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Going Beyond Guns: More Questions About Newtown, CT, Massacre

The last 15 years of research on how adverse childhood experiences cause adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence is unequivocal. To understand what happened to Adam Lanza, we have to ask difficult questions.

Short of Cash, States Cut Back on HIV/AIDS Drugs for the Poor

States cut back on HIV/AIDS drugs for the poor, Nevada's smoking ban lowers heart attacks and stroke, and a Medicaid success story, plus more in our Daily Briefing.

Banning Chocolate Milk In School: Could It Really Prevent Child Obesity?

Banning chocolate milk in schools, a newspaper's searing assisted living investigation and more from our Daily Briefing.

It's Flu Season: Do You Know Where Your Community Stands?

The recent snowpocalypses around the country reminded me that if you haven’t taken a look at what the current flu season is like in your community, it’s a good time to do so. I like how the Miami Herald’s Fred Tasker set the scene for the 2010-2011 in this Q&A piece.

Medical Marijuana, on the Taxpayers' Dime

Why are taxpayers footing the bill for a Florida man's medical marijuana? Answers and more from our Daily Briefing.

Pill mills, puncture wounds and the Philly mob: More of Antidote's favorite health stories of 2010

Last week, I started listing Antidote’s 10 favorite stories of the past year, in no particular order. Here is the rest of the list.

“Dialysis: High Costs and Hidden Perils of a Treatment Guaranteed to All,” Robin Fields, ProPublica, November 2010

As Insurance Runs Out, A Diabetic Journalist Fears for His Life

Robert Steinback is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Miami Herald columnist who was laid off in 2008. His COBRA health insurance ends in January, and, because he has diabetes, no insurer will offer him an individual policy. Other alternatives, such as a HIPAA policy, are prohibitively expensive.

Frustrated by his lack of options, Steinback published a heartfelt column in the St. Petersburg Times. Here’s how it began:

COBRA bites back as insurance subsidies end

Lots of coverage today as federal subsidies for expensive COBRA insurance expire, throwing many laid-off workers into financial peril. Kathy Kristof of the Los Angeles Times reports that in California, an advocacy group has estimated that "the average monthly COBRA premium for a family plan is now about $1,107, or about 82% of the monthly unemployment benefit."

While Congress is mulling an extension of the subsidy, money's tight. Kristof writes:

Could Health Reform Worsen Doctor Shortages?

The United States is already experiencing a shortage of doctors and nurses in some specialties, notably primary care. But significant health reform could make that shortage even worse, some fear.  

For all the plaudits Massachusetts received for its health reform efforts, it also experienced a noticeable shortage in healthcare professionals, according to a Miami Herald story.

Here’s an excerpt:

Doctors Behaving Badly: Florida cardiologist gets caught fibbing in federal case

Medical malpractice cases can live or die on the testimony of an expert witness. Defense
attorneys will go after the expert's credentials with every tool in their kit.

One would think that plaintiff's attorneys suing the federal government on behalf of a
patient would make sure they had a doctor with impeccable experience ready to take the stand and bolster the patient's case.

Instead, they hired Dr. Alex T. Zakharia.

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