I think George Carlin was on the mark when he said there are no rights.  If a country can imprison its own citizens (as in the Japanese internment camps during WWII) with no due process, there are no rights.

So where does that leave health care?

I think the word "dignity" is more apropos than "right" when it comes to health care.  The ability to see a doctor, to have a hospital nearby, to have a pharmacy nearby with good medicines and a skilled pharmacist, these are human dignities.

A lot of fire and brimstone coming down from Reuters by way of Dr. Otis Brawley of American Cancer Society today, concerning the off-label use of experimental cancer treatment.

The quote from Dr. Brawley was that "many of these drugs end up not being the tremendous improvement that we hoped they would be," and certainly I share his frustration in the slow pace of innovation in the cancer research arena.  We have precious little innovation to show for the billions of dollars devoted yearly to cancer research.

This question came out of left field last week, but it looks like there was some coverage of the subject this summer.  A paper published in BMJ in July combined results from many studies and found an increased risk of coronary disease with calcium supplementation.  LA Times had coverage at the time.

If you're over 65 and haven't had a pertussis vaccine in a while, at least in California, you should get the whooping cough vaccine.

This message is not out there--I hadn't heard anything about it.  Patients have been asking, but there isn't the information getting to us guys in the trenches.

The issue is now getting some press coverage.