Viewpoints: The value of testing for prostate cancer; rewards for transplant donors; Calif.'s medical marijuana problem

Oct 12 2011

USA Today: Editorial: If PSA Test Saves Lives, Averages Don't Matter
For men older than 50, a simple blood test to screen for prostate cancer is as much a part of annual physicals as weigh-ins and stethoscopes. The PSA test is painless, inexpensive and the only way to detect the disease -; the most common male cancer -; before symptoms turn up (10/10).

USA Today: Opposing View: PSA Screening Can Lead To Harm
After 10 years, we still have no clear evidence that we are saving lives. While each of these studies has weaknesses, the reality is that if there is significant benefit, it should have been apparent by now, and it is not. This was not the news anyone hoped for. And, unfortunately, screening can lead to harm (Dr. Virginia Moyer, 10/10).

Bloomberg: Web Bone-Marrow Bounty Takes On Paid-Donor Ban
When Amit Gupta told his friends a few weeks ago that he had acute leukemia and needed a bone- marrow transplant, the word spread quickly. … (Seth Godin, the best-selling author and marketing guru) wrote a post on his own blog offering to pay $10,000 to anyone who became a match for Gupta and made the stem-cell donation, or to give the money to that person's favorite charity. … There was only one problem. The offer was illegal (Virginia Postrel, 10/10).

Los Angeles Times: Autism Treatment Law Again Shows Insurers' Need For Therapy
Cost is at the forefront of why health insurers had balked at including coverage for treatments associated with autism, which requires not just medical care but also extensive educational, behavioral and vocational support (David Lazarus, 10/11).

Forbes: Higher Health Insurance Premiums This Year? Blame 'ObamaCare'
These premium hikes have outpaced general inflation and salary increases -; and thus are swallowing a greater share of American households' budgets. A study published in the September 2011 issue of Health Affairs found that burgeoning health costs have decimated nearly an entire decade's worth of income gains. In 2009, the average American family had just $95 more to spend at will than it did in 1999. ... ObamaCare is to blame for much of these impending increases. Richard Foster, the Chief Actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), reports that America will spend an additional $311 billion on health care in the next decade because of the law (Sally Pipes, 10/10).

The Sacramento Bee: State Needs To Clean Up Medical Marijuana Mess
Medical marijuana in California is an utter mess, a mockery of what most voters intended when they approved Proposition 215 in 1996. It was supposed to be a nonprofit enterprise, but has spawned a $1.5 billion industry in which networks of storefront dispensaries and large growing operations are reaping millions of dollars. … The first-in-the-nation law was supposed to allow "compassionate use" to ease the pain and suffering of people with cancer or AIDS. Instead, it's so easy to get a recommendation for "medical" marijuana that, according to the first statewide study, many patients are using pot to relieve headaches and anxiety, and to sleep and relax. The law has been so corrupted that the feds are cracking down (10/11).

Archives of Neurology: Treat Alzheimer Disease Before It Is Symptomatic
It is incumbent on the (Alzheimer Disease) research community to educate our colleagues, the public, and regulatory agencies to accept that it is necessary to treat AD before it is symptomatic. Alzheimer disease therapies must be allowed to be given in rigorous, phase-1 clinical trials to individuals who have progressive memory loss or mild cognitive impairment, before they are diagnosed with dementia due to AD, when preventive therapy has a chance to succeed (Dr. Roger N. Rosenberg, 10/11).