Longer Looks: Silicon Valley Suicides; Living With HIV; Texas Abortion Law
Each week, KHN's Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
The Atlantic:
The Silicon Valley Suicides
In the other classrooms of Henry M. Gunn High School, about 1,900 kids waited. After a few minutes the teachers filed out, each holding a sheet of paper, none talking. ... The teacher read a statement containing the words took his own life last night, and then a name, Cameron Lee. ... That morning, the school district’s superintendent, Glenn “Max” McGee, called Kim Diorio, the principal of the system’s other public high school, Palo Alto High, to warn her, “This is going to hit everyone really hard.” ... The 10-year suicide rate for the two high schools is between four and five times the national average. Starting in the spring of 2009 and stretching over nine months, three Gunn students, one incoming freshman, and one recent graduate had put themselves in front of an oncoming Caltrain. Another recent graduate had [hanged] himself. (Hanna Rosin, 11/16)
The New Yorker:
Helping Hand
In late October, when the Apple TV was relaunched, Bandit’s Shark Showdown was among the first apps designed for the platform. The game stars a young dolphin with anime-huge eyes, who battles hammerhead sharks with bolts of ruby light. ... Bandit’s Shark Showdown’s creators, Omar Ahmad, Kat McNally, and Promit Roy, work for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and made the game in conjunction with a neuroscientist and neurologist, John Krakauer, who is trying to radically change the way we approach stroke rehabilitation. Ahmad told me that their group has two ambitions: to create a successful commercial game and to build “artistic technologies to help heal John’s patients.” A sister version of the game is currently being played by stroke patients with impaired arms. (Karen Russell, 11/23)
Vox:
It’s Not Just Charlie Sheen. People Living With HIV Still Face Enormous Stigma And Hate.
After four years of living with HIV, actor Charlie Sheen came out to the world as HIV positive on the Today show on Tuesday. In telling his story, Sheen noted the fear he faced prior to coming out — paying people millions just to keep quiet. Beyond Sheen's case, this is a story that's still all too common for people living with HIV. In fact, with modern medical advances, the most frightening part of HIV is often not the disease but the stigma it entails. To exemplify that struggle, here are the stories of eight people living with HIV. (German Lopez, 11/17)
The Washington Post:
When Medical Care Is Delivered In 15-Minute Doses, There’s Not Much Time For Caring
I have 15 minutes. I’m generally not happy that, as an internist who works for a large medical group (most of us do now), I’m instructed to conform to this assigned length for visits with my patients. ... But the pressure to keep to the time limit is felt primarily by the doctor, who must stick to the schedule or expect the 3 p.m. patient to come in unhappy about the wait. ... Most patients, though, don’t present a single problem that can be addressed with a targeted answer. The 15-minute visit shortchanges those patients while frustrating the doctors who want to help make them well. (Dr. Michael Stein, 11/13)
The Atlantic:
Texas Women Are Inducing Their Own Abortions
Between 100,000 and 240,000 Texas women between the ages of 18 and 49 have tried to end a pregnancy by themselves, according to a pair of surveys released Tuesday by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a University of Texas-based effort aimed at determining the impact of the state’s reproductive policies. The figure was found by asking an online, representative sample of 779 women whether they themselves or whether their best friends had ever tried to self-induce an abortion. Of the Texas women surveyed, 1.7 percent said they had performed an abortion on themselves, but 4.1 percent of them said their best friend had or they suspected she had. (Olga Khazan, 11/17)
Aeon:
Saved By The Book
Most people enter the self-help realm while planning a personal improvement project, a kind of steam-cleaning of the soul. I fell into it by mistake. Maybe the allusion to a familiar poem was what made me pull M Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled (1978) off my parents’ shelf as a young teen. In any case, I was hooked. Beset by typical middle school problems – bullies, fickle friends, chronic wallflower-dom – I was intrigued by the claim of this psychiatrist from Connecticut that suffering could have a noble and necessary purpose, as long as you showed the fortitude to tackle your issues head-on. … Standard-bearers such as Peck and Pipher made me feel that I could read my way to a better life. And as it turns out, my teenage conviction might not have been too far off the mark. Studies show that self-help books can resolve readers’ depressed moods, change ingrained thought patterns, and instill a renewed zest for life – as long as the advice within is scientifically sound. (Elizabeth Svoboda, 11/16)
Modern Healthcare:
Prescribing A Climate Remedy: Healthcare Leaders Aim To Affect International Climate Change Negotiations
Improving the health of populations, enhancing the patient experience and lowering the cost of care are the underpinnings of the so-called triple aim that practically every provider has adopted over the past few years. While some of the largest and most progressive-leaning systems like Kaiser Permanente and Partners HealthCare have pursued ways to address climate change, it's rare to find that explicit mission or business plan at the thousands of other hospitals, doctor groups, health insurers, device companies or drugmakers. (Herman, 11/14)