Health Archives - The National Memo

Medical Ethics Expert Slams ‘Rosy’ Report On Trump’s Health

February 10, 2019 5:07 pm

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

An expert on medical ethics slammed Donald Trump’s doctor, Dr. Sean Conley, for claiming the president is expected to remain “in very good health” for “the duration of his Presidency, and beyond,” the Washington Post reports.

Dr. Conley made the claim about Trump’s health in a memorandum released Friday by the White House, after the president saw a “panel of 11 board certified specialists” over the course of four hours.

But according to medical ethics expert Arthur R. Caplan, who works at New York University, Conley’s “speculation is both unnecessary and smacks of politically rosy glasses skewing age and weight and diet.”

“We need to know is Trump capable of the office now — not in his second term,” Caplan told the Post.…

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How Harris Wofford Changed Our History

January 27, 2019 4:36 am

Reprinted with permission from Creators.

In 1960, when John F. Kennedy was running for the White House against Richard Nixon, winning Democratic presidential tickets still depended on the backing of segregationist party colleagues in the Southern states.

In October of that year, when Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail on a trumped-up traffic charge in Georgia, his wife, Coretta, then five months pregnant, was legitimately worried about her husband’s safety and survival. Kennedy’s Southern backers told him not to intervene. But after the persistent advocacy of Harris Wofford and Wofford’s close friend Sargent Shriver (JFK’s brother-in-law), Kennedy — ignoring the arguments of his own campaign leadership, including his brother Robert — called Mrs.…

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A Case Study: How GOP And Trump Deregulators Are Killing Workers

January 25, 2019 2:54 am

Reprinted with permission from DCReport.

Reuters reporters Julia Harte and Peter Eisler have assembled a powerful investigative article on how “the Trump administration’s plan to weaken the beryllium rule offers a case study in the renewed power businesses can wield in the regulatory process.”

OSHA’s standard to protect workers from the disabling and deadly effects of beryllium exposure was issued in the waning days of the Obama administration. Exposure to beryllium dust causes chronic beryllium disease and lung cancer. Symptoms include difficulty breathing/shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, joint pain, cough and fever. Over time it may lead to disability and death.…

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Trumpcare's Medicaid Cutbacks Will Bring The Real Death Panels

State officials will have to inflict illness and death on people whose only crime is having no money -- or as Sarah Palin put it, those who fail the Republican test of “their level of productivity in society.” Those politicians and their appointees who implement the new Medicaid rules will become the real death panels.

Trump's Broken Promise Will Doom Thousands Of His Voters

Back when the president’s health reform plan first passed, Republicans and their media echoes warned loudly about mythical “death panels” embedded in his legislation. Now, the voters who believed that nonsense are about to meet the real death panel -- led by Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate leader Mitch McConnell, and Rep. Tom Price, the Georgia Republican slated to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trump Administration Moves To Block Access To Health Insurance

The Trump administration is moving to make it harder for you to get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The net effect of the proposals would be significantly greater regulatory and paperwork burdens for both consumers and health insurance exchanges, the opposite of Trump’s promise during the campaign and since taking office.