Category: Conditions

Critical care in critical moments: Anesthesiologists play a vital role in maternal health

Maternal mortality crisis in the U.S. The U.S. faces a significant maternal health crisis, with alarmingly high maternal mortality rates compared to other developed nations. As of 2022, the overall maternal mortality rate was 22.3 deaths per 100,000 li…

How a nurse’s journey through trauma inspires hope and kindness

A former ICU nurse and close friend told me tonight that she wanted to start the new year on a positive note. I nodded, trying to absorb her optimism, but deep down, it felt like an impossible belief to hold onto. Earlier in the evening, I finished wat…

Sweden’s controversial COVID-19 strategy: lessons from higher mortality rates

Sweden is being touted as an example of a successful fight against COVID-19 without imposing strict social isolation measures. While it is true that Sweden was one of the few countries that did not impose severe lockdown protocols and procedures, how d…

Finding voices with AI: a call to developers, administrators, and corporations to support ethical speech therapy

As a speech-language pathologist, I’ve dedicated my career to helping people find their voices—sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. Whether I’m working with children struggling to develop language, adults recovering from strokes or …

How a systems approach can revolutionize pain and depression treatment

As a health care writer and patient advocate for over 27 years, I have interacted with thousands of patients who experience chronic severe pain, caregivers who support struggling family members, and clinicians who treat painful conditions. Depression a…

How attention therapy transforms speech delay in young children

In order to develop good speech and conversation skills, a child must pay attention to the speaker and respond back when spoken to. The importance of sustained attention, listening to, and focusing on another person by the young child is often overlook…

The hidden crisis: congenital heart diseases in low and middle-income countries

The cries of a newborn baby are usually a sign of life and hope, but for many families in low and middle-income countries, these cries can signal the beginning of a long and arduous journey. Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are a significant health bur…

Insurance denied her a voice, but this doctor wouldn’t back down

Our nation and the health care industry have been in shock following the assassination of the CEO of one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. The brazen killing of Brian Thompson and the suspected shooter Luigi Mangione has captured America&#…

How unclaimed bodies are fueling a medical ethics firestorm

Last September, NBC News aired a one-sided report on the arrangement between a county coroner and a medical school apropos the transfer of unclaimed corpses with reportedly inadequate effort to find family. In addition to a grieving family, an academic…

The hidden grief of Black fathers after pregnancy loss

In the United States, as many as 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage (before the end of the twentieth week of pregnancy) and approximately 1 percent in stillbirth (after the twentieth week, including time of delivery). Parents who experi…