My mom was indeed informed by her primary that he wouldn’t order a colonoscopy at her request when she was in her early 80’s.
some of these teachers died without being in the classroom at the time they caught covid. I know that I have read those articles locally. Not all, but some. Cant the same thing be said for other public servants, and othe professions as well.?
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Well, this is company the US does not want to be in…the US is not on track to have 70% of the population vaxed by mid-2022 (WHO’s goal).
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Recommendation: Colorectal Cancer: Screening | United States Preventive Services Taskforce gives a C grade for colorectal cancer screening for ages 76-85 and says that “In determining whether this service is appropriate in individual cases, patients and clinicians should consider the patient’s overall health, prior screening history, and preferences.” Presumably, that is based on questions like (a) is the patient likely to die earlier than a newly discovered colorectal cancer will kill them, and (b) if a newly discovered colorectal cancer would shorten remaining life expectancy, is the patient able to handle whatever treatment needed for the colorectal cancer?
Of course, the calculation would be different for vaccination or treatment against COVID-19, which could kill quickly or leave long term health problems (long COVID) that significantly reduce the quality of remaining life.
And of the 15 European countries above, 13 have pretty much half the population boosted, with the two “outliers” at 40%. The US is an abysmal 27%.
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Japan has a high population density, and was late to the vax table, but still kept their deaths to 5% of the US. Can we just get the answer in the back of the book from them?
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So this chart is showing the US is performing worse than some 3rd world countries? Nice.
Never thought the WHO might start sending envoys to our neighborhoods.
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Yep. It’s a failing on so many levels. And…the vaccine (and booster) reluctance problem here has nothing to do with access/supply.
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I simply can’t imagine that the benefits of chemotherapy outweigh the risks for an 88-year-old who is otherwise healthy. Surgery, sure. Radiation, maybe. But I had chemo at 48 and you’d have to have a pretty significant reduction in absolute risk reduction of metastasis for me to do it again. In most cases of breast cancer, it’s a marginal reduction, the surgery is the important part.
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There’s a COVID-19 Physicians Memorial page on FB. Too many to count.
Is that a surprise?
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Whoops just saw that you already posted this.
You’re right - just looked her up. Short duration hormonal therapy, not chemotherapy.
The point was that older people are still getting mammograms, getting diagnosed, and getting treatment. We shouldn’t give up on them. Their lives are important.
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Life expectancy for an 83 year old female is currently another 8 years (google search) and her screening history was scant. Now, thankfully, my mom has already had those extra years w/o experiencing colon cancer (which I understand is a horrible way to die). I have no idea what the risks of the procedure would have been relative to, say, her mastectomy five years later. But apparently the mastectomy was ok to do while the colonoscopy was not. There were no underlying health issues complicating the procedure and the patient had requested it. She was in excellent health then and she remains so today. I’m sure the primary provider was just following the rules; I believe she found a new provider shortly after that conversation. ETA He had also told her that any colon cancer found wouldn’t be treated anyway but that they’d just “let the disease take its course.” I’m glad her oncologist didn’t say the same thing five years later!
This has been addressed in several articles. Here’s one: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/opinion/japan-covid.html
- very early recognition (Feb 2020) that the virus was spread by aerosols and by asymptomatic people
- use of retrospective contact tracing, leading to early recognition of role of super-spreading events/persons
- early, omnipresent advice to the public that people should avoid the three Cs, which are closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings. Good social cohesion meant that people actually followed this advice, even in the absence of mandates or lockdowns.
From the article: “That message — to avoid the three C’s — was actionable without being alarmist and prescribed a solution that could outlast changing circumstances. It worked because of an underlying trust between the public and pandemic responders.”
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With declining trust levels and increasing social and political division in the US, it is unlikely that any situation requiring consensus among the population can be successful in the US. Non-medical measures against COVID-19 are an example of such a situation that the US failed at handling.
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Thanks for sharing the NYT opinion piece.
It’s interesting that masking, while maybe a recommended action stemming from the 3 C’s, was hardly emphasized in the article. Because the author lives in Japan, but writing for a mostly-American audience, it makes me wonder if he/Japan really understand how horrible we are at masking, even when “compliant.”
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My church group threw our monthly birthday party at the youth detention center last night. I always keep a KN95 mask in my purse, but I left my purse at home so I wouldn’t have to put it in a locker. Figures, because the staff said I couldn’t come in without a KN95 mask unless I had proof of vaccination, which I’d also left at home. Fortunately, they found a mask for me. There were three young men at the party, and I noticed they wore only the flimsy masks. Another staff person said they’ve had only two cases among all the kids so far! Even she was amazed by that. She said each time someone new comes in, they are isolated for 10 days and tested several times. It’s been a hard year at the facility, because volunteers were kept out over a year. The kids have gotten awfully bored, and then they got in trouble. People are screaming that the facility should be closed down, but they have no suggestions where these kids should be placed. Their crimes are a little more serious than stealing bikes, apparently.
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I noticed that omission as well, and I’m not sure what to make of it. It would have been easy for the author to include a short phrase about Japan’s pre-pandemic culture of masking during cold and flu season – and, yes, masking with high quality, well-fitting “surgical” masks.
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Yup. Masking is quite natural there.
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