The New York Times

The New York Times • 16th January 2016

How Measurement Fails Doctors and Teachers

Two of our most vital industries, health care and education, have become increasingly subjected to metrics and measurements. Of course, we need to hold professionals accountable. But the focus on numbers has gone too far. We’re hitting the targets, but missing the point.

The New York Times • 26th September 2015

How Surgery Can Fight Global Poverty

Earlier this year in Madagascar, a man in his 60s named Sambany made international news after volunteer surgeons from Mercy Ships removed a 16-pound tumor from his face. For decades, he had sought treatment at 10 hospitals, most of which lacked surgeons. He was ostracized, then physically unable to work. His family had to sell a rice field just to pay for the cost of getting to the hospital (the surgery itself was provided free).

Earlier this week, the United Nations adopted 17 proposed sustain

The New York Times • 12th November 2015

The Stealth Attack on Abortion Access

A year ago, a mother and self-described “God-fearing woman” called me after she had an abortion. She said that earlier, when she found herself unexpectedly pregnant, she drove straight to what she thought was a comprehensive health care provider near her home in Columbus, Ohio. When she asked about abortion, the staff told her she shouldn’t murder her child. Ohio requires an ultrasound before an abortion, so the woman listened to the staff’s condemnations, taking them to heart, crying. She told me later, “I didn’t know where else to go.”

The New York Times • 19th April 2021

Giving Up My Small-Town Fantasy

A few weeks ago, after a Pilates class in a studio above my former office, I rolled up a mat while the teacher spoke to another student, someone who seemed new in town — a potential friend. Lingering near the exercise bikes, I pretended to stretch, and then edged in to the conversation.

“So,” I said, “what brings you to Hudson?”

What brings you to Hudson? It is the question that I have asked myself ever since I moved from San Francisco to upstate New York at the end of 2012. Even longtime resi

The New York Times • 27th August 2015

Let Fear Guide Early Stage Breast-Cancer Decisions

Two patients, I’ll call them Sara and Janine, both learned that they had ductal carcinoma in situ (D.C.I.S.), often referred to as Stage 0 breast cancer. Both underwent lumpectomies in their early 50s. Told that worrisome cells were found, both had another surgery. Then a third surgery was recommended.

Sara decided she would rather live with the risk. Janine had the opposite response. “Let’s get this all out,” she said.

Each is certain she made the best decision, but can both of them be right?

The New York Times • 21st March 2015

Why Health Care Tech Is Still So Bad

Last year, I saw an ad recruiting physicians to a Phoenix-area hospital. It promoted state-of-the-art operating rooms, dazzling radiology equipment and a lovely suburban location. But only one line was printed in bold: “No E.M.R.”

The New York Times • 28th January 2014

Comparing Obamacare to Its Alternative

FROM the moment the ink dried on March 23, 2010, Republicans said they intended to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. They have voted more than 40 times to wipe the law from the books. But Republicans have never gotten around to describing, in detail, the set of policies they believe should replace Obamacare. That is, until yesterday.

The New York Times • 19th August 2014

Let’s Not Talk About Sex

Why are adolescents and their parents embracing meningococcal and Tdap vaccines but not the HPV vaccine? One possible explanation is a clash between perception and reality, People just don’t understand how serious an infection HPV can be. In a typical year in the United States about 150 people die from meningococcus, four from tetanus, none from diphtheria, 20 from pertussis, and roughly 4,000 from cancers caused by HPV. People are more than 20 times more likely to die from HPV than from the oth

The New York Times • 27th March 2014

Remembering How to Fight Measles

The measles vaccine is a victim of its own success.

In 1963, when the vaccine first came into existence, measles virus infected about three million people a year in the United States, hospitalized 48,000 and killed 500. By the turn of the 21st century, however, measles infections had been virtually eliminated. Unfortunately, because some parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children, measles is coming back. Last year, nearly 200 cases were reported.