by inconvenience': Health insurers count on customers not appealing denials Far too many Americans to go without prescribed care because of the inconveniences and stresses of the insurance appeal process. By Miranda Yaver STAT+ | Three former FDA officials: Here's what Trump and his nominees need to know As former senior FDA officials, we hope that the new Trump leadership will retain three key characteristics of the world-leading agency. By Stuart Pape, Wayne Pines, and Mitch Zeller Adobe How Native Americans are working to improve federal dietary guidelines Former Navajo Nation president works to include plant-based principles of traditional Three Sisters diet — corn, beans, squash — in new dietary guidelines. By Jonathan Nez What we learned after four years of offering street medicine By unlocking existing revenue streams, it is possible to meet the health care needs of the unhoused population. By Indu Subaiya and Benjamin Kaska Medicare drug price negotiations need something new: a floor Setting a floor that reflects the value of a drug to patients would reward innovators for improving patients' lives. By Darius Lakdawalla Molly Ferguson for STAT World Health Organization responds to a critical First Opinion Ashish Jha's recent First Opinion essay "includes numerous inaccuracies, omissions, and misrepresentations," a WHO leader writes. By Maria D. Van Kerkhove

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