Podcasts about massachusetts medical society

Below is a brief video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The current one is here. If you like the YouTube format, please subscribe! This one has embedded one of my favorite TikTok's from Will. There are several links to others in the transcript. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.Transcript with links to both audio and videos, commencement addresses, NEJM article coverageEric Topol (00:06):Hi, it's Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I've got an amazing couple with me today. It's Will Flanary and Kristin Flanary, the Glaucomfleckens. I've had the chance to get to know them a bit through Knock Knock, Hi! which is their podcast. And of course, everyone knows Dr. Glaucomflecken from his TikTok world and his other about 4 million followers on Instagram and Twitter and all these other social media, and YouTube. So welcome.Will Flanary (00:43):Thanks for having us.Kristin Flanary (00:44):Thank you. Happy to be here.By Way of BackgroundEric Topol (00:45):Yeah. Well, this is going to be fun because I'm going to go a quick background so we can go fast forward because we did an interview back in early 2022.Kristin Flanary (00:56):Yes.Eric Topol (00:57):And what you've been doing since then is rocking it. You're like a meteoric, right. And it was predictable, like rarefied talent and who couldn't love humor, medical humor, but by way of background, just for those who are not up to speed. I guess you got your start, Will, as a class clown when your mother was a teacher in the sixth grade.Will Flanary (01:22):Yep, yep. I misbehaved a little bit. It helped that I still made good grades, but I cut up a bit in class.Eric Topol (01:32):And then you were already in the comedy club circuits doing standup in Houston as an 18-year-old.Will Flanary (01:40):It was all amateur stuff, nothing, just dabble in it and trying to get better. I was always kind of naturally funny just with my friend group and everything. I loved making people laugh, but doing standups is a whole different ball game. And so, I started doing that around Houston as a high school senior and kept that going through college and a little bit into med school.Kristin Flanary (02:02):Houston was a good training ground, right? That where Harris Wittels was also coming up.Will Flanary (02:07):Yeah. A lot of famous comedians have come through Houston. Even going back to Bill Hicks back in the, was that the 80s, I think? Or 90s?Eric Topol (02:17):Well, and then of course, it was I think in 2020 when you launched Dr. Glaucomflecken, I think. Is that right?Will Flanary (02:28):That's when it really started to take off. I was on Twitter telling jokes back in 2016.Kristin Flanary (02:39):GomerBlog before that, that's actually where it was born.Will Flanary (02:41):I was doing satire writing. I basically do what I'm doing now, but in article form, trying to be The Onion of medicine. And then the pandemic hit, started doing video content and that's really with lockdown. That's when, because everybody was on social media, nobody had anything else to do. So it was right place, right time for me and branching out into video content.On to Medical School Commencement AddressesEric Topol (03:11):Alright, so that's the background of some incredible foundation for humor. But since we last got together, I'll link the Medicine and the Machine interview we did back then. What has been happening with you two is nothing short of incredible. I saw your graduation speeches, Will. Yale in 2022, I watched the UCSF in 2023 and then the University of Michigan in 2024. Maybe there's other ones I don't even know.Kristin Flanary (03:45):There's a few others.Will Flanary (03:45):There's a few. But I feel like you've done, I'm sure your fair share of commencement addresses as well. It's kind of hard to come up with different ways to be inspirational to the next generation. So fortunately, we have together, we have some life experiences and learned a thing or two by doing all of this social media stuff and just the things we've been through that I guess I have enough things to say to entertain an interest.Eric Topol (04:18):Well, you're being humble as usual, but having watched those commencement addresses, they were the best medical commencement addresses I've ever seen. And even though you might have told us some of the same jokes, they were so great that it was all right. Yeah, and you know what is great about it is you've got these, not the students, they all love you of course, because they're probably addicted to when's your next video going to get posted.(04:44):But even the old professors, all the family members, it's great. But one of the things I wanted to get at. Well, I'll start with the graduation speeches, because you were such an inspiration, not just with humor, but your message. And this gets back to you as a couple and the tragedies you've been through. So you really, I think, got into this co-survivor story and maybe Kristin, since you are the co-survivor of two bouts of Will's testicular cancer, and then the sudden cardiac death. I mean, people don't talk about this much, so maybe you could help enlighten us.Tragedies and Being a Co-SurvivorKristin Flanary (05:26):Yeah, it's funny because the experience of being a co-survivor is nothing new. It's as long as we've had human beings, we've had co-survivors. But the concept around it and giving it a name and a label, a framework to be able to think about it, that is what I think is new and what people haven't talked about before. So co-survivor is just this idea that when a medical trauma happens to a patient, the patient has their experience and if they survive it, they are a survivor and they have a survivor experience. And also, most people are closely attached to at least one other person, if not many. And those people are co-surviving the medical event along with the survivor. That event is happening in their lives as was happening to them too. If someone comes in with a patient to the hospital, that person, you can just assume by default that their lives are pretty intimately or profoundly intertwined or else why would that person be there? And so, thinking of it as there's the patient and then there's also a co-patient, that family members in the past have only been thought of as caregivers if they've been thought of at all. And that is certainly one aspect of the role, but it's important to remember that whatever it is that's happening to the patient is also affecting the family members' lives in a really deep and profound way.Eric Topol (07:04):That's really helpful. Now, the fact that you recognize that in your graduation speech, Will, I think is somewhat unique. And of course, some of the other things that you touched on like playing to your creativity and the human factors, I mean, these are so important messages.Will Flanary (07:23):Well, in the discussion about co-survivorship and because I talk about that whenever I do my keynotes and when I do the commencement addresses, but all credit goes to Kristin for really being the driving force of this idea for me and for many others because as a physician, we take care of patients. Our focus is always on the patient. And it really wasn't until this happened to me and my family and Kristin in particular that I started to understand exactly what she's talking about and this idea. And so, Kristin gets a lot of credit for just really bringing that term and that idea to the forefront.Eric Topol (08:09):Yeah, well, you saved his life. It's just not many have that bond. And then the other thing I just want to mention now, you've been recognized by the American Heart Association and a whole bunch of other organizations awarded because of your advocacy for CPR. And you even mentioned that I think in one of your commencement addresses.Will Flanary (08:31):Yeah, I tried to get the crowd to do CPR. Like team up, partner up, and it kind of fell flat. It wasn't quite the right time, I think, to try to do a mass class on CPR. So maybe next time.Eric Topol (08:47):Right. Well, so you had this foundation with the Glaucomflecken General Hospital and taking on 37 specialties and all these incredible people that became part of the family, if you will, of spoof on medicine and your alter ego and these videos that you would do. And sometimes you have three or four different alter egos in there playing out, but now you've branched into new things. So one which is an outgrowth of what we were just talking about. You've been on this country tour, Wife & Death.“Wife and Death,” A Nationwide TourKristin Flanary (09:28):Yes.Eric Topol (09:29):Wife and death. I mean, yeah, I guess we can make the connect of how you named it that, but what is it you've been selling out in cities all over the country, and by the way, I'm really upset you haven't come to San Diego, but tell us about wife and death.Will Flanary (09:44):Yeah. Well, we have this amazing story and all these medical challenges we've been through, and then developing the Glaucomflecken brand and universe, and we've done keynotes together for years, and then we thought, let's have more fun with it. Let's do keynotes. They're great. We can get our message out, but sometimes they're just a bit stuffy. It's an academic environment.Kristin Flanary (10:15):They're usually at seven in the morning also, so that's the downside.Will Flanary (10:21):So we thought, let's just put together our own live show. Let's put together something that we could just creatively, we can do whatever we want with it. I could dress up as characters, Kristin, who has these beautiful writing and monologues that she's put together around her experience and just to create something that people can come into a theater and just experience this wide range of emotions from just laughter to tears of all kinds, and just have them feel the story and enjoy this story. Fortunately, it has a happy ending because I'm still alive and it's been so much fun. The audiences have been incredible. Mostly healthcare, but even some non-healthcare people show up, and we've been blown away by the response. Honestly, we should have done bigger theaters. That's our lesson for the first go round.Eric Topol (11:21):I saw you had to do a second show in Pittsburgh.Will Flanary (11:24):We did.Kristin Flanary (11:26):That one sold out too. Something about Pittsburgh, that was a good crowd, and there was a lot of them.Will Flanary (11:33):It was almost like in Pittsburgh, they rarely ever get any internet comedian ophthalmologists that come through. I don't know.Eric Topol (11:41):Well, I see you got some still to come in Denver and Chicago. This is amazing. And I wondered who was coming and I mean, it's not at all surprising that there'd be this phenomenal popularity. So that's one thing you've done that's new, which is amazing. And of course, it's a multidimensional story. The one that shocked me, I have to tell you, shocked me, was the New England Journal partnership. The New England Journal is the most stodgy, arrogant, I mean so difficult. And not only that.Kristin Flanary (12:17):You said that. Not us.Partnering with the New England Journal of Medicine!Eric Topol (12:19):Yeah, yeah. They'll get this too. They know we don't get along that well, but that's okay. You even made fun of journals. And now you're partnering with the New England Journal, God's greatest medical journal, or whatever. Tell us about that.Will Flanary (12:39):Well, so one thing that I really enjoy doing, and I've done it with my US healthcare system content is almost like tricking people into learning things. And so, if you make something funny, then people will actually sit there and listen to what you have to say about deductibles and physician-owned hospitals and all these inner workings. DIR fees and pharmacy, all these things that are really dry topics. But if you can make them funny, all of a sudden people will actually learn and listen to it. And the New England Journal of Medicine, they approached me with an idea. Basically just to take one or two of their trials per month. And I just make a skit out of that trial with the idea being to help disseminate some of the research findings that are out there, because I guess it's getting harder and harder for people to actually read, to sit down and read a journal article.(13:43):And so, I have to credit them for having this idea and thinking outside the box of a different way to get medical information and knowledge out to the masses. And you're absolutely right, that I have been critical of journals, and particularly I've been critical of the predatory nature of some of the larger journals out there, like Elsevier. I've specifically named Elsevier, Springer, these journals that have a 40% profit margin. And I certainly thought about that whenever I was looking into this partnership. And the reason I was okay with doing it with the New England Journal is because they're a nonprofit, first of all, so they're run by the Massachusetts Medical Society. That's the publisher for that journal. And so, I feel okay partnering with them because I feel like they're doing it in a much better way than some of the bigger journal corporations out there.Kristin Flanary (14:54):Well, and also part of the deal that we negotiated was that those articles that you make skits about those will be available open access.Will Flanary (15:03):Oh yeah. That was a prerequisite. Yes. It was like, if I'm going to do this, the articles that I'm talking about need to be free and readily available. That's part of it.Eric Topol (15:14):I think you've done about five already, something like that. And I watched them, and I just was blown away. I mean, the one that got me where I was just rolling on the floor, this one, the Belantamab Mafodotin for Multiple Myeloma. And when you were going on about the Bortezomib, Dexamethasone. We'll link to this. I said, oh my God.Will Flanary (15:40):Yeah. The joke there is, you don't have any idea how long it took me to say those things that quickly. And so, I was writing this skit and I'm like, wouldn't it be funny if somehow that triggered a code stroke in the hospital because this person is saying all these random words that don't have any meaning to anybody. Man, I tell you, I am learning. Why would I ever need to know any of this information as an ophthalmologist? So it's great. I know all this random stuff about multiple myeloma that I probably would never have learned otherwise.Kristin Flanary (16:21):It's the only way, you won't read a journal either.Eric Topol (16:23):Well, and if you read the comments on the post. These doctors saying, this is the only way they want to get journal information from now on.Will Flanary (16:33):Which is double-edged sword, maybe a little bit. Obviously, in a 90 second skit, there's no way I'm going to cover the ins and outs of a major trial. So it's really, in a lot of ways, it's basically like, I call it a comedy abstract. I'm not going much further than an abstract, but hopefully people that are actually interested in the topic can have their interest piqued and want to read more about it. That's kind of the idea.Eric Topol (17:06):Yeah. Well, they're phenomenal. We'll link to them. People will enjoy them. I know, because I sure did. And tenecteplase for stroke and all that you've done. Oh, they're just phenomenal.Will Flanary (17:20):Every two weeks we come out with a new one.Eric Topol (17:24):And that is basically between the fact that you are now on the commencement circuit of the top medical schools and doing New England Journal videos on their articles. You've crossed a line from just making fun of insurance companies and doctors of specialties.Kristin Flanary (17:44):Oh, he has crossed many lines, Dr. Topol.Eric Topol (17:46):Yeah. Oh yeah. Now you've done it, really. Back two years ago when we convened, actually it's almost three, but you said, when's it going to be your Netflix special?Will Flanary (18:02):Oh, gosh.Eric Topol (18:02):Is that in the works now?Will Flanary (18:04):Well, I'll tell you what's in the works now.Kristin Flanary (18:06):Do you know anyone at Netflix?Will Flanary (18:09):A New Animated SeriesNo. We're working on an animated series.Eric Topol (18:12):Oh, wow. Wow.Will Flanary (18:13):Yeah. All these characters. It's basically just this fictional hospital and all these characters are very cartoonish, the emergency physician that wears the bike helmet and everything. So it's like, well, what do we have together? What do we, Kristin and I have time for? And it wasn't like moving to LA and trying to make a live action with actors and do all, which is something we probably could have tried to do. So instead, we were like, let's just do an animated series.Kristin Flanary (18:48):Let's have someone else do the work and draw us.Will Flanary (18:51):So we've worked with a writer for the first time, which was a fun process, and putting together a few scripts and then also an animator. We learned a lot about that process. Kristin and I are doing the voiceovers. And yeah, it's in process.Kristin Flanary (19:10):We're the only actors we could afford.Will Flanary (19:12):Right, exactly.Eric Topol (19:13):I can't wait to see it. Now when will it get out there?Will Flanary (19:17):Well, we're hoping to be able to put it out on our YouTube channel sometime early next year. So January, February, somewhere around there. And then we can't fund the whole thing ourselves. So the idea is that we do this, we do this pilot episode, and then we'll see what kind of interest we can generate.Eric Topol (19:37):Well, there will be interest. I am absolutely assured of that. Wow.Will Flanary (19:42):Let us know if you know anybody at the Cartoon Network.Kristin and Will Flanary (19:45):Yeah, we're open to possibilities. Whatever, Discovery channel. I don't know.Eric Topol (19:51):You've gotten to a point now where you're ready for bigger things even because you're the funniest physician couple in medicine today.Kristin Flanary (20:05):Well, that's a very low bar, but thank you.Will Flanary (20:08):There are some funny ones out there, but yeah, I appreciate that.Eric Topol (20:11):Well, I'm a really big comedy fan. Every night I watch the night before, since I'm old now, but of Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, just to hear the monologues. Trevor Noah, too. And I can appreciate humor. I'll go to see Sebastian Maniscalco or Jim Gaffigan. That's one of the things I was going to ask you about, because when you do these videos, you don't have an audience.Will Flanary (20:39):Oh yeah.Eric Topol (20:40):You're making it as opposed to when you are doing your live shows, commencement addresses and things like that. What's the difference when you're trying to be humorous, and you have no audience there?Will Flanary (20:55):Well, whenever I'm filming a skit, it's just all production. In fact, I feel like it's funny. I think it's funny, but it's really not until I see the response to it, or I show Kristin, or what I have is where I really know if it's going to work. It's great to put the content out there and see the responses, but there's nothing like live interaction. And that's why I keep coming back to performing. And Kristin's been a performer too in her life. And I think we both really enjoy just the personal interaction, the close interaction, the response from people to our story.Kristin Flanary (21:36):We do most of our work alone in this room. I do a lot of writing. He does a lot of playing.Will Flanary (21:44):Dress up.Kristin Flanary (21:44):All the people in his head, and we do that very isolated. And so, it's very lovely to be able to actually put names to faces or just see human bodies instead of just comments on YouTube.Will Flanary (21:59):Meet people.Kristin Flanary (21:59):It's really nice.Will Flanary (22:01):We've been doing meet and greets at the live shows and seeing people come up wearing their costumes.Eric Topol (22:07):Oh, wow.Will Flanary (22:11):Some of them talk about how they tell us their own stories about their own healthcare and talk about how the videos help them get through certain parts of the pandemic or a difficult time in their life. And so, it reinforces that this means something to a lot of people.Kristin Flanary (22:29):It's been really fun for me, and probably you too, but to get to see the joy that he has brought so many people. That's really fun to see in person especially.Eric Topol (22:42):No question. Now, when you're producing it together, do you ever just start breaking into laughter because it's you know how funny this is? Or is it just you're on kind of a mission to get it done?Will Flanary (22:54):Well, the skits I do by myself. And sometimes when I'm writing out the skit, when I'm writing the skit itself, I will laugh at myself sometimes. Not often, but sometimes they're like, oh, I know that's really funny. I just wrote a skit that I'm actually going to be debuting. I'm speaking at the American Academy of PM&R, so the big PM&R conference. I'm writing a skit, it's How to Ace your PM&R residency interview.Will Flanary (23:28):I was writing up that skit today and kind of chuckling to myself. So sometimes that happens, but whenever we do our podcast together, we definitely have outtakes.Kristin Flanary (23:38):Oh yeah, we've got some.Will Flanary (23:40):We crack each other up.Kristin Flanary (23:41):We do.Will Flanary (23:42):Sometimes we're getting a little punchy toward the end of the day.Eric Topol (23:47):And how is the Knock Knock, Hi! podcast going?Will Flanary (23:51):It's awesome. Yeah.Kristin Flanary (23:52):Yeah. It's a really fun project.Will Flanary (23:54):We still enjoy. You can work with your spouse and in close proximity and still be happily married. So it's doable everyone.Kristin Flanary (24:06):That's right. And we're in that phase of life that's really busy. We've got kids, we've got a gazillion jobs. House, my parents are around, and so it's like the only time all week that we actually get to sit down and talk to each other. So it's actually kind of like a part of our marriage at this point.Will Flanary (24:28):We're happy to involve the public in our conversations, but we couldn't do it because we have all these things going on, all our hands and all these little places. We can't do it without a team.Kristin Flanary (24:41):Yeah, absolutely.Will Flanary (24:41):And that's the thing that I've learned, because I've always been a very loner type content creator. I just wanted to do it all myself. It's in my head and I have trouble telling others, describing what's in my head. And Kristin and our producers have helped me to be able to give a little bit of control to others who are really good at what they do. And that's really the only way that we've been able to venture out into all these different things we've talked about.Eric Topol (25:12):Well, I think it comes down to, besides your ability to get to people in terms of their laughter receptors, you have this incisive observer capability. And that's one of the things I don't, I can't fathom because when you can understand the nuances of each specialty or of each part of healthcare, and you haven't necessarily interacted with these specialists or at least in recent years, but you nail it every time. I don't know how you do it, really that observational, is that a central quality of a comedian, you think?Will Flanary (25:52):There's definitely a big part of that. You got to get the content from somewhere. But for the specialties, it's really first about just getting the personalities down. And that doesn't change over time.Kristin Flanary (26:08):Or around the world.Will Flanary (26:09):Or around the world. We hear from people from all over the world about, oh, it's the same in Guatemala as it is in the US.Kristin Flanary (26:18):Surgeons are the same.Will Flanary (26:19):Yeah.Kristin Flanary (26:20):Emergency is the same.Will Flanary (26:21):Which has been really cool to see. But so, I draw on my experience interacting with all these specialties back in my med school and intern days. You're right, as an ophthalmologist, we don't get out very much.Eric Topol (26:33):No.Will Flanary (26:35):So very few people have ever seen an ophthalmologist. We do exist. But then beyond that, I do have to include some actual medical things. And so, I actually, I do a lot of research. I find myself learning more about other fields sometimes than I do in my own field. So especially the further out I get from med school, I know less and less.Eric Topol (27:00):Yeah, that's what I was thinking. But you're always spot on. It's interesting to get that global perspective from both of you. Now you're still doing surgery and practicing ophthalmology. Have you reduced it because this has just been taking off so much more over the recent years or keeping it the same?Will and Kristin Flanary (27:21):Nope, I'm still. Do you know how many years I had to come along on all of this medical training? He is not allowed to give this up.Will Flanary (27:29):I know there's something called a sunk cost fallacy, but this is no fallacy. There's enough of a sunk cost. I got to stick with it. No, I still enjoy it. That's the thing. It actually, it informs my comedy, it grounds me. All of the social media stuff is built upon this medical foundation that I have. And if I stopped practicing, I guess I could maybe cut back. But I'm not planning on doing that. If I stop practicing medicine, I feel like it would make my content less.Kristin Flanary (28:07):Authentic.Will Flanary (28:08):Less authentic, yeah. That's a good way to put it.Eric Topol (28:09):Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. That's great you can get that balance with all the things you're doing.Will Flanary (28:17):And if I stop practicing medicine, they're not going to invite me to any more commencement addresses, Dr. Topol. So I got to draw the line somewhere.Eric Topol (28:28):One of the statements you made at some point earlier was, it was easier to go to become a doctor than to try to be a comedian. And yeah, I mean you proven that.Will Flanary (28:38):A lot of ways. That's true.Eric Topol (28:40):Wow. I am pretty awestruck about the rarefied talent that you bring and what you both have done for medicine today. And the thing is, you're so young, you have so much time ahead to have an impact.Will Flanary (28:57):You hear that Kristin, we're young. Look at that.Kristin Flanary (29:00):That's getting less and less true.Will Flanary (29:01):Kristin, she just turned 40. It's right around the corner for me. So I don't know.Will Flanary (29:11):We got some years left.Eric Topol (29:12):You're like young puppies. Are you kidding? You're just getting started. But no, I think that what you brought to medicine in terms of comedy, there's no other entity, no person or people like you have done. And just the last thing I want to ask you about is, you have a platform for advocacy. You've been doing that. We talked about co-survivor. We talked about nurturing the human qualities in physicians like creativity and also taking on the insurance companies, which are just monstrous. I'll link a couple of those, but the brain MRI one or the Texaco.Will Flanary (29:54):Texaco Mike.Eric Topol (29:55):Yeah, that one is amazing. But there is so many. I mean, you've just taken them apart and they deserve every bit of it. Do you have any other targets for advocacy or does that just kind of come up as things go?Will Flanary (30:08):It kind of comes up as things go. There's things I keep harping on. The prior authorization reform, which I've helped in a couple of different states. There's a lot of good people around the country doing really good work on prior authorization and reforming that whole process. And I've been able to just play a small part in that in a couple of different ways. And it's been really fun to do that. And so, I do plan on continuing that crusade as it were. There's certain things I'd like to see. I've been learning more about what pharmacists are dealing with as well as a physician. Unfortunately, we are very separate in a lot of ways and just how we come up in medicine. And so, I have had my eyes opened a lot to what community pharmacists are dealing with. For all the terrible things that we have to deal with as physicians in the healthcare system. Pharmacists have just as much, if not more of the things that they're doing that are threatening their livelihoods. And so, I had love to see some more reform on the PBM side of things, pharmacy benefit managers, Caremark, Optum, all of them. They're causing lots of problems.Eric Topol (31:24):I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, I'm going to have Mark Cuban on in a few weeks and we're going to get into that. But the pharmacists get abused by these chains.Will Flanary (31:33):Oh, it's bad. It's really bad.Eric Topol (31:35):Horrible, horrible. I feel, and every time I am in a drugstore working with one of them, I just think what a tough life they have to deal with.Will Flanary (31:45):I guess from an advocacy standpoint, the good news is that there's never a shortage of terrible injustices that are being foisted upon the public and physicians and healthcare workers.Kristin Flanary (31:59):Yes. The US healthcare system is ripe for advocacy.Will Flanary (32:01):Yes. And that's a lesson that I tell people too, and especially the med students coming up, is like, there's work to be done and get in touch with your state societies and there's always work to be done.Eric Topol (32:18):Now you've stayed clear of politics. Totally clear, right?Will Flanary (32:24):For the most part, yeah. Yeah. It depends on what you consider politics. It depends on what you consider politics.Eric Topol (32:32):It being election day, you haven't made any endorsements.Will Flanary (32:36):I haven't. And I don't know. I can only handle so much. I've got my things that I really care about. Of course I'm voting, but I want to talk on the things that I feel like I have the expertise to talk about. And I think there's nothing wrong with that. Everybody can't have an opinion on everything, and it means something. So I am happy to discuss the things that I have expertise about, and I'm always on the side of the patient and wanting to make life better for our patients. And that's the side I'm on.Kristin Flanary (33:25):I think also he never comes out and explicitly touches on certain topics, but it's not hard to tell where he falls.Will Flanary (33:34):If you really want read into it all.Kristin Flanary (33:38):It's not like it's a big secret.Eric Topol (33:40):I thought that too. I'm glad you mentioned it, Kristin. But it doesn't come out wide open. But yeah, it's inferred for sure.Eric Topol (33:49):I think the point being there is that because you have a reach, I think there's no reach that it has 4 million plus people by your posts and no less the tours and keynotes and everything else. So you could go anywhere but sticking to where you're well grounded, it makes a lot of sense. And anyway, I am going to be staying tuned. This is our two-year checkup. I'm hoping you're going to come to San Diego on your next tour.Kristin Flanary (34:21):We're working on 2025 plans.Will Flanary (34:23):Oh, we got more shows coming up. And we'll hit up other parts of the country too.Eric Topol (34:28):I feel like I got to meet you in person, give you a hug or something. I just feel like I'm missing out there. But it's just a joy to have had a chance to work with you on your podcast. And thanks for coming back on one of mine. There's lots of podcasts out there, but having you and joining you is such fun. So thank you.Will Flanary (34:54):This has been great. Thank you for having us.Kristin Flanary (34:55):Yeah, thank you.*****************************************Thank you for reading, listening and and subscribing to Ground Truths.If you found this fun and informative please share it! Yes, laughter is the best medicine.All content on Ground Truths—its newsletters, analyses, and podcasts, are free, open-access.Paid subscriptions are voluntary. All proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years.Thanks to my producer Jessica Nguyen and to Sinjun Balabanoff for audio and video support at Scripps Research.Note on Exodus from X/twitter:Many of you have abandoned the X platform for reasons that I understand. While I intend to continue to post there because of its reach to the biomedical community, I will post anything material here in the Notes section of Ground Truths on a daily basis and cover important topics in the newsletter/analyses. Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another riveting episode of Hearts of Oak, where we delve deep into the stories that shape our world. Today, we're honored to host a distinguished guest, a board-certified obstetrician gynecologist with a background in maternal fetal medicine, whose journey through the medical field has been nothing short of extraordinary.   In this episode, our guest shares insights from a career marked by a relentless pursuit of truth, especially in light of the tumultuous events surrounding public health strategies during recent global crises. We'll explore how personal experiences, influenced by historical figures like Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, have shaped his approach to medicine, emphasizing the importance of standing firm against mainstream narratives when patient safety is at stake.   Our discussion will take a critical look at how health policies, driven by a complex web of government, pharmaceutical, and medical organizations, have impacted the most vulnerable among us. We'll tackle the uncomfortable truths about medical ethics, the silence of influential societal groups, and the personal sacrifices made by those who speak out against the status quo.   This episode promises to be a beacon of awareness, urging us all to question, to learn, and to remember the importance of integrity in the face of systemic challenges. So, join us as we navigate through the ethical dilemmas of our time, inspired by a physician's commitment to never compromise patient care for profit or popularity.   Stay with us as we uncover the layers of this compelling story, right here on Hearts of Oak. Connect with Dr James Thorp Freedom In Truth | Substack   Recorded on 17.10.24   *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.   Connect with Hearts of Oak...

Grab your tissues for this moving and powerful episode! Flora Sadri-Azarbayejani, DO, MPH, FAAFP, FASAM, joins host, Zach, to talk about her path to and passion for practicing addiction medicine. During the conversation, she shares stories and experiences that have been impactful on her journey and shaped both how she practices medicine – emphasizing the critical component of compassion – and her perspectives on addiction. Dr. Flora Sadri-Azarbayejani attended Boston University, where she earned an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and a dual master's degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, and medical science. She attained a doctorate in medicine from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Sadri-Azarbayejani worked as an epidemiologist in infectious disease at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; completed residency and became a family physician and eventually chief medical officer at The Community Health Center of Franklin County (Massachusetts); and, after becoming board certified in addiction medicine, has worked in the addiction medicine space since 2014 in both inpatient and outpatient settings and has opened programs in both arenas.   Dr. Sadri-Azarbayejani serves as the medical director for substance use services at Lowell Community Health Center and medical director for an inpatient addiction treatment center. She is active in various medical societies, including the Massachusetts Medical Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). She has been involved with the development of CARF guidelines for outpatient addiction treatment programs and hopes to make an impact on passing legislation of supervised consumption sites in the near future. LINKS: Massachusetts Medical Society American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) CARF International   If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Treatment is available and recovery is possible. Visit ASAM's Patient Resources page for more information. The information shared in this podcast episode is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or ASAM management.

Dan Fishbein, President of Sun Life U.S., joins Eric to discuss Sun Life's commitment to supporting holistic care for mental health and how it leverages digital technology to enhance the overall delivery of mental health and caregiver support to all clients.    The conversation also touches on how Sun Life is helping patients navigate a challenging healthcare system. It's using data and analytics to identify trends and unmet needs and AI to summarize health records quickly to improve health outcomes.   In addition, Dan elaborates on Sun Life's redefined role as a healthcare benefits provider and its collaborations with various healthcare organizations to help promote health and well-being.  About Dan As president of Sun Life U.S., Dan has transformed the company into a leader in health-related benefits and services that connect to the broader healthcare ecosystem to help people access the care and coverage they need.   Since joining Sun Life in 2014, Dan has overseen several successful acquisitions that have grown the company and its capabilities, including DentaQuest (2022), PinnacleCare (2021), Maxwell Health (2018), and Assurant Employee Benefits (2016). Since 2014 Sun Life U.S. has grown three-fold to $8 billion in revenues, offering more than 50 million Americans group benefits and services through employers, partners and government programs. It serves a block of in-force individual life insurance policyholders.    Before Sun Life, he served as Aetna's President, Specialty Businesses and held several other senior leadership positions during his 16-year tenure. He previously served in leadership posts at New York Life and MassMutual.   Dan earned a bachelor's degree and a Doctor of Medicine from Boston University. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and Maine Medical Association. Dan is also a past chair and active board member of Spurwink Services in Portland, Maine, and serves in an advisory capacity on the board of Collective Health, an insurtech start-up based in San Francisco.   About Sun Life Sun Life is a leading financial services company that helps clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda.  

This content has been developed for healthcare professionals only. Patients who seek health information should consult with their physician or relevant patient advocacy groups.For the full presentation, downloadable Practice Aids, slides, and complete CME/MOC information, and to apply for credit, please visit us at PeerView.com/YUZ865. CME/MOC credit will be available until December 31, 2024.Controlling and Conquering CLL: Guidance on Modern Targeted Options, Innovative Combinations, and Sequential ManagementPenn State College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is developed in collaboration with our educational partners, PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, and CLL Society.SupportThis activity is supported by independent educational grants from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; Lilly; and Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc., administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.DisclosuresProf. John G. Gribben, MD, DSc, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for Amgen and Gilead Sciences/Kite.Grant/Research Support from AstraZeneca.John N. Allan, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; ADC Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Epizyme, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; LAVA Therapeutics; Lilly; Pharmacyclics LLC; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Grant/Research Support from BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Speaker for AbbVie; BeiGene, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Nicole Lamanna, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; Allogene Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; MingSight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Octapharma USA, Inc.; Oncternal Therapeutics; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Meghan C. Thompson, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AstraZeneca; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC/Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Genmab; and Nurix Therapeutics. Research funding goes to Institution.Honoraria from Brazilian Association of Hematology; Curio Science; Dava Oncology; Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy (ABHH); Intellisphere LLC; Massachusetts Medical Society; MJH Life Sciences; Phillips Group Oncology Communications; and VJHemOnc.Larry Marion has no financial interests/relationships or affiliations in relation to this activity.Other PVI staff who may potentially review content for this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Penn State College of Medicine staff and faculty involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.

This content has been developed for healthcare professionals only. Patients who seek health information should consult with their physician or relevant patient advocacy groups.For the full presentation, downloadable Practice Aids, slides, and complete CME/MOC information, and to apply for credit, please visit us at PeerView.com/YUZ865. CME/MOC credit will be available until December 31, 2024.Controlling and Conquering CLL: Guidance on Modern Targeted Options, Innovative Combinations, and Sequential ManagementPenn State College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is developed in collaboration with our educational partners, PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, and CLL Society.SupportThis activity is supported by independent educational grants from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; Lilly; and Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc., administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.DisclosuresProf. John G. Gribben, MD, DSc, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for Amgen and Gilead Sciences/Kite.Grant/Research Support from AstraZeneca.John N. Allan, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; ADC Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Epizyme, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; LAVA Therapeutics; Lilly; Pharmacyclics LLC; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Grant/Research Support from BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Speaker for AbbVie; BeiGene, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Nicole Lamanna, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; Allogene Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; MingSight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Octapharma USA, Inc.; Oncternal Therapeutics; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Meghan C. Thompson, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AstraZeneca; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC/Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Genmab; and Nurix Therapeutics. Research funding goes to Institution.Honoraria from Brazilian Association of Hematology; Curio Science; Dava Oncology; Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy (ABHH); Intellisphere LLC; Massachusetts Medical Society; MJH Life Sciences; Phillips Group Oncology Communications; and VJHemOnc.Larry Marion has no financial interests/relationships or affiliations in relation to this activity.Other PVI staff who may potentially review content for this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Penn State College of Medicine staff and faculty involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.

This content has been developed for healthcare professionals only. Patients who seek health information should consult with their physician or relevant patient advocacy groups.For the full presentation, downloadable Practice Aids, slides, and complete CME/MOC information, and to apply for credit, please visit us at PeerView.com/YUZ865. CME/MOC credit will be available until December 31, 2024.Controlling and Conquering CLL: Guidance on Modern Targeted Options, Innovative Combinations, and Sequential ManagementPenn State College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is developed in collaboration with our educational partners, PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, and CLL Society.SupportThis activity is supported by independent educational grants from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; Lilly; and Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc., administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.DisclosuresProf. John G. Gribben, MD, DSc, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for Amgen and Gilead Sciences/Kite.Grant/Research Support from AstraZeneca.John N. Allan, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; ADC Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Epizyme, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; LAVA Therapeutics; Lilly; Pharmacyclics LLC; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Grant/Research Support from BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Speaker for AbbVie; BeiGene, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Nicole Lamanna, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; Allogene Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; MingSight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Octapharma USA, Inc.; Oncternal Therapeutics; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Meghan C. Thompson, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AstraZeneca; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC/Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Genmab; and Nurix Therapeutics. Research funding goes to Institution.Honoraria from Brazilian Association of Hematology; Curio Science; Dava Oncology; Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy (ABHH); Intellisphere LLC; Massachusetts Medical Society; MJH Life Sciences; Phillips Group Oncology Communications; and VJHemOnc.Larry Marion has no financial interests/relationships or affiliations in relation to this activity.Other PVI staff who may potentially review content for this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Penn State College of Medicine staff and faculty involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.

This content has been developed for healthcare professionals only. Patients who seek health information should consult with their physician or relevant patient advocacy groups.For the full presentation, downloadable Practice Aids, slides, and complete CME/MOC information, and to apply for credit, please visit us at PeerView.com/YUZ865. CME/MOC credit will be available until December 31, 2024.Controlling and Conquering CLL: Guidance on Modern Targeted Options, Innovative Combinations, and Sequential ManagementPenn State College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is developed in collaboration with our educational partners, PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, and CLL Society.SupportThis activity is supported by independent educational grants from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; Lilly; and Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc., administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.DisclosuresProf. John G. Gribben, MD, DSc, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for Amgen and Gilead Sciences/Kite.Grant/Research Support from AstraZeneca.John N. Allan, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; ADC Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Epizyme, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; LAVA Therapeutics; Lilly; Pharmacyclics LLC; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Grant/Research Support from BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Speaker for AbbVie; BeiGene, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Nicole Lamanna, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; Allogene Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; MingSight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Octapharma USA, Inc.; Oncternal Therapeutics; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Meghan C. Thompson, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AstraZeneca; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC/Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Genmab; and Nurix Therapeutics. Research funding goes to Institution.Honoraria from Brazilian Association of Hematology; Curio Science; Dava Oncology; Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy (ABHH); Intellisphere LLC; Massachusetts Medical Society; MJH Life Sciences; Phillips Group Oncology Communications; and VJHemOnc.Larry Marion has no financial interests/relationships or affiliations in relation to this activity.Other PVI staff who may potentially review content for this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Penn State College of Medicine staff and faculty involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.

This content has been developed for healthcare professionals only. Patients who seek health information should consult with their physician or relevant patient advocacy groups.For the full presentation, downloadable Practice Aids, slides, and complete CME/MOC information, and to apply for credit, please visit us at PeerView.com/YUZ865. CME/MOC credit will be available until December 31, 2024.Controlling and Conquering CLL: Guidance on Modern Targeted Options, Innovative Combinations, and Sequential ManagementPenn State College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is developed in collaboration with our educational partners, PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, and CLL Society.SupportThis activity is supported by independent educational grants from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; Lilly; and Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc., administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.DisclosuresProf. John G. Gribben, MD, DSc, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for Amgen and Gilead Sciences/Kite.Grant/Research Support from AstraZeneca.John N. Allan, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; ADC Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Epizyme, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; LAVA Therapeutics; Lilly; Pharmacyclics LLC; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Grant/Research Support from BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Speaker for AbbVie; BeiGene, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Nicole Lamanna, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; Allogene Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; MingSight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Octapharma USA, Inc.; Oncternal Therapeutics; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Meghan C. Thompson, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AstraZeneca; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC/Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Genmab; and Nurix Therapeutics. Research funding goes to Institution.Honoraria from Brazilian Association of Hematology; Curio Science; Dava Oncology; Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy (ABHH); Intellisphere LLC; Massachusetts Medical Society; MJH Life Sciences; Phillips Group Oncology Communications; and VJHemOnc.Larry Marion has no financial interests/relationships or affiliations in relation to this activity.Other PVI staff who may potentially review content for this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Penn State College of Medicine staff and faculty involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.

This content has been developed for healthcare professionals only. Patients who seek health information should consult with their physician or relevant patient advocacy groups.For the full presentation, downloadable Practice Aids, slides, and complete CME/MOC information, and to apply for credit, please visit us at PeerView.com/YUZ865. CME/MOC credit will be available until December 31, 2024.Controlling and Conquering CLL: Guidance on Modern Targeted Options, Innovative Combinations, and Sequential ManagementPenn State College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is developed in collaboration with our educational partners, PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, and CLL Society.SupportThis activity is supported by independent educational grants from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; Lilly; and Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc., administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.DisclosuresProf. John G. Gribben, MD, DSc, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for Amgen and Gilead Sciences/Kite.Grant/Research Support from AstraZeneca.John N. Allan, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; ADC Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Epizyme, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; LAVA Therapeutics; Lilly; Pharmacyclics LLC; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Grant/Research Support from BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Speaker for AbbVie; BeiGene, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Nicole Lamanna, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AbbVie; Adaptive Biotechnologies; Allogene Therapeutics; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; MingSight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Octapharma USA, Inc.; Oncternal Therapeutics; and TG Therapeutics, Inc.Meghan C. Thompson, MD, has a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of:Consultant and/or Advisor for AstraZeneca; Lilly/Loxo Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmacyclics LLC/Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Grant/Research Support from AbbVie; AstraZeneca; BeiGene, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Genmab; and Nurix Therapeutics. Research funding goes to Institution.Honoraria from Brazilian Association of Hematology; Curio Science; Dava Oncology; Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy (ABHH); Intellisphere LLC; Massachusetts Medical Society; MJH Life Sciences; Phillips Group Oncology Communications; and VJHemOnc.Larry Marion has no financial interests/relationships or affiliations in relation to this activity.Other PVI staff who may potentially review content for this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Penn State College of Medicine staff and faculty involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.

Today, I am blessed to have here with me Dr Chris Palmer. He received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and did his internship and psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Palmer leads McLean Hospital's Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education. In this role, he has developed hundreds of educational conferences, workshops, Grand Rounds, and other professional educational activities, most of them under the aegis of Harvard Medical School. His leadership has transformed the department from a small, subsidized department of the hospital into a flourishing educational program that is now leading mental health education for professionals nationwide. He has held numerous leadership positions in the continuing education field beyond McLean Hospital's program, including serving on leadership, advisory, and strategic planning committees of Harvard Medical School, Partners Healthcare, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). In this episode, Dr. Palmer will delve into various topics including nicotine's effects on mitochondrial function, the cell danger response and its relationship with mitochondria, the impact of stressors on mitochondrial responses, variations in mitochondrial responses among different tissues and cell types, and the concept of energy allocation and optimization within the body's systems. Tune in as we chat about the relationship of Ketogenic Diet and overall health. Join my 90 day heavy metals detox program (6 spots left) http://www.ketokampdetox.com  Order Keto Flex: http://www.ketoflexbook.com -------------------------------------------------------- Download your FREE Vegetable Oil Allergy Card here: https://onlineoffer.lpages.co/vegetable-oil-allergy-card-download/ / / E P I S O D E   S P ON S O R S  Wild Pastures: $20 OFF per Box for Life + Free Shipping for Life + $15 OFF your 1st Box! https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life-lf?oid=6&affid=132&source_id=podcast&sub1=ad BonCharge: Blue light Blocking Glasses, Red Light Therapy, Sauna Blankets & More. Visit https://boncharge.com/pages/ketokamp and use the coupon code KETOKAMP for 15% off your order.  Text me the words "Podcast" +1 (786) 364-5002 to be added to my contacts list. [03:22] The Transformative Power of the Ketogenic Diet in Mental Health Long-term adherence to a ketogenic diet can lead to significant health improvements. The ketogenic diet has shown potential in improving mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Weight loss goals can serve as a powerful motivator for individuals with mental health challenges to embark on dietary changes. The ketogenic diet has the potential to reduce symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia in certain individuals. The success of the ketogenic diet in mental health has sparked scientific research and clinical trials, positioning it as a promising approach in the field of neuroscience. [13:08] Mitochondria: Its Intricate Role in Mental Health Mitochondria, often known as the powerhouse of the cell, have far-reaching functions beyond energy production. Mitochondria play critical roles in the functioning of cells, including tasks relevant to mental health. High mitochondrial concentration is observed at synapses, the communication points between neurons. Mitochondria actively contribute to neurotransmitter release and the restoration of ion gradients at synapses. Disruption of mitochondrial function at synapses can impair neurotransmitter release and impact mental health. [21:16] Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Dietary Impact on Health Mitochondrial dysfunction, characterized by oxidative stress, can lead to cell death. The standard American diet high in processed carbs and seed oils may contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction. Adopting a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet or practicing fasting can stimulate mitochondrial adaptation and improvement. Fasting and ketogenic diet trigger autophagy, a process that removes defective proteins and promotes cellular renewal. Mitochondrial biogenesis occurs during fasting or a ketogenic diet, leading to an increase in healthy mitochondria and potentially benefiting both metabolic and mental health. [29:20] Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Neuronal Vulnerability Malfunctioning mitochondria struggle to process fuel sources, leading to insufficient ATP production and cellular dysfunction. Glycolysis becomes the alternative energy pathway in cells with dysfunctional mitochondria, resulting in lactic acid buildup and further impairments. Excessive reactive oxygen species exacerbate the cellular struggles, leading to apoptosis in most cells but posing challenges in neurons. Neurons lack programmed cell death (apoptosis) and rely on protective mechanisms, making them highly vulnerable to oxidative stress. Neuronal death and shrinkage can contribute to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. [50:14] Nicotine's Effects on Mitochondria and the Cell Danger Response Nicotine, as a stimulant, can enhance mitochondrial function in low doses, potentially improving mood, cognition, and memory. Pure nicotine can be beneficial if used appropriately and in moderation, but excessive use or underlying health issues can lead to harm. Mitochondria play a role in the cell danger response, where they adjust energy production based on perceived threats, such as infections or stressors. Mitochondrial responses to stressors vary among different tissues and cell types, with some increasing energy production and others reducing it. The body constantly reallocates energy resources to optimize overall function, guided by complex coordination between cells, mitochondria, and the nervous system. AND MUCH MORE! Resources from this episode:  Website: https://www.chrispalmermd.com/  Get Dr Palmer's brand new book Brain Energy here: https://amzn.to/3ppQQCH Free Newsletter: https://brainenergy.com/  Follow Dr Palmer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisPalmerMD/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisPalmerMD/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chrispalmermd4244  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrispalmermd/  Join the Keto Kamp Academy: https://ketokampacademy.com/7-day-trial-a Watch Keto Kamp on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUh_MOM621MvpW_HLtfkLyQ Join my 90 day heavy metals detox program (6 spots left) http://www.ketokampdetox.com  FREE DETOX TRAINING: https://www.ketokamp.com/Detox-Masterclass Order Keto Flex: http://www.ketoflexbook.com -------------------------------------------------------- Download your FREE Vegetable Oil Allergy Card here: https://onlineoffer.lpages.co/vegetable-oil-allergy-card-download/ / / E P I S O D E   S P ON S O R S  Wild Pastures: $20 OFF per Box for Life + Free Shipping for Life + $15 OFF your 1st Box! https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life-lf?oid=6&affid=132&source_id=podcast&sub1=ad BonCharge: Blue light Blocking Glasses, Red Light Therapy, Sauna Blankets & More. Visit https://boncharge.com/pages/ketokamp and use the coupon code KETOKAMP for 15% off your order.  Text me the words "Podcast" +1 (786) 364-5002 to be added to my contacts list. // F O L L O W ▸ instagram | @thebenazadi | http://bit.ly/2B1NXKW ▸ facebook | /thebenazadi | http://bit.ly/2BVvvW6 ▸ twitter | @thebenazadi http://bit.ly/2USE0so ▸ tiktok | @thebenazadi https://www.tiktok.com/@thebenazadi Disclaimer: This podcast is for information purposes only. Statements and views expressed on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast including Ben Azadi disclaim responsibility from any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own, and this podcast does not accept responsibility of statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guests qualifications or credibility. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or non-direct interest in products or services referred to herein. If you think you have a medical problem, consult a licensed physician.

Episode Notes S4E23 -- Join us as we dive into the mind of Dr. Uma Dhanabalan. Dr,Uma is a motovational & educational speaker as well as an industry leading professional on medical cannabis. NEWS FLASH You can now purchase Toking with the Dead full novel here https://a.co/d/7uypgZo https://www.barnesandnoble.com/.../toking.../1143414656... You can see all your past favorite episodes now streaming on https://redcoraluniverse.com/ OR Show your support by purchasing FB stars. Send stars to the stars fb.com/stars This episode is sponsored by Deadly Grounds Coffee "Its good to get a little Deadly" https://deadlygroundscoffee.com ————————————————— https://www.stilltoking.com/ Check out Toking with the Dead Episode 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awhL5FyW_j4 Check out Toking with the Dead Episode 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaUai58ua6o Buy awesome Merchandise! https://www.stilltoking.com/toking-with-the-dead-train https://teespring.com/stores/still-toking-with Sponsorship Opportunities https://www.stilltoking.com/become-a-sponsor or email us at bartlett52108@gmail.com thetokingdead@gmail.com ————————————— Follow our guest https://totalhealthcarethc.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-uma-dhanabalan-md-mph-faafp-mro-cms-02843040 https://www.facebook.com/drumadhanabalan/ https://twitter.com/DrUmaSays https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCibYORdNo3d-9wGijc151SA ———————— Follow Still Toking With and their friends! https://smartpa.ge/5zv1 https://thedorkeningpodcastnetwork.com/ ————————————— Produced by Leo Pond and The Dorkening Podcast Network https://TheDorkening.com Facebook.com/ TheDorkening Youtube.com/TheDorkening Twitter.com /TheDorkening Dead Dork Radio https://live365.com/station/Dead-Dork-Radio-a68071 MORE ABOUT OUR GUESTS: Dr. Uma Dhanabalan MD MPH FAAFP MRO CMS “Educate Embrace Empower”™️ “Promote Wellness Prevent illness”™️ Dedicating 40+ years of education, experience & a Harvard graduate, Dr. Uma™️ understands & integrates the Healing Art of Medicine with Cannabinoid Medicine. Dr. Uma™️ consults, reviews medical records, medications & laboratory results. She reviews DOT & Non-DOT test results. She incorporates Natural, Holistic, Ayurvedic & Alternative treatments. She provides Global Cannabis Consultations & is the Medical Cannabis Expert for the Massachusetts Medical Society. She provides Recommendations & Medical Cannabis (Marijuana) Certifications in MA, GA, CT, ME, RI, NH, WA & VT Find out more at https://still-toking-with.pinecast.co

According to a survey done by the Massachusetts Medical Society, 1 in 4 doctors are planning to leave medicine in the next 2 years. This data raises concerns about the future of the state's physician workforce. More than half of the physicians who took the survey said burnout was a contributing factor. Will MA suffer a physician shortage? Does this concern you?

 Are you looking for a fantastic side gig while doing medical practice? Join Andrew Tisser and Dr. Amy Fogelman as they discuss how to get started in medical expert consulting. Dr. Amy Fogelman owns a company that matches lawyers with the right medical experts for their cases. She shares that a medical expert acts as an educator and should remain unbiased no matter which side hired them. She believes that the keys to getting cases are confidence and doing an excellent job. Tune in to learn more!In this episode, you will learn:·        How did she get started in the expert witness world?·        Can any specialty do expert witness work?·        The goal of being an expert witness·        Her course on performing medical expert work·        The type of physician that should not get involved in this kind of work·        Tips for early career physiciansAbout Dr. Amy Fogelman:Amy G. Fogelman, MD is Board Certified in Internal Medicine with 17 years of experience seeing patients at ambulatory practices in the Boston area. She graduated with a BA in Biology from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and MD from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her Internship and Residency at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a Chief Residency in Primary Care at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in West Roxbury. She has been awarded prizes in clinical excellence and leadership at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).Amy's career has been notable for her advocacy efforts. She was the Executive Director of Communications for the COVID-19 Action Coalition of Massachusetts. She now serves on the Board of the Huntington's Disease Society of America's Massachusetts/Rhode Island Chapter. Amy also volunteers as a Member for the Juvenile Substance Abuse and Mental Health Task Force at the Norfolk County Sheriff's Office. Amy also serves in several leadership positions at the Massachusetts Medical Society.Amy is an educator who can communicate about complex medical-legal issues in easy to understand terms. She loves teaching patients, trainees, attorneys, juries and other Medical Experts. She sees patients at Fenway Health in Boston.Connect with Dr. Amy Fogelman:Website : https://amyfogelmanmd.com/                https://medlawconsulting.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyfogelmanmd/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amyfogelmanmd/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyfogelmanmd/?hl=en Connect with Talk2Medoc on:Website:          https://www.andrewtisserdo.com/LinkedIn:         https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewtisserdo/Facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/andrew.tisserInstagram:       https://www.instagram.com/talk2medoc_llc/Twitter:                        https://twitter.com/Talk2MeDocYouTube:        https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0O_Sf3aYLavYaJ_hg7bM8g

#OTD Physician John V. DeGrasse, the first African American to be formally educated as a doctor in the U.S., was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society.

The Massachusetts Medical Society is recommending that masks be required at all public indoor settings in the Commonwealth, regardless of vaccination status. While face coverings are currently required in health care settings and on public transportation, Governor Baker has resisted re-instating an indoor mandate statewide. Given that the new Omicron COVID variant appears to be vaccine resistant, is an indoor mask mandate a good idea?

The Massachusetts Medical Society is recommending that masks be required at all public indoor settings in the Commonwealth, regardless of vaccination status. While face coverings are currently required in health care settings and on public transportation, Governor Baker has resisted re-instating an indoor mandate statewide. Given that the new Omicron COVID variant appears to be vaccine resistant, is an indoor mask mandate a good idea?

The Massachusetts Medical Society is recommending that masks be required at all public indoor settings in the Commonwealth, regardless of vaccination status. While face coverings are currently required in health care settings and on public transportation, Governor Baker has resisted re-instating an indoor mandate statewide. Given that the new Omicron COVID variant appears to be vaccine resistant, is an indoor mask mandate a good idea?

In this Raw Rerun, Kris & Allie talk with reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Pei-Li Huang about women's health issues, IVF, donor eggs, health care advocacy, and more. They delve into infertility processes and stigmas, as well as the changing landscape of women's healthcare. Dr. Huang is board certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology as well as Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility. An active member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Dr. Huang is a champion for women's reproductive health. She is a co-founder of Fertility Solutions, an IVF center, in New England.SHOWNOTESLinks to resources discussed in this podcast-  Dr. Pei-Li's Huang's practice, Fertility Solutions, an IVF center with locations in New England- For information on infertility, go to ReproductiveFacts.org- For fertility advocacy, a good place to start is Resolve: The National Infertility Association- For information about women's health, check out ACOG: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynocologists- Dani Shapiro's book Inheritance: A Memoir of Geneaology, Paternity, and Love- Wiki article on estradiol (please consult with your medical professional!)- Vagifem  website (please consult with your medical professional!)- Steinway & Sons PianosConnect with Raw Female- Join our email list and we'll remind you when new episodes drop.- Follow us on Instagram at @rawfemalepodcast- If you enjoyed this episode or learned something new, forward to a friend!- And don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!Here's what we discussed with Dr. Pei-Li Huang- Meet Dr. Pei-Li Huang, reproductive endocrinologist (00:21)- Hormones effect everything! (02:18)- Research on men—but what about the ladies? (02:24)- Trends on HRT & Pei-Li's thoughts (06:02)- Ouch - vaginal dryness! (07:27)- Men discuss infertility with Pei-Li (10:23)- Let's talk female libido research (11:24)- Allie pipes up about the patriarchy (12:24)- IVF and Raw Female's older demographic (14:15)-  Donor eggs and aging out (15:44)- The odd stigma around donor eggs (18:08)- Feeling “something's broken” (21:06)- Serving the transgender community (25:17)- Advocating for insurance coverage for fertility treatment (26:22)- Protocol and complications for older patients (28:19)- Should I freeze my eggs? (31:2)- Trends Pei-Li is seeing now (33:58)- Lobbying the AMA to define infertility as a disease (35:46)- Are we making headway on women's healthcare policy (37:45)- Pei-Li and her piano (38:05)Raw Female: Informational. Positive. Solution-based. Fun.

On this episode, we are joined by Dr. Peter Grinspoon. Dr. Grinspoon is the author of the memoir Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction. He currently practices as a primary care physician at an inner-city clinic in Boston and is on staff at Massachusetts General Hospital. He teaches medicine at Harvard Medical School and he spent two years as an Associate Director for the Physician Health Service, part of the Massachusetts Medical Society, working with physicians who suffer from substance use disorders. Topics: 1. Cannabis & Pain - best consumption method? 2. Cannabis Breathalysers - do they work? 3. Lying to Kids About Drugs Linkedin - @thecannabisreview Twitter - @TheCannabisRev2 Episode library - https://www.irishmedianetwork.com/the-cannabis-review Peter Grinspoon M.D https://www.petergrinspoon.com/

Dr. Carole Allen, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society and a former member of the state's health policy commission, joined WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss.

Today we talk with Gretchen Barron of the Massachusetts Medical Society! We talk with Gretchen about the FM industry, her current role, and future aspirations and certifications! Listen wherever you get your podcasts- now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and more! The CM Club is always looking for guests to have on the show. If you are interested in coming on the show, please email us cmclub@wit.edu

In this episode, I chat with Dr. Grayson Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong is a clinical fellow in ophthalmic telemedicine at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. During the 2019–2020 academic year, Dr. Armstrong served as the chief resident in ophthalmology and the director of the ocular trauma service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Armstrong was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2019. He also  active within the Massachusetts Medical Society, serving on its Resident and Fellow Section governing council, and within the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, the state's ophthalmology specialty society, where he is a member of its board of directors. Dr. Armstrong is active in health policy across multiple fronts surrounding access to care. He has served as a fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, worked with the Massachusetts Governor's Office to secure access to the state's prescription drug monitoring program for resident physicians, and worked with international non-profit organizations and the Jordanian government to improve the country's response to the Syrian refugee crisis. Dr. Armstrong attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated in 2009 with a major in music and a minor in chemistry. He attended medical school at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, graduating in 2015 with invited membership to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society, before attending Harvard University, where he received his Master of Public Health with a focus on health care policy and management. Since medical school, Dr. Armstrong has fostered a strong interest in health care technology innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to serving as an advisor for various health technology startups, he is a founder of Ocular Technologies, a company creating tele-ophthalmic diagnostic hardware and software tools. With Ocular Technologies, he has been instrumental in the design and implementation of novel telemedicine and artificial intelligence technologies in the field of ophthalmology. We discuss: -Dr. Armstrong's path to ophthalmology and what aspiring ophthalmologists can take away from his journey. -His experience as Chief Resident at MEEI and what makes a good resident -Telemedicine and the state of current applications in ophthalmology -Getting involved with health policy and advocacy as a trainee -Dr. Armstrong's love for music! You can follow Dr. Armstrong on Twitter and Instagram @GraysonWilkes.

Today we talk with Gretchen Barron of the Massachusetts Medical Society! We talk with Gretchen about the FM industry, her current role, and future aspirations and certifications! Listen wherever you get your podcasts- now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and more! The CM Club is always looking for guests to have on the show. If you are interested in coming on the show, please email us cmclub@wit.edu

Kris & Allie talk with reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Pei-Li Huang about women's health issues, IVF, donor eggs, health care advocacy, and more. They delve into infertility processes and stigmas, as well as the changing landscape of women's healthcare. Dr. Huang is board certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology as well as Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility. An active member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Dr. Huang is a champion for women's reproductive health. She is a co-founder of Fertility Solutions, an IVF center, in New England.SHOWNOTESLinks to resources discussed in this podcast-  Dr. Pei-Li's Huang's practice, Fertility Solutions, an IVF center with locations in New England- For information on infertility, go to ReproductiveFacts.org- For fertility advocacy, a good place to start is Resolve: The National Infertility Association- For information about women's health, check out ACOG: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynocologists- Dani Shapiro's book Inheritance: A Memoir of Geneaology, Paternity, and Love- Wiki article on estradiol (please consult with your medical professional!)- Vagifem  website (please consult with your medical professional!)- Steinway & Sons PianosConnect with Raw Female- Join our email list and we'll remind you when new episodes drop.- Follow us on Instagram at @rawfemalepodcast- If you enjoyed this episode or learned something new, forward to a friend!- And don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!Here's what we discussed with Dr. Pei-Li Huang- Meet Dr. Pei-Li Huang, reproductive endocrinologist (00:21)- Hormones effect everything! (02:18)- Research on men—but what about the ladies? (02:24)- Trends on HRT & Pei-Li’s thoughts (06:02)- Ouch - vaginal dryness! (07:27)- Men discuss infertility with Pei-Li (10:23)- Let’s talk female libido research (11:24)- Allie pipes up about the patriarchy (12:24)- IVF and Raw Female’s older demographic (14:15)-  Donor eggs and aging out (15:44)- The odd stigma around donor eggs (18:08)- Feeling “something’s broken” (21:06)- Serving the transgender community (25:17)- Advocating for insurance coverage for fertility treatment (26:22)- Protocol and complications for older patients (28:19)- Should I freeze my eggs? (31:2)- Trends Pei-Li is seeing now (33:58)- Lobbying the AMA to define infertility as a disease (35:46)- Are we making headway on women’s healthcare policy (37:45)- Pei-Li and her piano (38:05)Raw Female: Informational. Positive. Solution-based. Fun.

We talk with Dr. David Rosman, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, on the state's capacity to distribute a vaccine.  

Episode 9 of the Green House Healthy Podcast hosted by Heather DeRose and Antonio DeRose is now live on your favorite podcast platform! 

In this episode of The Urban Collective Show … We had two experts join us. Nicolette C Fontaine, MD is currently an Internal Medicine Physician at Chestnut Hill-West Roxbury's Harvard Vanguard in Atrius Health. Her career in medicine includes but is not limited to being the Clinical Director at the BU Medical Group, a Breast Health Consultant at Quincy Medical Center and Boston Medical Center, and a Medical Director at Caritas St Elizabeth Center for Weight Control. An alumna of the University of Massachusetts, Medical School, Nicolette proudly holds her certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine, is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and holds educational experience as a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and BI Deaconess Medical Center. Titles and positions she holds or has held, confidently communicating in 3 dominant languages; French, Haitian Creole, & English! Celeste Viciere is a renowned therapist, mental health advocate, best-selling author, and podcast host. She is frequently quoted by the media as a mental health expert, including NBC News, VICE, Healthline, Bustle, and more. Celeste has been in the mental health field for more than 15 years and believes in the power of living a conscious life. She has dedicated her personal and professional endeavors to breaking the stigma surrounding mental and emotional health, especially in communities of color. Her podcast, "Celeste The Therapist," focuses on ways to shift your mindset and change your thought process. Celeste's private practice, The Uniting Center, is based in the Boston area, and she holds a master's degree in counseling from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. We talk about Covid-19. Its impact in the medical field. We talk about steps people can take to implement structure and/or address other hardships that may arise from having to stay in & socially distance themselves during the pandemic. We address what to do if someone experiences or are aware of someone experiencing physical, emotional, sexual, and/or mental abuse and neglect while being quarantined? Lastly, we share ways Boston can support the well-being of its residents during this time. If you are a new listener to The Urban Collective Show, we would love to hear from you. Please visit our Contact Page and let us know how we can help you today! Follow our Podcast @TheurbanCollectiveShow Follow our Hosts @Stephane_NIC_ and @BernadineTruth Join the Conversation Our favorite part of recording a live podcast each week is participating in the great conversations that happen on our live chat, on social media, and in our comments section. Explore these Resources In this episode, we mentioned the following resources: https://www.crisistextline.org/

Dr. Maryanne Bombaugh, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society joins Dan to fill you in on the latest Coronavirus news.

The Lionel SHIPman $HAPE YOUR FINANCES Show is a financial and life empowerment show focusing on our lives around money and finances. The show aims to educate and motivate people to improve their financial outlooks and empower them to take charge of their lives and to live life to the fullest.  Guest: Mitzi Weinman Founder of TimeFinder says, “We all have the same twenty-four-hour day.  The challenge is making the most of that time.” Mitzi offers practical approaches to living a healthy life and personal productivity. Mitzi is an Independent Certified Optavia Coach, speaker, leader, and author.  She helps people develop healthy habits & techniques to reduce stress which can result from procrastinating, feeling disorganized and overwhelmed and rushing to get done things done at work and/or at home as a Transformational, Leadership & Management Coach. Many of Mitzi's tips and techniques appear regularly in many publications and on TV, including U.S. News and World Report, Money Magazine, Forbes, Fox 25 News, Martha Stewart Living Radio: “Making a Living with Maggie” on Sirius & XM, Investor's Business Daily, Boston Business Journal, Woman's Day, Marie Claire, Redbook, WBZ Radio, and more.  Mitzi also publishes her own E-Newsletter, OnTime. Mitzi's book It's About Time!  Transforming Chaos into Calm, A to Z is available! Clients include: New Balance Athletic Shoes, Reebok, WGBH, Scholastic, Boston University School of Medicine, Cambridge Savings Bank, Rockland Savings Bank, Hub International New England, Massachusetts Medical Society, Constant Contact and several Boston law firms. Mitzi earned a bachelor's degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and lives in Needham, MA with her husband and son.  Website: www.TimeFinder.net

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Alain Chaoui, Past President of the Massachusetts Medical Society on their joint study, conducted with the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, on the ‘national health crisis’ of physician burnout in America. The post Mass Medical Society’s Dr. Alain Chaoui on Joint Harvard Study on the Crisis of Physician Burnout appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

“Almost all the speeches I give on global health are about the incredible progress and exciting new tools that are helping the world reduce child mortality and tackle infectious diseases.”Bill Gates, earlier today, April 27th, at a symposium in Boston called Epidemics Going Viral: Innovation Vs. Nature, put together by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine.  “There's one area, though, where the world isn't making much progress. And the story is actually quite a negative one if we don't get serious about it. And that's pandemic preparedness. It should concern us all, because history has taught us there will be another deadly global pandemic.”This year is the 100th anniversary of the pandemic flu that is estimated to have infected a half billion people and killed between 50 and 100 million. And a pandemic flu remains a serious threat. We currently have to create a new, seasonal vaccine annually, based on a best estimate of the specifics of the upcoming flu. So one goal has long been to create a vaccine against all variations of the flu virus.“Today we're launching a $12 million Grand Challenge, in partnership with the Page family, to accelerate the development of a universal flu vaccine. The goal is to encourage bold thinking by the world's best scientists across disciplines, including those new to the field. Lucy and Larry Page are also supporting efforts by the Sabin Vaccine Institute to encourage innovative approaches that eliminate the threat of a deadly flu pandemic.”Larry Page is one of the founders of Google.Of course, flu is not the only threat out there.“The next threat may not be flu at all. More than likely it will be an unknown pathogen that we see for the first time during an outbreak. As was the case with SARS, MERS and other recently discovered infectious diseases.”And vaccines are not enough.“So, we need to invest in other approaches, like antiviral drugs or antibody therapies that can be stockpiled or rapidly manufactured to stop the spread of the disease or treat people who've been exposed…we need a clear roadmap for a comprehensive pandemic preparedness and response system. This is important because lives, in numbers too great to comprehend, depend on it.”—Steve Mirsky(The above text is a transcript of this podcast)

“Almost all the speeches I give on global health are about the incredible progress and exciting new tools that are helping the world reduce child mortality and tackle infectious diseases.”Bill Gates, earlier today, April 27th, at a symposium in Boston called Epidemics Going Viral: Innovation Vs. Nature, put together by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine.  “There's one area, though, where the world isn't making much progress. And the story is actually quite a negative one if we don't get serious about it. And that's pandemic preparedness. It should concern us all, because history has taught us there will be another deadly global pandemic.”This year is the 100th anniversary of the pandemic flu that is estimated to have infected a half billion people and killed between 50 and 100 million. And a pandemic flu remains a serious threat. We currently have to create a new, seasonal vaccine annually, based on a best estimate of the specifics of the upcoming flu. So one goal has long been to create a vaccine against all variations of the flu virus.“Today we're launching a $12 million Grand Challenge, in partnership with the Page family, to accelerate the development of a universal flu vaccine. The goal is to encourage bold thinking by the world's best scientists across disciplines, including those new to the field. Lucy and Larry Page are also supporting efforts by the Sabin Vaccine Institute to encourage innovative approaches that eliminate the threat of a deadly flu pandemic.”Larry Page is one of the founders of Google.Of course, flu is not the only threat out there.“The next threat may not be flu at all. More than likely it will be an unknown pathogen that we see for the first time during an outbreak. As was the case with SARS, MERS and other recently discovered infectious diseases.”And vaccines are not enough.“So, we need to invest in other approaches, like antiviral drugs or antibody therapies that can be stockpiled or rapidly manufactured to stop the spread of the disease or treat people who've been exposed…we need a clear roadmap for a comprehensive pandemic preparedness and response system. This is important because lives, in numbers too great to comprehend, depend on it.”—Steve Mirsky(The above text is a transcript of this podcast)

Celebrity host Erica L. Taylor celebrates John V. DeGrasse, the first African American doctor admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society

Medical Marijuana  http://learntruehealth.com/medical-marijuana/ Reaping The Benefits Of Medical Marijuana  We have heard many benefits of medical marijuana. However, there are still some skeptics regarding the effectiveness of this plant, and many others still regard marijuana as an illegal drug. My guest today, Dr. Karen Munkacy, will shed light on why medical marijuana is better than conventional medicine. Breast Cancer Survivor Dr. Karen Munkacy is a breast cancer survivor. Upon being diagnosed at the age of 40, she has undergone 28 radiation sessions and a double mastectomy. During the four months that she was undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatments, a friend suggested taking medical marijuana. Munkacy also heard about medical marijuana’s benefits. But not wanting to break the law, Munkacy refused the treatment. Although Munkacy is grateful to be in remission, going through a plethora of surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments were not easy. Hence, Munkacy resolved to find ways to help other cancer patients ease their pain and suffering. Medical Marijuana Research Not forgetting her friend’s recommendation to use medical marijuana, Munkacy researched about the medicinal benefits of cannabis supported by scientific evidence and medical support. Her medical background gave her the perspective to assess her findings. Munkacy also began to began to speak publicly about her experience with cancer. This way, it could encourage lawmakers and health care professionals to support legislation, allowing the use of medical marijuana to alleviate patient pain and discomfort. Passing the Bill Eventually, Munkacy was able to get the medical marijuana bill passed in Massachusetts in November 2012. The bill passed with 63% votes. That encouraged Munkacy to lead an organization creating the best medical marijuana medicines. With a pioneer staff of 16 employees, Munkacy’s primary aim was to uphold the highest standards to cultivate medical marijuana and educate patients as well. Investing a lot in lab equipment also assures patients that the extractions and dosings of the medical marijuana are exact. Primary Benefits There are many other benefits of medical marijuana. Aside from the alleviation of pain and discomfort, medical marijuana also works for nausea. “It’s the only anti-nausea medication that also stimulates appetite. It works for anxiety, depression, and inability to sleep,” said Munkacy. “Medical marijuana is very safe with no side effects. Hence, it is the perfect medication for people in hospice care.” Unfortunately, some hospitals remain to be hesitant in the use of medical marijuana. Munkacy recalls a female patient wherein using medical marijuana significantly eased her pain, anxiety, and depression. That patient was able to sleep at night, had an appetite, and her nausea decreased. However, when the hospice found out that she was using medical marijuana, she was forced to leave. Consequently, her family had no choice but to take over and oversee her treatment. Father of Medical Marijuana Dr. Raphael Mechoulam is known as, “The Father of Medical Marijuana.” The title was given to Mechoulam after he discovered the endocannabinoid system. Consequently, studies show that medical marijuana inhibits the vascularization of tumors. It binds to receptors in our digestive tract. Hence, it can help with inflammatory diseases and problems like Chron’s disease. Despite that, Munkacy acknowledges that it is still hard for doctors to write recommendations. Consequently, doctors rely on top medical literature to declare effectivity of a drug or treatment before recommending it to patients. However, Israel has a different take on medical marijuana. Munkacy reveals that the Ministry of Defense in Israel pays for soldiers with PSTD to get medical marijuana. Unfortunately, for those in the United States, medical marijuana is not readily available for American soldiers with PSTD. Indeed a sad plight for people who serve our country. How The Body Processes Marijuana According to Munkacy, if you use medical marijuana everyday, you can have withdrawal symptoms if you just abruptly stop it. So it is best to do it under a doctor’s supervision. “Medical marijuana is processed through the liver. There are different effects when you inhale it vs. when you swallow it,” Munkacy said. Munkacy says that when you inhale medical marijuana, it goes into your lungs and right into your bloodstream. On the other hand, when you swallow it, it gets absorbed in your digestive tract, and the blood flow from your gastrointestinal tract goes right through your liver. “The more educated you are about this medication, the more efficient it’s going to be for you. You’ll be able to harness its effects and use it to the way that works best for you,” said Munkacy. Garden Remedies Products Under Munkacy’s Garden Remedies product line, there are a variety of medical marijuana products that patients can use to treat their various health problems: Flower Strains • Bruce Banner #3 • Chem 4 • Commerce City Kush • Cornbread • Longs Peak Blue • Girl Scout Cookies • Granddaddy Purple • Scott’s OG Premium Rolls • Bruce Banner #3 • Cornbread • Longs Peak Blue • House Blend Vape Pen Selection • Otto#2 • Tangerine Kush Concentrates • Star Killer Rosin • AJ Sour Rosin • RSO • Taffy Distillate • Keif Bar Edibles • Medicated Honey • Fruit Drops • Medicated Sugar • Medicated Finishing Rub • Stone Hard Candy • Dark Chocolate Coins • Caramel Sauce • Caramel Chew Tinctures • THC Tincture • CBD + THC Tincture Capsules • G-Caps Garden Wellness Spa Products • Medicated Relief Lotion • Mediated Lotion bar • Garden Immersion Bath Salts • Lip Balm • Bath Fizz Munkacy’s lab constantly looks for the best ways for patients to ingest medical marijuana. Products that are taken orally do not taste great. But Munkacy assures that every product they have is made from high-quality ingredients. Changing Lives Munkacy shares that people with terrible migraines benefit from their products. Some even commit suicide because of the severity of the pain brought about by migraines. Hence, medical marijuana is a miracle for many because it changes people’s lives. “We teach patients that the joint you’re getting on the black market is probably different from what you’re buying from us,” said Munkacy. “Ours is more powerful and works better.” In addition to that, Munkacy says statistics show that cancer cases did not increase with people who smoke medical marijuana for long periods. However, hobby smokers usually develop chronic bronchitis. But if they stop, lung function goes back to normal within a month. Now, that’s awesome! Facing Challenges There are currently over 40 states in the United States that have legalized marijuana in different forms. However, Munkacy says it is still difficult to get the right type of medical marijuana. Unfortunately, the University of Mississipi is currently the only place where you can get medical marijuana. Hence, researchers have had a hard time getting the types of strains that they want to study despite having several cases of success. “There was a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This study documented that CBD, which is one of the compounds in medical marijuana, treats intractable pediatric epilepsy,” shares Munkacy. “This compound doesn’t make you high, but rather it controls seizures.” Looking Ahead Despite the challenges promoting the use of medical marijuana, Munkacy remains unfazed in her mission to have more people use this treatment. Since pharmaceutical drugs have proven to be a failure for a lot of individuals, Munkacy offers her products to anyone who needs it. “Our most common patient problem is a severe chronic pain. You can keep using more of it until your pain is under control,” Munkacy said. “Unlike narcotics, there is no fatal dose in medical marijuana.” Furthermore, Munkacy assures that each patient is given immediate attention as well as ample time for consultation. Rest assured, Munkacy is confident that her life’s mission will eventually be realized one step at a time. Dr. Karen Munkacy’s medical experience is extensive. In addition to her background as a board certified anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, she is a former faculty member at UCLA and USC Medical Centers in Los Angeles and has worked as a researcher and international medical consultant. Munkacy was trained in pain management and received her medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School. She is also an active proponent in the public arena of the use of medical marijuana. In this role, Munkacy is a member of Americans for Safe Access, the largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to medical marijuana. She was a leader in the successful ballot campaign for the legalization of medical marijuana in Massachusetts and helped persuade the Massachusetts Medical Society to sponsor a physician education program on the medicine. Munkacy currently brings all her energy and integrity to Garden Remedies as it launches its efforts to deliver to patients the safe, compassionate and proven relief they deserve. Get Connected With Dr. Karen Munkacy! Official Website Facebook Instagram Twitter Recommended Reading by Dr. Karen Munkacy Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine by Lester Grinspoon     Detailed Show Notes Coming Soon! https://www.gardenremedies.org Please SUBSCRIBE to the Learn True Health Podcast on iTunes: http://bit.ly/learntruehealth-itunes The Links You Are Looking For: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Become A Health Coach Learn More About The Institute for Integrative Nutrition's Health Coaching Certification Program by checking out these four resources: 1) Integrative Nutrition's Curriculum Guide: http://geti.in/2cmUMxb 2) The IIN Curriculum Syllabus: http://geti.in/2miXTej 3) Module One of the IIN curriculum: http://geti.in/2cmWPl8 4) Get three free chapters of Joshua Rosenthal's book: http://geti.in/2cksU87 Watch my little video on how to become a Certified Health Coach! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDDnofnSldI ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If this episode made a difference in your life, please leave me a tip in the virtual tip jar by giving my podcast a great rating and review in iTunes! http://bit.ly/learntruehealth-itunes Thank you! 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Helen Cajigas MD, is a specialist in anatomic pathology and cytopathology. She has served as medical director of clinical labs across Massachusetts and has led national laboratory inspection teams. She's a leader in Massachusetts Medical Society and founded the Massachusetts Hispanic Medical Association to promote physician leadership and promote healthcare among Hispanic and minority populations. She has two children that she raised with her husband. She talks with us about - - Why she thinks it's so difficult for 63% of women physicians (according to one poll) to set healthy boundaries with one's patients, supervisors and colleagues, - How getting lots of rejections can be rally good for you, and  - How delegating can set you free.    

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine, the independent health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, issued a report called Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. This landmark report pointed out that racial and ethnic minorities receive poorer quality care than white patients, even when insurance, income, age, and medical conditions are comparable. The April edition of Physician Focus with the Massachusetts Medical Society will examine the causes and consequences of health care disparities, the barriers to equal treatment, and what physicians and patients can do to reduce these differences and improve care.

Summary of today's show: Our usual thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discussed the headlines of the week, including the launch of the Year of Faith both in Rome and in Boston and Fall River; Pope Benedict's homily for the opening Mass; indulgences for the Year of Faith; the Synod for the New Evangelization; Cardinal Seán starting to Tweet daily; religious leaders discussing physician-assisted suicide; and Cardinal Seán's reflection on the assisted-suicide slippery slope. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today's show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: Year of Faith, Tweeting Cardinal Sean, Physician-Assisted Suicide 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and to the Year of Faith. Cardinal Seán celebrated a Year of Faith opening Mass that was simulcast on WQOM and on BostonCatholicLive.com. Susan and Scot discussed the celebration of the Mass in Rome with the Holy Father and the very crowded Mass in the Pastoral Center with Cardinal Seán. Scot asked Gregory Tracy about his impressions. He said the homily was very engaging as always. He engages first with humors and anecdotes and then gets to the heart of the matter. After the Mass, they gathered in a conference room where Cardinal Seán sent out his first tweet for the Year of Faith in front of a group of journalists. Scot noted that the Cardinal had a tough time typing because his own personal computers are set up with Spanish-language keyboards. Fr. Roger talked about his own preparations and launch of the Year of Faith in his parish. He outlined his plans for his parish over the year. Scot said Cardinal Seán's homily and the entire Mass are available online at . Moving to Pope Benedict's homily at the Mass opening the Year of Faith this morning, Scot quoted: If today the Church proposes a new Year of Faith and a new evangelization, it is not to honour an anniversary, but because there is more need of it, even more than there was fifty years ago! And the reply to be given to this need is the one desired by the Popes, by the Council Fathers and contained in its documents. Even the initiative to create a Pontifical Council for the promotion of the new evangelization, which I thank for its special effort for the Year of Faith, is to be understood in this context. Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual “desertification”. In the Council's time it was already possible from a few tragic pages of history to know what a life or a world without God looked like, but now we see it every day around us. This void has spread. But it is in starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today's world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of faith are needed who, with their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive. Living faith opens the heart to the grace of God which frees us from pessimism. Today, more than ever, evangelizing means witnessing to the new life, transformed by God, and thus showing the path. The first reading spoke to us of the wisdom of the wayfarer (cf. Sir 34:9-13): the journey is a metaphor for life, and the wise wayfarer is one who has learned the art of living, and can share it with his brethren – as happens to pilgrims along the Way of Saint James or similar routes which, not by chance, have again become popular in recent years. How come so many people today feel the need to make these journeys? Is it not because they find there, or at least intuit, the meaning of our existence in the world? This, then, is how we can picture the Year of Faith: a pilgrimage in the deserts of today's world, taking with us only what is necessary: neither staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, nor two tunics – as the Lord said to those he was sending out on mission (cf. Lk 9:3), but the Gospel and the faith of the Church, of which the Council documents are a luminous expression, as is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published twenty years ago. Scot said the homily is stark about saying that many of the people we meet each day are in the desert, but it is from the starkness of the desert that we can rediscover the faith. Greg said already at the Second Vatican Council, society was making this transition to the secular desert and now 50 years on we are deep into the desert. Susan was reminded of Pope John Paul's teaching that Christ leads us to the Father through the Holy Father. She also noted he quoted Pope John XXIII: ““What above all concerns the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be safeguarded and taught more effectively […] Therefore, the principal purpose of this Council is not the discussion of this or that doctrinal theme.” She said we observe the signs of the times and determine how we authentically and faithfully present the faith. She also noted that he talks about going back to the documents and she always encourages people to read the texts. Fr. Roger said in this homily the Holy Father is bringing us back to the themes of his pontificate. He says the whole mission of the Church is to lead people out of the desert into friendship with Christ. He said many people haven't read the documents of the Second Vatican Council and this is an opportunity to go back and re-read them. Fr. Roger noted that this isn't a year of catechesis, but a year of living by faith. Scot noted that at the same time as the opening of the Year of Faith is a synod of bishops on the New Evangelization. Cardinal Donald Wuerl says that it's like a tsunami of secularism has swept across Europe and beyond. He also talked about the cost of poor catechesis. The cardinal said a “tsunami of secularism” has washed across the world, leaving in its wake a tendency to deny God's existence, or to deny that God's existence is relevant to human thinking and action. Yet, without God “the very understanding of what it means to be human is altered,” he said. A key task of the new evangelization is to help people see that human dignity and human rights flow from the fact that human beings are created in God's image, he said. Susan said she couldn't agree more with the Cardinal that the Catechism has immensely improved catechesis. Susan would add the improvement in understanding of hiw we learn through the social sciences. Scot also noted that the plenary indulgences for the Year of Faith have been given. An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven. Fr. Roger explained that Purgatory repairs the damage to relationships caused by sin. Indulgences take away that temporal punishment for sin by the merits of Christ. they can be applied to the living or the dead. The indulgences are gained in this circumstance through some specific steps, including making pilgrimages to a local site designated by the bishop, attending parish missions or lectures on Vatican II or the catechism, attending a Mass or Liturgy of the Hours on days designated by the local bishop or renewing baptismal vows where we were baptized; or attending a Mass celebrated by a bishop on the Year of Faith's last day. The other usual conditions for indulgences apply as well. Scot noted the last day of the Year of Christ will be the Feast of Christ the King on which we have the Cheverus Awards at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and that could be one of the biggest Masses ever at the cathedral. 2nd segment: Scot said it was announced today that Cardinal Seán will be tweeting at least daily until November 6 and encouraging everyone to follow him on Twitter. He's hoping that people will retweet his messages on the Year of Faith and physician-assisted suicide. The cardinal says the biggest challenge of Question 2 is that not enough people know about it yet. Scot noted that yesterday his follower count was about 5,090 and today it's up a few hundred more already. Greg explained what twitter is and how it works. He said Twitter is very ephemeral and it's easy to miss one tweet so if the Cardinal writes consistently it will be more easily found. Scot said we don't have to be confrontational in talking to people about this issue. There are plenty of low-impact ways of spreading the message. Fr. Roger said the cost of a failure to act is that someone might die and the benefit of acting might be to help people get the help they need instead of poison from their doctor. He noted some anecdotes from people in his parish who have talked to others about it, describing their own experiences with suicide or terminal illness. Another story in the Pilot this week was an invitation to Cardinal Sean from Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodius to gather with representatives from different religious groups—from Salvation Army to Islam— to talk about physician-assisted suicide. Greg was there and said there was a sense that this can't be described as just a Catholic issue. One of the issues on their minds was how to make it clear to their congregations and others that this isn't just a Catholic issue, even though the Catholic Church is on the forefront. Scot said in the Pilot is Cardinal Seán's third reflection on assisted suicide: Slippery slope arguments involve small decisions that lead to undesirable outcomes that never would have been supported at the outset. Often, it is impossible to prove that one small step will have significant negative effects, but common sense allows reasonable people to judge the likelihood that a sequence of events that have happened in one place are likely to happen in another place in a similar way He then points out 7 potential problems downstream: It could lead to increased elder abuse; It could lead to adoption of “quality of life” standards; It could lead to lower quality of care; It could undermine doctor/patient relationship; It could lead to a general devaluing of human life; It could lead to an increase of suicide generally; and It could lead, eventually to euthanasia—like it has in the Netherlands. Scot said people say you can't prove a slippery slope argument empirically. Susan said arguing the slippery slope can make you seem like an extremist. She noted that in the Netherlands they have mobile euthanasia units now. She also said both the American Medical Association and Massachusetts Medical Society oppose this ballot question. Scot said there are also good op-ed columns in the Pilot on this topic as well. Winding up the show, Scot noted the death of Fr. Lawrence Wetterholm at 88 and the appointment of Fr. Bill Schmidt to pastor of both St. Marym, Wrentham, and St. Martha, Plainville from St. Patrick in Stoneham, one of the biggest parishes in the Archdiocese.

Summary of today's show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the news headlines of the week, including last night's town hall forum on physician-assisted suicide with Cardinal Seán; the remarks by Congressman Chris Smith at the recent Red Mass luncheon; Cardinal Seán's column in the Pilot this week on the flaws in Question 2; the appointment of John Straub as chancellor of the archdiocese; and preparing for the launch of the Year of Faith next week. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today's show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: Physician-assisted suicide; new Chancellor; Year of Faith 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and he talked with Susan Abbott about last night's town hall forum on physician-assisted suicide. Scot said to Gregory Tracy that this week's Pilot is the thickest edition he's ever seen and Greg said it's one of the thickest in recent memory. He said there is a special section called the Open House for Catholic schools. Scot said the town hall meeting will air 16 times on CatholicTV between now and November 6. The audio will air on Monday's show of The Good Catholic Life. Also joining us from Alabama this week is Fr. Roger Landry, where he was leading a retreat for priests in the Diocese of Birmingham. He was at a Benedictine retreat house. They were preparing prayerfully for the Year of Faith which begins a week from today. Fr. Roger related his experience with a tornado detector in the house where he was staying. He also talked about seeing the effects of tornadoes in the region from the past couple of years. Scot said he knows Birmingham as the place where EWTN is located. Fr. Roger said it's also the location of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, built by Mother Angelica. He also said there was a place called Ave Maria Grotto, which has exact miniatures of all of the major pilgrimage shrines throughout the world. Fr. Roger said he watched last night's presidential debate with the priests of Birmingham. One of the major stories in the Pilot this week is the coverage of the Red Mass last week. It concentrates on the words of Rep. Chris Smith, who gave the keynote. Smith is a noted leader in Congress for the pro-life movement. Susan said some of the statistics Smith cited were disturbing as well as the whole issue of gender selection abortions. Scot clarified that most of the time when there is sex selection abortions, it's the girls who are aborted, not boys. He also talked about his work on human rights in China. He said: “Today, there is a beguiling tendency in our society, especially in the political arena, to accept the euphemism - choice, death with dignity- over a difficult truth.” he said. … He called abortion a “serious, lethal violation of fundamental human rights” that requires immediate attention. “Abortion methods rip, tear and dismember, or chemically poison the fragile bodies of unborn children. There is nothing benign, compassionate or just about an act that utterly destroys the life of a baby and often physically, psychology or emotionally harms the woman,” he said. Greg said truth is the great disinfectant and using euphemisms help us to rationalize abortion and beat down our consciences. Scot said Smith's point is accurate, but when you think about abortion or assisted suicide, we realize we've learned the lessons that we have to be clear and avoid the euphemisms. Fr. Roger said we have to tell the truth, without intentionally trying to offend people. Whether it be redefinition of marriage, the massacre of the unborn, or killing those at the end of life. Jesus talked about politically correct terminology in the eighth commandment when he told us not to life. These euphemisms are hiding a lie. When we recognize the realities, we act instinctively. Fr. Roger recalled meeting Chris Smith when he was working in Washington, DC, and then later welcomed him to Rome and had dinner with him there. He called Smith a prophet working in Congress. Scot said Cardinal Seán is doing what he can to educate form everyone on the consequences of this ballot question to legalize assisted suicide. He has another op-ed in the Pilot this week that calls Question 2 a flawed law and a false choice. Among the flaws are the ability for a spouse to get a suicide prescription without having to nothing their husband or wife. He talks about what doctors have said, including the American Medical Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society. The American Medical Association (AMA) has stated that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks. Instead of participating in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life. Patients should not be abandoned once it is determined that cure is impossible. Multidisciplinary interventions should be sought including specialty consultation, hospice care, pastoral support, family counseling, and other modalities. Patients near the end of life must continue to receive emotional support, comfort care, adequate pain control, respect for patient autonomy, and good communication.” Locally, the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) voted overwhelmingly against assisted suicide and have said that “assisted suicide is not necessary to improve the quality of life at the end of life. Current law gives every patient the right to refuse lifesaving treatment, and to have adequate pain relief, including hospice and palliative sedation.” In describing their specific opposition to Question 2, the MMS stated further that “The proposed safeguards against abuse are insufficient. Enforcement provisions, investigation authority, oversight, or data verification are not included in the act. A witness to the patient's signed request could also be an heir.” The Cardinal is saying that the Catholic faith has a strong opposition to assisted suicide, but doctors are opposed just as much on ethical grounds and medical principles. Greg said physicians deal with these issues every day. They will be on the front lines. They will be the ones writing these prescriptions. Doctors get into the profession in order to help people and these law turns that relationship inside out. Scot said Cardinal Seán asked last night for each person to talk to 10 people about this issue because so many don't even know about the ballot question. Scot suggested picking up materials at your parish and just handing them to others. Susan said she's surprised that so few have heard about this. Scot said there's been almost no ads on the first two ballot questions. 2nd segment: Scot said yesterday the Archdiocese of Boston announced the appointment of a new chancellor, John Straub, who has been the interim chancellor since May and then worked in the Pastoral Center for about a year prior to that. Scot said John has been doing a good job. Scot said Straub worked in the George W. Bush administration at a senior level. Susan said she's worked with John on a few occasions and has always had a good experience. She said John has his priorities set for continuing to move the Archdiocese forward. Greg said in the interview John said his hobbies are his children, he doesn't have any other hobbies anymore. Greg and Scot discussed that the understanding when John was appointed interim chancellor, the understanding was that they expected he would become chancellor and start a five-year term, given that both some consultative bodies and Straub found it to be a good fit. Scot said the Diocese of Fall River also had a senior appointment. James Campbell has been named Development Director. He has a lot of experience in fundraising in various places. “I strongly believe in the mission of the Church and consider my principal responsibility to enthusiastically promote the many ways in which the Church teaches, heals, comforts and cares for everyone, both temporally and spiritually,” he said. Fr. Roger said it's important for the diocese to build up endowments and to raise funds to sustain churches in inner cities and sustain schools. This is the next stage in long-term financial planning for the diocese. Scot said the next story is about the obituary of Fr. Richard Butler, at 76. He was ordained on the same day as this twin brother and Scot joked with Fr. Roger that this could have replicated in their lives. He served in many, many parishes as well as several diocesan, national, and international offices and in a couple of colleges. The Knight of Columbus in Massachusetts elected new state leaders. Installed as state officers were Stare: Deputy Peter Healy of Fitchburg, State Secretary Russell Steinbach of Dorchester, State Treasurer Paul O'Sullivan of Foxboro, Stare Advocate Robert Morrison of Milford, and State Warden Paul Flanagan of Stoughton. There was discussion of how the leaders are chosen and all the good work the Knights do. Susan said this weekend is Columbus Day Weekend, in which they will have their Tootsie Roll drive. Turning to the Year of Faith, Scot said Fr. Roger proposed a theme for the Year of Faith: “Lord, increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5). Fr. Roger said this year is an opportunity to grow in faith. In trusting Christ, we trust what He has taught us about the faith, about who we are, and the truth about what will really make us happy. He said it's key for us to respond in these next 13 months to the grace God gives us to become more faithful. Scot said when we make that prayer about increasing our faith, we should prepare to have our faith tested. Susan said God provides grace and challenging opportunities to grow in virtue. Susan said this is such an opportunity this year and we shouldn't let this pass. This should go beyond those of us in the choir to those in the pew and to those outside the doors of the church. Fr. Roger's column also looked at what happened at the last Year of Faith in 1967. In 1967 the Pope called the Year of Faith and the Lord responded with those tests and trials and in many places, but many Catholic institutions failed. 1968 was a year of conflict, riots, war, and the sexual revolution. Four years later, Pope Paul VI said the smoke of Satan had entered the Church and doubt entered consciences through windows that should have been open to the light. So what will happen this time? We have to be ready for the tests that are coming and the Year of Faith will help us be ready. Scot said The Pilot is helping people prepare for the Year of Faith. Greg said this week the Pilot has an article marking the beginning of the Year of Faith as the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council. The article explains what all the different ecumenical councils of the Church were and gives the historical details. Susan said in her own parish, she's leading the discussion of the Catholicism series by Fr. Robert Barron. Fr. Roger said he's looking forward to the opportunity to focus on the great figures of faith. In Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict talks about the great heroes from Mary through the apostles to the saints to the martyrs to the countless people in our own histories who have passed on the faith to us. He is asking parishioners to submit written testimonies about those who passed on the faith to them. Scot said he's looking forward to sharing more about the virtue of joy.

Summary of today's show: Scot Landry delivered a talk on the push for physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts, addressing the historical, ethical, and practical considerations as voters in the Commonwealth are confronted by this matter of life and death in the election this fall. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry Links from today's show: Today's topics: Physician-assisted suicide 1st segment: Scot Landry mentioned that he recently delivered a talk, co-written by his brother Father Roger Landry, entitled “A Matter of Life and Death: Defeating the Push for Doctor-Prescribed Suicide: Historical, Ethical and Practical Considerations.” As part of the Archdiocese of Boston's Suicide is Always A Tragedy educational effort, Scot recorded this talk for use on The Good Catholic Life. Information from materials on and from the USCCB webpage on Physician Assisted Suicide is used in the talk. A matter of life and death: Defeating the Push for Doctor-Prescribed Suicide Historical, Ethical and Practical Considerations Suicide is ALWAYS a tragedy. It's never a dignified way to die. Most in our society readily understand that when someone is contemplating suicide at any age of life, he or she is normally suffering from a depression triggered by very real setbacks and serious disappointments and sees death as the only path to relief. The psychological professions know that people with such temptations need help to be freed not from life but from these suicidal thoughts through counseling, support, and when necessary, medication. The compassionate response to teenagers experiencing a crushing breakup, to unemployed fathers overwhelmed by pressure, to unhappy actresses feeling alone and abandoned, to middle-aged men devastated by scandalous revelations, is never to catalyze their suicide. Heroic police officers and firefighters climb bridges or go out on the ledges of skyscrapers for a reason. Dedicated volunteers staff Samaritan hotlines around the clock for a reason. This same type of care and attention needs to be given by a just and compassionate society to suffering seniors or others with serious illnesses. We're now living at a time in which this clear truth isn't seen by all and where some are advancing that suicide, rather than a tragedy, is actually a good, moral, rational and dignified choice. A year ago, if you were exiting the Callahan Tunnel in East Boston, you would have been confronted with a billboard paid for by the Final Exit Network, with white letters against a black background proclaiming, “Irreversible illness? Unbearable suffering? Die with Dignity.” To die with dignity, the billboard advanced, was to commit suicide with the help of a doctor. We would never tolerate a similar sign in Harvard Square or at any university: “Failing your courses? Unbearable heartbreak? Feel like the “one mistake” the Admissions Office made? End your collegiate career with dignity. Take your life.” We would know that preying on the emotionally down and vulnerable is never an act of compassion but what John Paul II called a perversion of mercy. Yet, in Massachusetts, we now have a Citizens Initiative Petition called the Death with Dignity Act that seems to be headed to the ballot this November that will legalize suicide for a class of citizens.This would involve the active cooperation of doctors prescribing lethal overdoses of drugs. Such attempts to legalize physician-assisted suicide have been introduced here in Massachusetts and been rebuffed in 1995, 1997, 2009 and 2010, but this year seems to be the best chance for proponents of euthanasia to achieve their objective of making Massachusetts the East Coast Oregon and the North American Netherlands. A recent poll by Public Policy Polling showed that support for the measure is ahead of the opposition 43-37 percent. So there is much work to do and much at stake. It's literally a matter of life and death. Whether we become active in the fight against doctor prescribed suicide may make the difference between lives being saved or tragically ended. So in this address, in the brief time we have, I'd like briefly to do several things.First, I'll describe the cultural background for this push for doctor prescribed death. Next, I'd like to touch on Church teaching, in order to strengthen us in our conviction as believers. Third, I'd like to focus on the Death with Dignity Act, and what the problems with it are even from an agnostic, commonsensical point of view, to equip us with arguments that will meet citizens where they're at, regardless of their belief in the dignity of every human life and that intrinsic evil of suicide. Lastly, I'd like to describe what we're being called to do now, as Catholics, as Harvard students and alumni, simply as truly compassionate human beings. II. The Cultural Context The push for physician-assisted suicide isn't coming out of a vacuum. It's a natural consequence of several factors that we need to be aware of if we are going to be able to persuade those who may unwisely be prone to support it. A great fear of suffering and death and a desire to control it – Pope John Paul II pointed this out in his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life (64): “The prevailing tendency is to value life only to the extent that it brings pleasure and well-being; suffering seems like an unbearable setback, something from which one must be freed at all costs. Death is considered “senseless” if it suddenly interrupts a life still open to a future of new and interesting experiences. But it becomes a “rightful liberation” once life is held to be no longer meaningful because it is filled with pain and inexorably doomed to even greater suffering. USCCB 2011 document “To Live Each Day with Dignity,” said: “Today, however, many people fear the dying process. They are afraid of being kept alive past life's natural limits by burdensome medical technology. They fear experiencing intolerable pain and suffering, losing control over bodily functions , or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others.” An exaggerated notion of personal autonomy or selfish individualism - There is a notion that no one can tell me what is good for me.. EV 64: When he denies or neglects his fundamental relationship to God, man thinks he is his own rule and measure, with the right to demand that society should guarantee him the ways and means of deciding what to do with his life in full and complete autonomy. It is especially people in the developed countries who act in this way. There's a distinction to be made between a healthy individualism and an exaggerated one that excludes any real sense of duties owed to family members, to society, to others. Almost all the justifications for legalizing physician assisted suicide focus primarily on the dying person who wants it. Its harmful impact on society and its values and institutions are ignored. Euthanasia, we have to remember, is not a private act of “self determination,” or a matter of managing one's personal affairs. AsCardinal O'Malley wrote back in 2000 in a pastoral letter on life as Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, “It is a social decision: A decision that involves the person to be killed, the doctor doing the killing, and the complicity of a society that condones the killing.” If personal autonomy is the basis for permitting assisted suicide, why would a person only have personal autonomy when diagnosed (or misdiagnosed) as having a terminal condition? [ Rita Marker]If assisted suicide is proclaimed by force of law to be a good solution to the problem of human suffering, then isn't it both unreasonable and cruel to limit it to the dying? A legal positivism that believes that there are no universal moral norms, but just the values we impose, either by courts and legislatures or ballot petitions - In yesteryear, the debate over euthanasia would take place within the context of moral and religious coordinates. No longer. There ceases to be common reference to anything higher than the debates that occur in the “secular cathedrals” of courthouses and legislatures. Believers have often abetted this secularization of discourse by allowing secularists to drive religious and moral values from normal discourse so that the public square becomes “naked” and our sacred scripture becomes court opinions and our prophets become the talking heads in the media. Materialism and consumerism - Our society has lost a sense of the sacred, of mystery of the soul. The body is looked at just as a machine and human life as a whole has become two dimensional. This abets the push for euthanasia because ideas that there is meaning in suffering, even in death, seems like outdated ideas and that we should treat these fundamental human realities of suffering and death the way we do cars, or pets, or other things that begin to break down. We dispose of them once their usefulness is no longer apparent. An anthropology based on scientific and mechanistic rationalism - Our scientific and medical progress, among other things in being able to produce life in test tubes and other practices, has led us to believe that if we can “create” life we should be able to manipulate it and end it, because life has lost its sense of mystery and its connection to a creator beyond us. We become what the raw material of human life becomes with time. We no longer are seen to be special in comparison with animals or robots. If we can euthanize our suffering pets, we should, so says Princeton's Peter Singer, be able to euthanize human beings and allow them to end their own lives. A misunderstanding of human dignity - American political scientist Diana Schaub says “we no longer agree about the content of dignity, because we no longer share … a ‘vision of what it means to be human'.” Intrinsic dignity means one has dignity simply because one is human. This is a status model — dignity comes simply with being a human being. It's an example of “recognition respect” — respect is contingent on what one is, a human being. Extrinsic dignity means that whether one has dignity depends on the circumstances in which one finds oneself and whether others see one as having dignity. Dignity is conferred and can be taken away. Dignity depends on what one can or cannot do. These two definitions provide very different answers as to what respect for human dignity requires in relation to disabled or dying people, and that matters in relation to euthanasia.Under an inherent dignity approach, dying people are still human beings, therefore they have dignity. Under an extrinsic dignity approach, dying people are no longer human doings — that is, they are seen as having lost their dignity — and eliminating them through euthanasia is perceived as remedying their undignified state. Pro-euthanasia advocates argue that below a certain quality of life a person loses all dignity. They believe that respect for dignity requires the absence of suffering, whether from disability or terminal illness, and, as well, respect for autonomy and self-determination. Consequently, they argue that respect for the dignity of suffering people who request euthanasia requires it to be an option We need to be aware of these aspects of our culture because we're really going to be able to change hearts and minds long term, to re-evangelize the culture of death with a culture of life, only when we're able to get to the roots of the ideas that find euthanasia not only acceptable, not only worthwhile, but in some cases obligatory. The moral worth of our society hinges on how we respond to these false ideas and fears. As the US Bishops wrote in To Live Each Day with Dignity: “Our society can be judged by how we respond to these fears. A caring community devotes more attention, not less, to members facing the most vulnerable times in their lives. When people are tempted to see their own lives as diminished in value or meaning, they most need the love and assistance of others to assure them of their inherent worth.” III. The teaching of the Catholic Church I presume most people listening to this presentation would be aware of the Church's teaching with regard to euthanasia and doctor prescribed death.We believe that human life is the most basic gift of a loving God, a gift over which we have stewardship not absolute dominion. As responsible stewards of life, we must never directly intend to cause our own death or that of anyone else. Euthanasia and assisted suicide, for that reason , are always gravely wrong. The fifth commandment applies to our actions toward ourselves and to others. For this reason, Blessed Pope John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae : To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called “assisted suicide” means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested. In a remarkably relevant passageSaint Augustine writes that “it is never licit to kill another: even if he should wish it, indeed if he request it because, hanging between life and death, he begs for help in freeing the soul struggling against the bonds of the body and longing to be released; nor is it licit even when a sick person is no longer able to live”. Even when not motivated by a selfish refusal to be burdened with the life of someone who is suffering, euthanasia must be called a , and indeed a disturbing “perversion” of mercy. True “compassion” leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.Moreover, the act of euthanasia appears all the more perverse if it is carried out by those, like relatives, who are supposed to treat a family member with patience and love, or by those, such as doctors, who by virtue of their specific profession are supposed to care for the sick person even in the most painful terminal stages” (66). The CatholicChurch regularly teaches about importance of palliative care and emphasizes that we don't teach that we have to preserve life by all means no matter what the circumstances.Palliative care is a holistic approach to terminal illness and the dying process. It seeks to address the whole spectrum of issues that confront a person with a terminal diagnosis through information, high quality care and pain relief, dealing with the emotions, dispelling fear, offering spiritual support if required and including the family in every aspect of the patient's care. In Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II wrote that “Euthanasia must be distinguished from the decision to forego so-called “aggressive medical treatment”, in other words, medical procedures which no longer correspond to the real situation of the patient, either because they are by now disproportionate to any expected results or because they impose an excessive burden on the patient and his family. In such situations, when death is clearly imminent and inevitable, one can in conscience “refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to the sick person in similar cases is not interrupted” The US Bishops in To Live Each Day with Dignity stated that “Respect for life does not demand that we attempt to prolong life by using medical treatments that are ineffective or unduly burdensome. Nor does it mean we should deprive suffering patients of needed pain medications out of a misplaced or exaggerated fear that they might have the side effect of shortening life. The risk of such an effect is extremely low when pain medication is adjusted to a patient's level of pain, with the laudable purpose of simply addressing that pain (CCC, no. 2279). In fact, severe pain can shorten life, while effective palliative care can enhance the length as well as the quality of a person's life. It can even alleviate the fears and problems that lead some patients to the desperation of considering suicide. Effective palliative care also allows patients to devote their attention to the unfinished business of their lives, to arrive at a sense of peace with God, with loved ones, and with themselves.” This is the “infinitely better way” to care for the needs of people with serious illnesses,” what Blessed John Paul II called “the way of love and mercy.” These considerations are very important in terms of forming ourselves as Catholics, and they help all of us see more clearly and with greater confidence, thanks the help of Revelation, that doctor prescribed death is always wrong. These arguments won't necessarily work ad extra, in terms of the persuasion of the public as a whole, but they will be far more direct and persuasive to those who believe that they believe that God exists, that he speaks to us through Sacred Scripture and the Church he founded, to guide us to the truth in faith and morals. IV. National and International Survey of Doctor Prescribed Death Before we look at the situation in Massachusetts, I'd like to do a quick survey of the situation in our country and across the globe. I do this because euthanasia proponents sometimes give the impression that the advent of physician assisted suicide is inevitable. It's not. There is, in fact, the total reverse and negation of a “domino effect.” The state of Oregon made assisted suicide a medical treatment in 1994 and three years later legalized it outright. In 2008, Washington did the same. That same year courts in Montana said that patients have the right to self-administer a lethal dose of medication as prescribed by a physician and determined that the doctor would not face legal punishment for doing so. But in the time since 1994 in Oregon, there have been 124 proposals in 25 states. All that are not currently pending were either defeated, tabled for the session, withdrawn by sponsors, or languished with no action taken. Michigan defeated a Kevorkian led referendum in 1998. Maine defeated a referendum for physician assisted suicide in 2000 (51-49). California defeated the Compassionate Choices Acts in 2005. New Hampshire defeated an assisted suicide bill 242-113 in January 2010. Later that year, Hawaii's health committee unanimously rebuffed it. Earlier this month, the State of Vermont defeated it 18-11 in the Senate. The vast majority of times it has come up in states across the nation, it has been defeated. Doctor physician suicide remains an explicit crime in 44 states. The same thing has happened internationally. After the Netherlands legalized it, The Scottish Parliament overwhelming defeated an attempt to give “end of life Assistance” 85-16 in 2010. In the same year, the Canadian parliament defeated a bill that would have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide by a vote of 228 to 59. In Western Australia, a major effort was launched to pass a euthanasia bill, and it was struck down 24-11 in September 2010.Since the beginning of 2010 five countries have defeated efforts to pass more radical laws enabling not just assisted suicide but Netherlands-style euthanasia, which allows medical professionals to kill very ill or depressed patients. The bottom line is that we should have hope. If euthanasia can be defeated in California, in Vermont, in Britain, in Canada, it can be defeated here. The reason is because fundamentally those fighting against euthanasia are not primarily conservatives or, even more restricted, religious conservatives. Most current opposition coalitions include many persons and organizations whose opposition is based on progressive politics, especially disability rights groups and medical associations . V. The Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act Let's turn now to the Death with Dignity Act that Attorney General Martha Coakley certified as a citizens initiative petition on September 7, 2011.Presently assisting suicide currently is a common law crime in MassachusettsThis petition allows a Massachusetts adult resident, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness that will likely result in death within six months, to request and receive a prescription for a lethal drug to end his or her life. If passed, the petition would legalize physician-assisted suicide. Two physicians will need to determine the terminal diagnosis, the mental state of the patient, and that the patient is acting voluntarily. The patient must make two oral requests within no fewer than fifteen days of one another. A written request is also required with a minimum of forty-eight hours between the written request and the writing of a prescription for the lethal drug. Let's begin parsing what this is all about.First I'll describe technical issues with the actual petition and then discuss some of the larger issues involved. There are at least 5 technical issues with the actual petition. First, we see first the use of euphemisms to mask what's really involved. The US Bishops have stated that proponents … avoid terms such as “assisting suicide” and instead use euphemisms such as “aid in dying.” They note that The Hemlock Society has changed its name to “Compassion and Choices.” They state, “Plain speaking is needed to strip away this veneer and uncover what is at stake, for this agenda promotes neither free choice nor compassion.” Proponents scrupulously avoid the term suicide, instead opting for “compassion,” “dying with dignity” “humane” and “end-of-life care.” It's important for us to keep the term suicide in the forefront, because people, especially in our culture, recognize that suicide is wrong. A vote for doctor prescribed suicide is a vote for suicide. Cardinal O'Malley said in a powerful homily, “We hope that the citizens of the commonwealth will not be seduced by the language: dignity, mercy and compassion which are used to disguise the sheer brutality of helping some kill themselves.… We are our brother's keeper and our sister's helper. Cain who forgot he was his brother's keeper ended up becoming his executioner. “Thou shall not kill” is God's law and it is written in our hearts by our Creator.” Second, the petition uses a vague definition of terminally ill. There are many definitions for the word “terminal.” For example, when he spoke to the National Press Club in 1992, Jack Kevorkian said that a terminal illness was “any disease that curtails life even for a day.” The co-founder of the Hemlock Society often refers to “terminal old age.” Some laws define “terminal” condition as one from which death will occur in a “relatively short time.” Others state that “terminal” means that death is expected within six months or less, WITHOUT MEDICAL CARE. Even where a specific life expectancy (like six months) is referred to, medical experts acknowledge that it is virtually impossible to predict the life expectancy of a particular patient. Some people diagnosed as terminally ill don't die for years, if at all, from the diagnosed condition. Increasingly, however, euthanasia activists have dropped references to terminal illness, replacing them with such phrases as “hopelessly ill,” “desperately ill,” “incurably ill,” “hopeless condition,” and “meaningless life.” But it is extremely common for medical prognoses of a short life expectancy to be wrong. Studies indicate that only cancer patients show a predictable decline, and even then, it is only in the last few weeks of life. With every disease other than cancer, prediction is unreliable. Prognoses are based on statistical averages, which are nearly useless in determining what will happen to an individual patient. Thus, the potential reach of assisted suicide is extremely broad and could include many people who may be mistakenly diagnosed as terminal but who have many meaningful years of life ahead The third technical issue with the petition is that there is no mandatory psychiatric evaluation to determine the level of depression or a plan to handle depression. The petition only requires a determination that the person does not have impaired judgment (Section 6). In To Live Each Day with Dignity, the US Bishops remarked, “Medical professionals recognize that people who take their own lives commonly suffer from a mental illness, such as clinical depression. Suicidal desires may be triggered by very real setbacks and serious disappointments in life. However, suicidal persons become increasingly incapable of appreciating options for dealing with these problems, suffering from a kind of tunnel vision that sees relief only in death.” It is never rational to choose suicide. In 2010, the Oregon Public Health Division found that the leading reasons people gave for asking for death were loss of autonomy (94%), decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable (94%), and loss of dignity (79%). It is not pain but fear that drives people to suicide. Fear of dependence. Fear of “being a burden.” Depression is one of the main factors that drives one to suicide. it's not pain. The latest figures from Oregon show that while 95% of patients requested euthanasia or assisted suicide for “loss of autonomy” and 92% for “loss of dignity” only 5% (3 people) requested it for “inadequate pain control.” It should be noted here that hospice care is not as well developed in Oregon as in other US states. The two professional associations representing oncologists in California wrote: It is critical to recognize that, contrary to belief, most patients requesting physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia do not do so because of physical symptoms such as pain or nausea. Rather, depression, psychological distress, and fear of loss of control are identified as the key end of life issues. This has been borne out in numerous studies and reports. For example, … a survey of 100 terminally ill cancer patients in a palliative care program in Edmonton, Canada,. .. showed no correlation between physical symptoms of pain, nausea, or loss of appetite and the patient's expressed desire or support for euthanasia or PAS. Moreover, in the same study, patients demonstrating suicidal thoughts were much more likely to be suffering from depression or anxiety, but not bodily symptoms such as pain. Fourth – there are multiple problems with criteria for witnesses and reporting structures. Witnesses can be strangers or those who seek to benefit from the death. Can be friends of the heirs. Under this Initiative [11-12], someone who would benefit financially from the patient's death could serve as a witness and claim that the patient is mentally fit and eligible to request assisted suicide. The Initiative [11-12] requires that there be two witnesses to the patient's written request for doctor-prescribed suicide. One of those witnesses shall not be a relative or entitled to any portion of the person's estate upon death. However,this provides little protection since it permits one witness to be a relative or someone who IS entitled to the patient's estate. The second witness could be the best friend of the first witness and no one would know. Victims of elder abuse and domestic abuse are unlikely to share their fears with outsiders or to reveal that they are being pressured by family members to “choose” assisted suicide. The US Bishops stated last year that “in fact, such laws have generally taken great care to AVOID real scrutiny of the process for doctor-prescribed death—or any inquiry into WHOSE choice is served. In Oregon and Washington, for example, all reporting is done solely by the physician who prescribes lethal drugs. Once they are prescribed, the law requires no assessment of whether patients are acting freely, whether they are influenced by those who have financial or other motives for ensuring their death, or even whether others actually administer the drugs. Here the line between assisted suicide and homicide becomes blurred.”In Oregon, in only 28 percent of the patient deaths has the prescribing physician been present at the time of patient ingestion of the lethal dose, and in 19 percent of the cases, no health care provider has been in attendance. The fifth technical problem is that the initiative doesn't do enough limit the possibility of elder abuse or a lack of consent. Criminologist Jeremy Prichard doubts that many people in the community will be able to give full and voluntary consent to ending their lives. He contends that the growing prevalence of elder abuse suggests that aged people could easily be manipulated.Most elder abuse is at the hand of a relative. We must recognize that the prospect of euthanasia and assisted suicide becoming law in this country could effectively be aiding and abetting elder abuse with extremely grave consequences.It's not hard to imagine that a relative who has been systematically abusing an elder emotionally and financially could see euthanasia as the final (and most profitable) card to play for personal gain.It's not hard to imagine someone who has been emotionally abused over time succumbing to the suggestion that they ‘do the right thing' once their frailty and ailments reach a certain point. VI. Larger issues involved Now I'd like to discuss 8 larger issues that are involved .There's a false compassion involved in this initiative.It's an explicit promotion of suicide. It will lead to a weakening of palliative care. It creates tremendous pressure on those who are ill and on their caregivers. It provides financial incentives toward euthanasia. It begins a slippery slope to many other possible abuses and evils. It creates legitimate fears in the disabled community. And It introduces a change in the nature of medical care. First, it's a false compassion – The US Bishops state that “the idea that assisting a suicide shows compassion and eliminates suffering is equally misguided. It eliminates the person, and results in suffering for those left behind—grieving families and friends, and other vulnerable people who may be influenced by this event to see death as an escape. The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe. They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to “suffer with” another person. True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem.” Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote, “True ‘compassion' leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.” Second - it's an explicit governmental promotion of suicide - Once government begins to say under certain circumstances suicide is not only permitted, but a public good, then others in situations — that are by no means severe — start to take their own lives.We've seen this in Oregon. In the first decade after Oregon legalized physician assisted suicide, the suicide rate - which had been declining - rose to 35 percent above the national average.And That 35 percent does NOT include doctor-assisted deaths in Oregon. By rescinding legal protection for the lives of one group of people, the government implicitly communicates the message—before anyone signs a form to accept this alleged benefit—that they may be better off dead. If these persons say they want to die, others may be tempted to regard this not as a call for help but as the reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life. Those who choose to live may then be seen as selfish or irrational, as a needless burden on others, and even be encouraged to view themselves that way Third - it will lead to a weakening of palliative care – The push for doctor prescribed death is a movement to kill not the pain a person suffers but the person with the pain. Euthanasia advocates have pushed to confuse everyone on the palliative care issue: They have conflated or fused palliative care — the medical alleviation of pain and other distressing symptoms of serious illness — with intentionally ending the life of the patient.The pro-euthanasia lobby has deliberately confused pain relief treatment and euthanasia in order to promote their cause. Their argument is that necessary pain relief treatment that could shorten life is euthanasia; we are already giving such treatment and the vast majority of people agree we should do so; therefore, we are practicing euthanasia with the approval of the majority so we should come out of the medical closet and legalize euthanasia. Indeed, they argue, doing so is just a small incremental step along a path we have already taken. The US Bishops in To Leave Each Day with Dignity wrote, “Even health care providers' ability and willingness to provide palliative care such as effective pain management can be undermined by authorizing assisted suicide. Studies indicate that untreated pain among terminally ill patients may increase and development of hospice care can stagnate after assisted suicide is legalized. Government programs and private insurers may even limit support for care that could extend life, while emphasizing the “cost-effective” solution of a doctor-prescribed death. The reason for such trends is easy to understand. Why would medical professionals spend a lifetime developing the empathy and skills needed for the difficult but important task of providing optimum care, once society has authorized a “solution” for suffering patients that requires no skill at all? Once some people have become candidates for the inexpensive treatment of assisted suicide, public and private payers for health coverage also find it easy to direct life-affirming resources elsewhere.” Fourth - it creates tremendous pressure on those who are ill and on their care givers - If voluntary euthanasia is introduced, every dying person capable of doing so would have to decide not just whether or not his own pain had become too much to bear, but whether or not the emotional, physical and financial burden was becoming too much for relatives and friends to bear. What are the dying to do when their children and grandchildren have to travel long distances, endure enormous emotional strain and go through wearing physical fatigue to be with them during an awkwardly long and unpredictable “dying period”? What are the poor, vulnerable dying to do when they are made to feel that their continued existence is an intolerable public burden? In cases where the dying elderly are not in a position to give formal consent to their own death, those legally vested with the right to make this decision on their behalf can never be sure that they acted out of the right motives. (In the worst case, one can wonder whether they were motivated by their dying relative's emotional strain or by THEIR OWN, by the interests of the patient or by the prospect of securing an inheritance sooner rather than later?, and so on). The legalization of euthanasia would put almost “humanly impossible” demands on the dying and their relatives, especially if they are poor. Where voluntary euthanasia is illegal, the timing and extent of medical intervention in the lives of dying patients is more a matter of “professional judgment” than of “personal choice” and this means that the health professions are able to protect the poor and vulnerable from pressures of this kind. Fifth – it creates financial incentives for euthanasia – In an era of cost control and managed care, patients with lingering illnesses may be branded an economic liability, and decisions to encourage physician assisted suicide may be driven by cost.I ask you, is it reasonable to assume that some government bureaucrats or some bottom-line-driven managed care decision makers would be motivated to encourage less costly assisted suicide pill prescriptions over more expensive longer-term treatments?The cost of the lethal medication generally used for assisted suicide is about $300, far cheaper than the cost of treatment for most long-term medical conditions. Many common-sense adults have already concluded that assisted suicide is a deadly mix with our challenged health care system, in which financial pressures already play far too great a role in many health care decisions. The U.S. Solicitor General in the Clinton Administration, Walter Dellinger, warned in urging the Supreme Court to uphold laws against assisted suicide: “The least costly treatment for any illness is lethal medication.” Patients in Oregon have already encountered that reality. In May 2008, 64-year-old retired school bus driver Barbara Wagner received bad news from her doctor. Her cancer had returned. Then she got some good news. Her doctor gave her a prescription for medication that he said would likely slow the cancer's growth and extend her life. It didn't take long for her hopes to be dashed.She was notified by letter that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn't cover the prescribed cancer drug. It also informed her that, although it wouldn't cover the prescription, it would cover all costs for her assisted suicide. Wagner said she told the OHP, “Who do you guys think you are? You know, to say that you'll pay for my dying, but you won't pay to help me possibly live longer?”Wagner's case was not isolated. Other patients received similar letters. Sixth - clearly this initiative would launch the Commonwealth down the slippery slope to involuntary euthanasia and other evils. The “slippery slope” argument, a complex legal and philosophical concept, generally asserts that one exception to a law is followed by more exceptions until a point is reached that would initially have been unacceptable We've seen the path the slippery slope has taken in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 30 years, the Netherlands has moved from euthanasia of people who are terminally ill, to euthanasia of those who are chronically ill; from euthanasia for physical illness, to euthanasia for mental illness; from euthanasia for mental illness, to euthanasia for psychological distress or mental suffering—and now to euthanasia simply if a person is over the age of 70 and “tired of living.” Dutch euthanasia protocols have also moved from conscious patients providing explicit consent, to unconscious patients unable to provide consent. Denying euthanasia or PAS in the Netherlands is now considered a form of discrimination against people with chronic illness, whether the illness be physical or psychological, because those people will be forced to “suffer”longer than those who are terminally ill. Non-voluntary euthanasia is now being justified by appealing to the social duty of citizens and the ethical pillar of caring for others [beneficence]. In the Netherlands, euthanasia has moved from being a measure of last resort to being one of early intervention. Belgium has followed suit, and troubling evidence is emerging from Oregon specifically with respect to the protection of people with depression and the objectivity of the process For many years Dutch courts have allowed physicians to practice euthanasia and assisted suicide with impunity, supposedly only in cases where desperately ill patients have unbearable suffering. However, Dutch policy and practice have expanded to allow the killing of people with disabilities or even physically healthy people with psychological distress; thousands of patients, including newborn children with disabilities, have been killed by their doctors without their request. The Dutch example teaches us that the “slippery slope” is very real.A recent study found that in the Flemish part of Belgium, 66 of 208 cases of “euthanasia” (32%) occurred in the absence of request or consent. The reasons for not discussing the decision to end the person's life and not obtaining consent were that patients were comatose (70% of cases) or had dementia (21% of cases). In 17% of cases, the physicians proceeded without consent because they felt that euthanasia was “clearly in the patient's best interest” and, in 8% of cases, that discussing it with the patient would have been harmful to that patient. Those findings accord with the results of a previous study in which 25 of 1644 non-sudden deaths had been the result of euthanasia without explicit consent The US Bishops Conference speaks about this: “Taking life in the name of compassion also invites a slippery slope toward ending the lives of people with non-terminal conditions. Dutch doctors, who once limited euthanasia to terminally ill patients, now provide lethal drugs to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, mental illness, and even melancholy. Once they convinced themselves that ending a short life can be an act of compassion, it was morbidly logical to conclude that ending a longer life may show even more compassion. Psychologically, as well, the physician who has begun to offer death as a solution for some illnesses is tempted to view it as the answer for an ever-broader range of problems. This agenda actually risks adding to the suffering of seriously ill people. Their worst suffering is often not physical pain, which can be alleviated with competent medical care, but feelings of isolation and hopelessness. The realization that others—or society as a whole—may see their death as an acceptable or even desirable solution to their problems can only magnify this kind of suffering.” There is a moral trickle-down effect. First, suicide is promoted as a virtue. Then follows mercy killing of the terminally ill. From there, it's a hop, skip and a jump to killing people who aren't perceived to have a good “quality” of life, perhaps with the prospect of organ harvesting thrown in as a plum to society. Seventh – the disabled community is rightly concerned about this initiative – A Once concerns about the perception of one's quality of life come to the forefront, disabled advocates anticipate that the disabled will be among the first to be targeted under an anthropology focused on doing rather than being. These advocates tell us that many people with disabilities have long experience of prejudicial attitudes on the part of able-bodied people, including physicians, who assume they would “rather be dead than disabled.” Such prejudices could easily lead families, physicians and society to encourage death for people who are depressed and emotionally vulnerable as they adjust to life with a serious illness or disability. Although the debate about assisted suicide is often portrayed as part of the culture war—with typical left-right, pro-con politics—the largest number of witnesses at the most recent hearing on Beacon Hill were 10 disability-rights advocates who oppose the initiative. According to the National Council on Disability: “As the experience in the Netherlands demonstrates there is little doubt that legalizing assisted suicide generates strong pressures upon individuals and families to utilize the option, and leads very quickly to coercion and involuntary euthanasia.”This is a fear that many people living with a disability and their families express over the idea of euthanasia.They fear that misunderstandings and false compassion could result in them being considered ‘better off dead'; devalued and perhaps even killed. They also fear being treated as second class citizens in respect to their medical care. A policy of euthanasia will inevitably lead to establishing social standards of acceptable life. When “quality life” is more important than life itself, the mentally ill, the disabled, the depressed, and those who cannot defend themselves will be at risk of being eliminated. The prohibitions against both euthanasia and assisted suicide treat all citizens equally. Making exceptions for the hard cases while advantaging the very few, risks placing far more people at a decided risk of disadvantage. We would be implicitly suggesting that the lives of the sick or disabled are less worthy of the protection of the law than others. Will these ‘vulnerable groups' be heard In Massachusetts, the disability advocates call their opposition group “Second Thoughts.” They say that assisted suicide may sound like a good idea at first, but on second thought the risks of mistake, coercion and abuse are too great. Cardinal Seán O'Malley summed up this thought in a homily he delivered in September of 2011.“By rescinding the legal protection for the lives of a category of people, the government sends a message that some persons are better off dead. This biased judgment about the diminished value of life for someone with a serious illness or disability is fueled by the excessively high premium our culture places on productivity and autonomy which tends to discount the lives of those who have a disability or who are suffering or dependent on others. If these people claim they want to die, others might be tempted to regard this not as a call for help, but as a reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life. Those who choose to live may then be viewed as selfish or irrational, as a needless burden on others, and might even be encouraged to see themselves in that way. Many people with a disability who struggle for their genuine rights to adequate health care, housing and so forth, are understandably suspicious when the freedom society most eagerly offers them is the freedom to take their lives.” The eighth large issue is that this initiative if passed would bring about a massive change in the nature of medical care – The American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Nurses Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society all oppose doctor-prescribed suicide and for good reason, because it changes the nature of medical care and corrupts the medical profession.The Hippocratic oath states: “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.”The American Medical Association holds that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as healer.” Once we allow doctors to start to kill patients with terminal illnesses, the meaning of the medical profession changes, from one that seeks always to save lives, to one in which it is possible to end them. Once that occurs, then it's a small step to allowing them to assist non-terminal patients in taking their lives and another to putting pressure on those who are in terminal illnesses to do family members and society a “favor” by ending their lives so that medical resources can be spent elsewhere. We've seen the consequences in terms of the doctor-patient relationship. In Holland, reports have been published documenting the sad fact that elderly patients, out of fear of euthanasia, refuse hospitalization and even avoid consulting doctors, because doctors and nurses become potential destroyers of life, rather than defenders. They become executioners. There would also be a fundamental change in the way doctors are formed. A fundamental value and attitude that we want to reinforce in medical students, interns and residents, and in nurses, is an absolute repugnance to killing patients. It would be very difficult to communicate to future physicians and nurses such a repugnance in the context of legalized doctor prescribed death. VII. Our mission in response to this challenge With regard to the citizens initiative petition, we need to know some facts. It's still in the “second quarter of the game,” but we are slightly behind and therefore we must work harder and better, both on offense and defense. The recent poll by Public Policy Polling showing that 43 percent are in favor of the petition at the present, and 37 percent are against. But we saw some breakdowns that will teach us particular areas that we can emphasize: There is a gender difference. Men were in favor of 48-34 percent.Women were opposed 41-38.Therefore we particularly need to work on men to become real protectors of the vulnerable and to accentuate woman's nature compassion. There are also generational differences. 65 and older were opposed with 44 percent against it. Those 46-65 were the most in favor, with 49 percent supporting the bill. It's clear that our seniors will be opposed if the specter of people making the decision for them is brought to them.We need to help the care giver generation to recognize there's a better way, a way of returning love for the love received, of the availability of good palliative care in hospices. The larger issue of how we should be getting involved was brought out by the US Bishops in To Live Each Day with Dignity. “Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives. As disciples of one who is Lord of the living, we need to be messengers of the Gospel of Life. We should join with other concerned Americans, including disability rights advocates, charitable organizations, and members of the healing professions, to stand for the dignity of people with serious illnesses and disabilities and promote life-affirming solutions for their problems and hardships. We should ensure that the families of people with chronic or terminal illness will advocate for the rights of their loved ones, and will never feel they have been left alone in caring for their needs. The claim that the “quick fix” of an overdose of drugs can substitute for these efforts is an affront to patients, caregivers and the ideals of medicine. When we grow old or sick and we are tempted to lose heart, we should be surrounded by people who ask “How can we help?” We deserve to grow old in a society that views our cares and needs with a compassion grounded in respect, offering genuine support in our final days. The choices we make together now will decide whether this is the kind of caring society we will leave to future generations. We can help build a world in which love is stronger than death.” This initiative petition is a time in which all citizens of the Commonwealth have the chance to choose the path of Cain and Kevorkian or the path of the Good Samaritan. It's the path of the executioner or of the truly compassionate care-giver, the life-affirming hospice nurse, the 24-hour operator at suicide prevention hotlines, and the heroic firefighter or police officer who climbs bridges, risking his life to save those who are contemplating ending their own. The path of the true brother's keeper will also be shown in the educational work of those who begin anew to educate others about the dignity of every human life and persuade legislators and fellow citizens to rise up to defeat soundly this evil initiative. It's a matter of life or death.

Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell Today's guest(s): Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization Links from today's show: Today's topics: Discussion of Cardinal Seán's Homily on Doctor-Prescribed Suicide Summary of today's show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell welcome Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization, to discuss Cardinal Seán's homily for this Sunday, the World Day of the Sick, which will be heard in every parish in the archdiocese for the launch of an education campaign on efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide in Massachusetts. Cardinal Seán warns us not to be mislead by euphemisms and the slow erosion of the respect for life. Christ's Church responds to illness with love and true compassion, not by encouraging the ill to throw their lives away. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark talked about recovering the Patriots' Super Bowl loss. They also discussed the work week, including the Presbyteral Council meeting this week. Fr. Mark said Msgr. Bill Fay, who co-leads the Pastoral Planning Commission, said people may be afraid of change, but we're going to get there anyway. There are already more than 50 parishes that share a pastor with other parishes. If we do absolutely nothing, we will get the same place, but it won't be planned. Scot said anyone who would like to see the resources that have been shared regarding the pastoral planning consultation can go to Scot mentioned news stories today that printed a private letter from Msgr. Bill Helmick to Cardinal Sean in which he gave his feedback on the pastoral planning suggestions. Fr. Mark said violating that confidentiality is tragic. Scot said the purpose of this consultation process is to receive such feedback. Scot said this Sunday is the World Day of the Sick and so Cardinal Sean has asked that a homily from him be read in all parishes this weekend to kick off an education campaign about a ballot initiative to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Janet to the show. She said it's been several weeks of preparation for this weekend, and parishioners will not only hear or see the homily but will receive printed materials to help educate them on the proposed bill and its problems. They began by listening to the first part of Cardinal Seán's homily: I am grateful to your pastor and the parish staff for this opportunity to talk to you today on the occasion of the twentieth World Day of the Sick. We celebrate World Day of the Sick each year on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in order to pray for the sick and the dying and for those in the healing professions. Saint Paul exhorts us today to be imitators of Christ, who stretches out his hand in compassion toward the sick. This is the model that we as Christians have emulated for centuries in our hospitals, nursing homes, and treatment centers. Unfortunately, this model of compassion is now being threatened. In November, citizens in Massachusetts likely will be asked to vote whether doctor-assisted suicide should be a legal and normal way to care for the terminally ill. That is why it is so important for me to talk to you now about the so-called “Death with Dignity Act.” If passed, the referendum would allow an adult resident of Massachusetts— diagnosed with fewer than six months to live— to request and receive a prescription for a lethal drug. Proponents of this bill want us to believe that this is a compassionate response to the plight of people who have a terminal illness. It is not. We are called to comfort the sick, not to help them take their own lives. As the Catholic Bishops of the United States said in their recent statement on assisted suicide: “True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead.” Scot noted how the Cardinal said our outreach to the ill is imitation of Christ's compassion for the sick. Fr. Mark said it's surprising to him to hear it is being contemplated that we can give a pill to someone to kill themselves and that is called compassion. Janet said the initiative is called the Death with Dignity Act, which co-opts the language we use about the dignity of life. The proponents will not use the word suicide, but instead call it aid in dying. Scot said we have to ask what kind of society we want to have in the state of Massachusetts and whether we will be fooled by the proponents of a false compassion. People fear the dying process and the possibility of being kept alive by burdensome medical technology. They fear intolerable pain and suffering, losing control, or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others. For all these reasons, the ability to exercise control over the time and circumstances of death can appear attractive. Proponents of assisted suicide say that the Church wants people to suffer and that Catholics are obliged to accept every treatment available. This is simply not true. Burdensome and futile treatments may be refused as in the case of older patients who need not have risky surgery or painful chemotherapy in order to gain a few more months of life. Scot said there are two central points here. One is that it's natural to fear the dying process, but it's how we respond to those fears that is critical. Fr. Mark said it depends on what we mean by compassion. Compassion is to give palliative care, to help them not worry about what will happen after they die, to help them accept God's timing. Compassion is not to leave them thinking they are a burden. Scot said the Cardinal then says that proponents falsely accuse the Church of wanting people to suffer. Janet said Catholics sometimes don't understand the teachings of the church either. People are not obligated to take every possible treatment. They can refuse risky surgery or sometimes chemotherapy or other burdensome treatments. They can also receive pain killers, even if those pain killers could hasten death, when death is imminent and inevitable. Scot said the key is that the prescription from the doctor is intended to alleviate suffering not to eliminate the sufferer. You can never intend the person's death. The 5th Commandment states “Thou shall not kill.” This certainly includes killing to alleviate suffering. Doctor-assisted suicide occurs when a doctor assists the patient to end his own life, even though does not directly administer the lethal drug. It is doctor-prescribed death. Blessed Pope John Paul II said: “To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called “assisted suicide” means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested.” Scot said the Cardinal is very clear on this. This is not just the Church's teaching, but it comes from God in the Old Testament. Fr. Mark said the doctor has a moral decision to make. Do we want to leave it in the hands of the doctor? Do we want him to put a pill in someone's hand and then wash his hand of it? What are the standards for this decision? It is about expense? Is it about convenience? Why is the doctor playing God? Scot said the bill's proponents claim there are safeguards, but they don't go far enough. Scot said people who get a terminal diagnosis, they go through mental anguish and even depression. Janet said the bill creates a class of citizens who are different from the rest of us: People whose suicides we don't prevent. People who we say are better off dead. She said there are many people who receive a terminal diagnosis who receive treatment and go on to live for years and years. For some people who have a terminal illness, they become tenacious and live life with fervor and strength. There is a slippery slope leading from ending lives in the name of compassion to ending the lives of people with non-terminal conditions. Doctors in the Netherlands once limited euthanasia to terminally ill patients; now they provide lethal drugs to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, mental illness, and even melancholy. There is also evidence that the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide contributes to suicide in the general population. This is true in the state of Oregon which passed doctor-assisted suicide in 1994. Now, suicide is the leading cause of “injury death” and the second leading cause of death among 15 to 34 year olds. The suicide rate in Oregon, which had been in decline before 1994, is now 35% higher than the national average. Scot said the slippery slope is real. When we devalue human life in one case, it leads to devaluation in other cases. Fr. Mark said God's gives us a gift of our life and we need to take care of it. To think of the body as something expendable is a tragedy. Janet gave an example of a story from Oregon of a woman who wanted to get chemotherapy treatment for cancer, but got a letter from the insurer who said they won't pay for the cancer treatment but would pay for the lethal drug. She wasn't looking to kill herself. one case of this is too much and there are at least two documented cases of this in Oregon. She said surveys show people don't completely trust doctors, because of fears of overtreatment. So why would we trust doctors to prescribe lethal pills? Scot said people certainly trust their insurers even less and the lethal drugs are far more economical than any long-term treatments. They have an economic incentive. Scot said we've also seen suicide rates among young people go up because assisted suicide makes it seem acceptable. Why do we say suicide is unacceptable for a healthy young person, but it's acceptable for the terminally ill? Fr. Mark said we also have to protect our good Catholic doctors from pressure to administer these pills. Doctor-assisted suicide is being presented as a way for the terminally ill to have greater freedom at the end of life. However, it would create pressures to limit our freedom, because it could establish an expectation that certain people will be better served by being dead, a dubious premise indeed! It creates a class of people— those whom doctors predict will live six months or less— for whom suicide should be facilitated, even made to seem attractive. It also opens the door for financially-motivated organizations like insurance companies and managed-care plans to someday encourage and pressure those at the end of their life to think that doctor-assisted suicide is an attractive option. Legalization of doctor-assisted suicide would compromise the practice of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath that has guided doctors for more than two thousand years says, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.” Doctors and nurses are known for this devotion to heal and the refusal to assist in killing. Assisted suicide would compromise this ancient ethical code and the practice of medicine itself. It is important for you to know that the Massachusetts Medical Society voted recently by an overwhelming majority not to support this referendum. Scot said this sort of bill could change the relationship our doctors have with us and this is probably why the Mass. Medical Society voted overwhelmingly not to support this initiative. There are large flaws in the bill itself. For one thing, it requires that a doctor determine that the patient is capable of asking for lethal drugs, but there are no explicit criteria for assessing the mental capacity at the time of the request, nor is there a mandate to assess mental capacity at the time of the suicide. The bill also requires two witnesses to attest to the patient's competence, but one of the witnesses can be a total stranger, and another can be the sick person's heir. Alfred Hitchcock would make movies about this stuff. Also the law does not require that anyone witness the suicide, so there is no way to know for certain that the act was voluntary. Finally, the death certificate lists the underlying disease as the cause of death, not assisted suicide. This creates underreporting and a legalized deception. Indeed this initiative is on the ballot in part because of the deceptive way in which the required signatures were obtained. Last Fall, proponents of this bill solicited signatures from Massachusetts citizens as part of the process for getting it on the ballot. You may have been approached and asked to sign the petition. People who were asked to sign reported that the petition was presented as a bill to “aid the terminally ill.” In fact, the bill does not use the word “suicide” because, as the lawyer for the organization promoting the bill has said, the word “suicide” is inflammatory. Instead, it talks about “aid in dying” or “A-I-D.” The major organization behind this effort also changed its name from the “Hemlock Society” to the deceptive “Compassion and Choices.” Janet said it is a deception to have the cause of death not be listed as suicide. Insurance companies don't want to be seen as paying for suicide. It's also the case that no one has to be present at the time of death so you don't know how it was administered. Did they even take it voluntarily? The bill has very few safeguards. Scot wondered which is a bigger euphemism: Death with Dignity or Compassion and Choices. Fr. Mark said this could absolutely lead to murder. There will one day be a trial in which it is asked whether an heir caused the death of a person. Scot said there is no requirement for these deaths even to be videotaped. Scot said the euphemisms are deceptive because during the ballot signature process people said they signed petitions thinking they were supporting help fort he terminally ill. Janet said there was a real intent to deceive people. Janet said the Secretary of State will determine what will go into the referendum on election day, but we do know that we will encourage people to vote No. Suicide is always a tragedy. A vote for assisted suicide would be a vote for suicide. For that reason, I ask you now to do three things to help stop doctor-assisted suicide from becoming law in Massachusetts. First, pray for people who are seriously ill and dying, and for their caregivers. Visit the sick which is one of the corporal works of mercy. Second, avoid believing the misleading and seductive language of “dignity,” “mercy,” “compassion” or “aid in dying” that proponents of the legislation will use to describe assisted suicide. Third, educate yourselves as much as possible on assisted suicide and share that knowledge with others. Brochures, prayer cards, bulletin inserts and other materials have been prepared for you and are available in your parish. Please visit the website which has been created to educate people on this issue. Scot said the Cardinal couldn't be clearer on what he wants people to do and what this bill is about. He asked people to educate themselves and their friends and neighbors. Janet said the task of caring for the terminally ill can be a great burden. As a society we should undertake as an act of charity to assist families caring for someone who is terminally ill. She said the cardinal wanted this education campaign to be underway before the election season really got underway and distracted people away from this important issue. We as Catholics should be at the forefront of good palliative care. Our society will be judged by how we treat those who are ill and the infirm. They need our care and protection, not lethal drugs. As the Bishops wrote last year: We as Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives. Let us join with other concerned citizens, including disability rights advocates and members of the healing professions, to stand for the dignity of people with serious illnesses and disabilities and promote life-affirming solutions for their hardships. We should ensure that the families of people with terminal illnesses will never feel they have been left alone in caring for their needs. The claim that the “quick fix” of an overdose of drugs can substitute for these efforts is an affront to patients, caregivers and the ideals of medicine. When we grow old or sick and we are tempted to lose heart, we should be surrounded by people who ask “How can I help you?” We deserve to grow old in a society that views our cares and needs with a compassion grounded in respect, offering genuine support in our final days. The choices we make together now will decide whether this is the kind of caring society we will leave to future generations. Let us work together to build a civilization of love – a love which is stronger than death! God bless you. Fr. Mark said we need to reach out to the sick. We have a duty as Christians to bring Christ's love. Yes, it's difficult and expensive. Who cares? These are our loved ones, those loved by God that we are obligated to care for? Scot asked if our society will be viewed as having money or love as most important to us. The Cardinal hopes that we are building a civilization of love. 3rd segment: It's time to announce this week's winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the CD: “The Apostle of the Rosary: Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton” by St. Joseph Communications. This week's benefactor card raffle winner is Jim Fadule, from Wellesley Hills, MA. Congratulations, Jim! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM's weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants. If the man is leprous and unclean, the priest shall declare him unclean by reason of the sore on his head. “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!' As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” Second Reading for February 12, 2012, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1) Brothers and sisters, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Gospel for February 12, 2012, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once. He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere. Scot said at the end of the second reading, Paul tells us to imitate Christ. One of the way is to do as Jesus did. The lepers were outcast and Jesus reached out to them with compassion with love, when no one else would ever think of even touching them. The leper wanted to be cleaned physically and spiritually. Fr. Mark said Jesus touched someone who was an outsider from society because that wasn't a barrier for Jesus. Scot said the lepers were hurt by their illness, but they were also hurt by their ostracization from the community. Janet said those with terminal illness will also be ostracized into a second-class category. Scot said when he thinks of St. Paul's reading, we see how JEsus responded to the lepers in his day. We're not going to see actual lepers today, but there are many figurative lepers in society today: people who were considered ugly or unattractive or bodily afflictions; people with metal illness or disabilities; spiritual or moral lepers, public sinners; economic lepers, the homeless and the very poor; emotional lepers, those who feel alone. It doesn't take us long to find people who are outcasts in society that we can reach out to with the love of Christ. Fr. Mark points out in this reading the role of the Church. The man was healed and rejoiced in it, but Jesus told him to go present himself to the priest who would declare him clean. Jesus respected the Church's role in society. There is a role of the Church to protect the outcasts of society. Janet said Christ's love is so powerful that it can even heal the spirit in addition to the body. The Psalm doesn't say accidentally, “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.” Scot suggested that someone who wants to reconcile with Christ and the Church to receive spiritual healing through the Sacrament of Confession.

Guest: Dale MaGee, MD Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD Many physicians are outraged and the thought of being ranked by insurance companies altogether, let alone via an analysis of claims data. Can claims data accurately provide a picture of the quality of a physician? What part of the story does claims data fail to show? Can a physician benefit from ranking systems? Is there opportunity for doctors to get involved to improve the process? Join host Dr. Bill Rutenberg and our guest, Dr. Dale Magee, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society discuss the controversial topic of physician profiling.

Guest: Dale MaGee, MD Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD What is it like for a physician to be profiled inaccurately by claims data? Is the data verified? Validated? What if a physician is rated poorly for a test they omitted but with valid reason? These are concerns that could impact a physician's career. Are physicians overconcerned? Join host Dr. Bill Rutenberg in discussing physician ranking systems with Dr. Dale Magee, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Guest: Dale MaGee, MD Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD What is the value of physician ranking in the overall discussion of improving healthcare in the United States? How can standards be developed that are acceptable to both insurance companies and healthcare providers? Is the answer a governing body to develop national standards? In this segment, Dr. Dale Magee, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society talks with host Dr. Bill Rutenberg about some of the work being done in Massachusetts and New York related to physician ranking and also shares his views on overall quality improvement.