Diet and Nutrition. Natural Health, and Healthy Living

Medical Sociology Online (MSo) invites submissions of papers for publication.

Papers which are within the scope of medical sociology or sociology of health and illness will be considered for publication.

For further details for authors, or to view copies of previous issues of Medical Sociology Online (MSo) please view the MSo website:
http://www.medicalsociologyonline.org/index.html

The e-mail address to submit papers or communicate with the editorial team is: MSo@liv.ac.uk

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Two recent events made me think about how traditional medical care and medical education address the issue of compassion.

The first was at the annual dinner for the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center when they gave out their annual Compassionate Caregiver Award, and reviewed the accomplishments of previous awardees. These individuals have all made remarkable differences in the lives of patients and families through their empathy and personal connections.

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At least 40 health bloggers plan to post a notice about Engage With Grace: The One Slide Project this Thanksgiving weekend. The Health Care Blog thanks them for their support.

Matthew and Alexandra Drane, CEO of Eliza Corp., came up with the idea after discovering they shared a similar interest in improving end-of-life care. Watch the video below to learn more about Alex's sister-in-law's end-of-life journey that inspired this campaign.

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The fantastic Morbid Anatomy Blog has a great poston a new online exhibitionat the University of Cambridge, organized and produced by Nick Hopwood and Tatjana Burklijas with funding from (who else?) the Wellcome Trust. Excerpt:

The "Making Visible Embryos"web exhibit approaches a complex, wide-spanning subject engagingly and clearly without ever oversimplifying the subject matter. It is well-designed with heavily (and beautifully) illustrated pages (see above; visit the websiteto find out more about each image.)
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The morning after the election, I posted a speculative blog in Health Affairs on three possible scenarios for President-elect Obama’s implementing health reform: folding it into a bold, ambitious emergency legislative package (Complete the New Deal), carving funding out of the current $2.5 trillion national health spend (Braveheart), and postponing implementation until the economy recovers but taking steps now to prepare for it (Wait/Lay the Groundwork).

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Taxing cigarettes is the single-most effective way to lower smoking rates, particularly among youth. And if we could lower smoking rates, we'd save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollarseach year.

Good Magazine demonstrates this strong correlation on a state-by-state basis in a fantastic interactive graphic. Go check it out.

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I've got news for the folks doing the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' survey: Smaller businesses, especially those defined as true small businesses with two to 50 full-time employees, are strapped beyond belief when it comes to paying ever-higher premiums for health care.

The survey's results are NOT indicative of what is happening in the small group market (much like the Kaiser Family Foundation's (KFF) annual survey on total premium and the portions shared by employees, which always makes me laugh. The employees at my businesses would kill to have the low percentage of total premium passed on to them that is reported in the KFF survey).

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John Sinibaldi, a well-respected health insurance agent in St. Petersburg, Fla., has become prominent in Florida's broker community because he counsels and services a large book of small business clients and studiously tracks the macro trends that impact coverage for this population. And he's active in the state's regulatory and legislative activities.

The other day I dropped him Jane Sarasohn-Kahn's post that reported on International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' survey showing that most employers still want to be involved with health care. John responded with a long description of what the small employers he works with are up against. It's an illuminating, damning piece. I asked him whether I could post it, and he graciously agreed.

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The Madwoman and the Blindman: Jane Eyre and Disability Edited by David Bolt, Julia Miele Rodas, and Elizabeth J. Donaldson

This book is the first to examine Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre from a disability studies approach. Offering an appreciation and analysis of the ways in which disability, disfigurement, mental illness, cognitive alterity, addiction, and related ideas figure in this classic text, the aim of The Madwoman and the Blindman is to collect substantial essays by literary and cultural scholars to contribute to the growing discipline of disability studies. In order to achieve this aim, the proposed book will draw on theory and criticism in literary, cultural, gender, Victorian, film, and disability studies, bringing together essays that offer fresh insights into Brontë’s classic nineteenth-century novel.

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Zeke Emanuel and Shannon Brownlee have an op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Post that should be required reading for anyone interested in health care reform.

The title is, “5 Myths About Our Ailing Health Care System.”

They suggest the “5 Myths” are:

America has the best health care in the world.Somebody else is paying for your health insurance.We would save a lot if we could cut the administrative waste of private insurance.Health-care reform is going to cost a bundle.Americans aren’t ready for a major overhaul of the health–care system.

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