Notable Medical Voices: Key Comments From the Past Week in Healthcare

“Why would you repeat those damn lies? That destroys trust.” — Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), during a tense exchange with President Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary for preparedness and response regarding a now-deleted social media post about the hepatitis B vaccine.

“It’s working now to try to zero in and find basically two grains of sand on a whole football field.” — Sean Murphy, MD, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle, describing how the U.S. public health system traces the sources of foodborne outbreaks such as cyclosporiasis.

“Thanks to the internet and social media, bad ideas spread faster and wider.” — Leah Middelberg, MD, of the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, commenting on a social media trend involving the squishy NeeDoh toy that has been associated with scalding burns in children.

“There’s just no good reason to not get a vaccine.” — Paul Offit, MD, of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, responding to reports of encephalitis and sepsis in patients who developed measles during recent U.S. outbreaks.

“They’re finding it difficult to stay on task, follow instructions.” — Nicola Botting, PhD, of City St. George’s University of London, discussing a study showing that children born during England’s COVID lockdown had lower-than-expected executive function.

“Where and how completely amyloid is cleared matters.” — Edward Lee, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, presenting autopsy data at an Alzheimer’s conference indicating that brain regions with extensive amyloid clearance after treatment showed less downstream tau accumulation and degeneration.

“All we’re asking is just reimburse us for the work we’re doing.” — Tani Malhotra, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in Cleveland, advocating for replacing bundled payments with a fee-for-service model for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care.

“You can easily get lost in it and get absorbed in it, and just lose hours without even noticing.” — Consuelo Cagande, MD, of Northwell Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York City, outlining both the risks of immersive video games like Minecraft and their potential benefits for problem-solving and creativity.

“If you’re going to do a study on psychosis or agitation in this population, you need to go to the patient, not expect the patient to come to you.” — Jacobo Mintzer, MD, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, on a trial of cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol in hospice-eligible dementia patients experiencing agitation.

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