Healthcare

The sun rising or setting

It’s time to check in on our willingness to comply.

By Justin Katz | December 3, 2021 |

When I became a vaccine supporter in the spring, my reasoning involved a balance of risks and of tradeoffs.  Over several posts I won’t dig out of the archive right now, I concluded that the risks of the vaccines were extremely low and that they did improve outcomes versus COVID-19, even though the risks posed…

A water drop and ripples

A strange competition between Remdesivir and Ivermectin.

By Justin Katz | December 2, 2021 |

Yes, of course an anecdote is not data, but this story rings the strange tone that’s been heard throughout public debates about COVID-19 and related treatments. An elderly man on a family visit to the United States from Hong Kong was hospitalized with COVID-19.  The hospital treated him with Remdesivir, and it didn’t work.  The…

Dr. Stephen Skoly's office building

Dr. Skoly appears to be receiving a lesson “to encourage the others” as the saying goes.

By Justin Katz | December 1, 2021 |

When I worked with the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, we would periodically get tips from people about problems or corruption in our state, but the tipsters would very rarely volunteer to step forward.  They feared, with good reason, audits, safety reviews, property inspections, and other forms of government harassment.  Silence and toleration has…

A water drop and ripples

Is Omicron an escape hatch for Biden’s disastrous policies?

By Justin Katz | November 29, 2021 |

I’m not ready to endorse Sundance’s theory on The Conservative Treehouse, but it provides an interesting perspective by which to judge events going forward: The near horizon looks pretty clear. Gasoline will keep rising fast and will cost $6 to $7/gal before next spring. There is no way under current Joe Biden policy to avoid this,…

A water drop and ripples

Vaccines and illnesses are all about the stories we’re told.

By Justin Katz | November 23, 2021 |

During the flu season of 2018, newspapers published a number of heartbreaking articles profiling people who’d died from it.  That was a pretty bad flu season, but still, almost everybody recovered from the flu.  As those articles rolled out, though, it changed how the illness felt.  The stories provided a context of unease. We’ve seen that…

A boy receiving a vaccine

East Greenwich children get several bribes for vaccination.

By Justin Katz | November 23, 2021 |

A week ago, Anchor Rising reported on toys being given to children in school-based COVID vaccination clinics. A spokesperson for the state said that it was only one clinic, and it was done to distract children while getting the shot.  Elizabeth McNamara reports for East Greenwich News that children in that town are going home with even…

Darlene D'Arezzo and Clement Cicilline on State of the State

State of the State: Mental Health Issues and Concerns

By Darlene D'Arezzo | November 21, 2021 |

J. Clement “Bud” Cicilline, former CEO of Newport County Mental Health Center, joins host Darlene D’Arezzo to discuss major issues and concerns facing mental health practice today.

A water drop and ripples

Do they really care about “a single powerful entity” having control?

By Justin Katz | November 20, 2021 |

Something about the way Ted Nesi puts this question about possible hospital mergers in Rhode Island strikes me as odd: Will Rhode Island and its residents be better off with roughly 80% of hospital services controlled by a single powerful entity? One wonders how many of the people who fear that “an institution so large…

Mike Stenhouse and Justin Katz on In the Dugout

Talking Fidget Spinners In the Dugout

By Justin Katz | November 19, 2021 |

Mike Stenhouse and Justin Katz talk discuss the state’s use of fidget spinners to draw Rhode Island children toward vaccination.

A man in a plague mask on a swing

Hey! Maybe the solution for health care staff shortage is more mandates!

By Justin Katz | November 18, 2021 |

Problems with Rhode Island’s health care industry indicate an across-the-board failure of government management.  Remember when they shut down our economy to avoid overwhelming our medical infrastructure?  Well, that move — and all that came after it — may be resulting in a much more intractable, longer-term failure. Want to count the ways? One. Staff at…