Opinion | ‘We See Death as a Failure’: What We Heard This Week

“I think in medicine, just like in society, we see death as a failure — and we do everything we can to avoid failure.” — Shoshana Ungerleider, MD, president and founder of the nonprofit End Well, discussing death and dying.

“As Americans, we have greater exposure to food additives than any other country in the world.” — Kathleen Holton, PhD, MPH, of American University in Washington, D.C., who has studied artificial food dyes and adverse behavioral outcomes.

“It consumes more DHA [docosahexaenoic acid], like a specific engine that requires a specific oil to function.” — Hussein Yassine, MD, of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, on why brains of people with an APOE4 allele need more omega-3 fatty acids.

“Older doctors criticizing the work ethic of younger physicians can’t ignore the fact that the previous approach of putting your job first caused a lot of untoward consequences.” — Robert McNamara, MD, of Temple University in Philadelphia, discussing work-life balance in medicine.

“The most fundamental problem is that the majority of journals, even today, are not using a field that PubMed provided 7 years ago.” — Peter Lurie, MD, MPH, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., on how most PubMed journal articles are missing conflict of interest statements.

“Most patients want to initiate medication abortion when they first seek abortion care.” — Sheila Mody, MD, MPH, of UC San Diego Health, on a trial supporting an earlier start of medication abortion.

“We all want our children to have a good start in life, and reducing and restricting added sugar early is a powerful step in that direction.” — Tadeja Gracner, PhD, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, discussing limiting exposure to sugar in early life.

“President Trump talked about promises kept [in his victory speech] … This is how he can keep that promise, by keeping this policy in place.” — Anthony Wright, executive director for the nonprofit Families USA in Washington, D.C., on the Inflation Reduction Act’s uncertain future.

“We need to get serious about addressing the structural problems in the work environment that cause nurse distress rather than simply trying to teach nurses to better tolerate a broken system.” — Tait Shanafelt, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine in California, on the link between nurse burnout and reduced patient safety.