- RX for Change: The ABCs of Hospice and Palliative Care
January 7, 2019
Taken from page 10 of the January/February 2019 Newsletter
By Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD and Charlea T. Massion, MD
An 83-year- old woman dies on a ventilator in the ICU. She’s been hospitalized for five of the last six months of her life.
A 57-year-old woman with recurrent metastatic breast cancer develops cancer-related fluid inside her chest cavity. She ...
- Women’s Health in the Climate of Democracy in Chains
September 27, 2018
By Nancy Worcester and Mariamne Whatley
What happened? What’s happening? What can we do about it?
Like many women’s health activists, educators, and practitioners, we’ve spent the last two years agonizing over these questions. There have been too many moments when everything we care about and worked for seems to be under attack and each presidential appointment/nomination ...
- Rx for Change: Throw Away Your Opioids
September 12, 2018
Taken from Page 10 of the Summer 2018 Newsletter
By Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD, and Charlea T. Massion, MD
Adriane just had dental surgery and the surgeon provided a prescription for Tylenol with codeine. When she told him that opioids were not better than over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers for dental pain, the surgeon argued, “But it’s such a weak ...
- Cancer & Birth Control: Just Give Us the Facts
April 11, 2018
Article taken from page 14 of March/April Newsletter 2018
By Cindy Pearson
Legendary journalist Barbara Seaman co-founded the NWHN in 1975, in part due to her investigations into oral contraception’s serious health risks and doctors’ refusal to take women’s complaints seriously. Her work led to Congressional hearings and sparked the revolutionary idea that patients’ have the right ...
- Alternatives for Chronic Pain
January 5, 2018
Article taken from page 10 of January/February Newsletter 2018
By Adriane Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
We’ve previously discussed the risks of opioids, and how pharmaceutical companies have encouraged over-prescription of these drugs that has created an opioid addiction epidemic. But what’s a person in pain to do?
First of all, drop the idea that opioids are the best ...
- Obfuscating Opioid Risks
September 6, 2017
Article taken from pages 10-11 of September/October Newsletter 2017
By Adriane Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
Back when we were in training, more than 30 years ago, opioids were considered dangerous drugs that could cause addiction and life-threatening respiratory depression. Medical students were taught that opioids were very useful for end-of-life pain (especially for cancer, which can cause ...
- RX for Change: The Real Cost of EpiPen Shots? Peanuts!
May 9, 2017
The EpiPen is an automatic injection device (an “autoinjector”) for administering epinephrine, which can be life-saving for someone who is going into anaphylactic shock as a result of a severe allergic reaction. EpiPens have been available since 1980, but after Mylan Pharmaceuticals acquired the EpiPen from Merck, in 2007, it increased the price of two ...
- The Real Cost of Epi Pen Shots? Peanuts!
May 6, 2017
Article taken from pages 10-11 of May/June Newsletter 2017
By Adrianne Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
The EpiPen is an automatic injection device (an “autoinjector”) for administering epinephrine, which can be life-saving for someone who is going into anaphylactic shock as a result of a severe allergic reaction. EpiPens have been available since 1980, but after Mylan Pharmaceuticals ...
- RX for Change: Jane’s History Resonates
March 15, 2017
When I decided to write The Story of Jane, a history of Chicago’s underground, feminist abortion service that operated before Roe v. Wade, I had a few goals in mind: first, the Abortion Counseling service, aka Jane, was an important piece of the women’s movement’s history that needed to be better known. I also thought ...
- RX for Change: Death Panel? That Would Be You!
January 10, 2017
In 2016, California initiated the End of Life Option Act (EOLOA), becoming the 5th state to legalize medical aid in dying.1 (Colorado became the 6th later that year). California, with its 40 million citizens, may be the tipping point that catalyzes many more states to legalize this choice.
The EOLOA allows a mentally capable, terminally ill Californian ...
- Death Panel? That Would Be You!
January 6, 2017
Article taken from pages 10-11 of January/February Newsletter 2017
By Adrianne Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
In 2016, California initiated the End of Life Option Act (EOLOA), becoming the 5th state to legalize medical aid in dying. (Colorado became the 6th later that year). California, with its 40 million citizens, may be the tipping point that catalyzes many ...
- Letter to the Editor and Response
September 6, 2016
Article taken from pages 10-11 of September/October Newsletter 2016
Letter by Alice Fox
Response by Adrianne Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
Dear Editor,
I am writing as a health care provider, a public health professional and a patient who has been treated (on four separate occasions over decades) for chronic Hepatitis C infection. Drs. Fugh-Berman and Massion are incorrect in ...
- Hepatitis drugs and skyrocketing health care costs
January 6, 2016
Article taken from pages 10-11 of January/February Newsletter 2016
By Adrianne Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
U.S. drug prices are out of control and unsustainable. We’re the only developed country where public programs cannot negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers; as a result, the U.S. generally pays more for branded prescription drugs than any other country. In ...
- KEEPS on Keeping On
November 6, 2015
Article taken from page 4 of November/December Newsletter 2015
By Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD
The myth that menopausal hormone therapy prevents heart attack and dementia should have died a swift death after the definitive results of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) a dozen years ago. But the concept that hormones might prevent some disease —in some women, somewhere, ...
- Oncologists avoid using the best treatment for ovarian cancer
September 6, 2015
Article taken from pages 10-11 of September/October Newsletter 2015
By Adriane Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
Why is an ovarian cancer treatment that saves women’s lives being underused? Using intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy (infusing chemotherapy into the abdomen) along with intravenous chemotherapy (IV chemo, which is infused into veins) dramatically extends lives in women with ovarian cancer. Yet, a ...
- Binge-Eating Disorder: Another Invented Disease Brought to You by Pharma
May 6, 2015
Article taken from pages 10-11 of May/june Newsletter 2015
By Adrianne Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
Ever notice how dinner party hosts estimate portions based on their own appetites? Small eaters may leave their guests hungry; large eaters may have plenty of leftovers. Adriane’s in the latter category; her guests learn to enjoy her food in generous portions, ...
- Dying in America: Better than Ever?
January 6, 2015
Article taken from pages 10-11 of January/February Newsletter 2015
By Charlea Massion and Adriane Fugh-Berman
Happy New Year — how recently have you thought about dying? Do you already have an Advance Directive and designated health care proxy? If so, good work! If not, this column can help you complete one in 2015.
As described in renowned ...
- Diabetic Neuropathy
September 6, 2014
Article taken from pages 10-11 of the September/October Newsletter 2014
By Adriane Fugh-Berman and Charlea Massion
Diabetics often experience neuropathy (nerve pain or dysfunction); some people with diabetic neuropathy (DN) may be unaware of it because symptoms can be subtle. DN symptoms range from numbness or tingling to severe pain that interferes with daily activities and keeps ...
- Choosing Wisely on Getting a Bone Density Test
July 6, 2014
Article taken from pages 10-11 of the July/August Newsletter 2014
By Charlea T. Massion, MD &Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD
Recommendations about bone density (BD) testing have shifted over the last few years — we are proud to say, more toward what the NWHN has recommended for over a decade! This article reviews the BD testing recommendations from the ...
- Pass the Poop!
May 6, 2014
Article taken from pages 10-11 of the May/June Newsletter 2014
By Charlea Massion MD and Adriane Fugh-Berman MD
You’re crawling with germs – and that’s a good thing. All of us are coated inside and out with a complex protective film of microorganisms. If that film’s disrupted, the consequences can be devastating.
We tend to think of ourselves ...