The criminal trial of Don Blankenship ended this week with a guilty verdict on one of the three charges against the former Massey Energy CEO. The reaction from family members and reflections from Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward make up my favorite quotes from this final week of the trial.
In 2011, a group of researchers embarked on a national study to measure burnout among physicians. They found that 45 percent of U.S. doctors met the criteria for burnout, which manifests as emotional exhaustion, a loss of meaning in one’s work, feelings of ineffectiveness, and a tendency to see people as objects rather than fellow humans. Less than a handful of years later, the problem has gotten significantly worse.
I usually shy away from getting too personal in my work. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving and as a new mom, I was thinking about things for which I’m particularly grateful. One of the first things that came to mind as a public health reporter? Vaccines. So, in that vein, let’s celebrate some new and promising numbers on the worldwide effort to eliminate measles.
As many of us indulged in Thanksgiving meals last week, NPR’s Planet Money podcast and WAMU’s Metro Connection shared stories on ways food banks are using technology to improve food distribution.
The criminal trial of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is in its eighth week. Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette continues to provide updates from the courtroom, but far fewer now that most of the action is behind closed doors where the jury is deliberating.
Affordable Care Act
Study: Medicaid, CHIP score higher than private insurance on access to kids’ preventive care
Public health insurance programs often get a bad rap, despite a growing positive evidence base on their patient care, quality and outcomes. Earlier this month, another study emerged that found Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program not only outperform private insurance when it comes to children’s preventive care, they can serve as a model of comprehensive children’s coverage.
Manufacturing workers in the border city of Ciudad Juárez organize for better working conditions; a stretched OSHA struggles to ensure safe workplaces in Houston; Fight for $15 makes it to the U.S. Capitol; and OSHA investigates the death of a FedEx worker in Memphis.
A business consulting firm submitted comments to OSHA on the agency’s proposed beryllium rule. The firm calls out OSHA for offering way too many regulatory alternatives. It suggest OSHA return to its past practice of proposing a particular approach (or two) and justifying it.
Researchers in China identified a gene that confers resistance to a last-resort antibiotic, and then found that gene in E. coli isolates from raw meat samples, pigs, and 16% of hospital patients with infections.
The criminal trial of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship went into its seventh week. The jurors heard from the prosecution’s 27th (and final witness) and heard the defense team rest its case without calling any witnesses.