Ava Austi
AP Biology
Current Event #23
April 29, 2018
“Injecting Drugs Can Ruin a Heart. How Many Second Chances Should a User Get?”
Goodnough, Abby. “Injecting Drugs Can Ruin a Heart. How Many Second Chances Should a User Get?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Apr. 2018.
In the article, “Injecting Drugs Can Ruin a Heart. How Many Second Chances Should a User Get?” by Abby Goodnough from The New York Times, it discusses how a growing number of people are getting endocarditis from injecting the drugs — sometimes repeatedly if they continue shooting up. Many are uninsured, and the care they need is expensive, intensive and often lasts months. All of this has doctors grappling with an ethically fraught question: Is a heart ever not worth fixing? “We’ve literally had some continue using drugs while in the hospital,” said Dr. Thomas Pollard, a veteran cardiothoracic surgeon in Knoxville, Tenn. “That’s like trying to do a liver transplant on someone who’s drinking a fifth of vodka on the stretcher.” As cases have multiplied around the country, doctors who used to only occasionally encounter endocarditis in patients who injected drugs are hungry for guidance. A recent study found that at two Boston hospitals, only 7 percent of endocarditis patients who were IV drug users survived for a decade without reinfection or other complications, compared with 41 percent of patients who were not IV drug users. Those hospitals are among a small but growing group trying to be more proactive. Dr. Pollard has been lobbying hospital systems in Knoxville to provide addiction treatment for willing endocarditis patients, at least on a trial basis, after their surgery. If the hospitals offered it, he reasons, doctors would have more justification for turning away patients who refused and in the long run, hospitals would save money.
Without a doubt, this issue has affected societies. Addiction has long afflicted rural east Tennessee, where the rolling hills and mountains are woven with small towns suffering from poverty and poor health. Prescribing rates for opioids are still strikingly high, and the overdose death rate in Roane County, where Ms. Whitefield lives, is three times the national average. Jobs go unfilled here because, employers say, applicants often cannot pass a drug test. Across Tennessee, some 163,000 poor adults remain uninsured after state lawmakers refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. For them, and even for many covered by Medicaid, as Ms. Whitefield is, evidence-based opioid addiction treatment remains meager. More common are cash-only clinics, or abstinence-based programs that bank on willpower instead of the addiction medications that have been proven more effective.
Goodnough had both strengths and weaknesses in her article. I chose to read this article because for my last current event, I wrote about a drug problem among the elderly and I wanted to learn more about the issue of drugs in different societies. I found it very interesting to contrast the drug issue among the elderly to this issue. Goodnough provided a ton of information which allowed me to grasp a lot of detail about the topic. However, at some points I found myself lost because there was so much detail to get confused about. I also wish that Goodnough provided more quotes from researchers because this would have allowed me to get an idea of what researchers opinions were on this problem. Overall, I believe the author did a excellent job of addressing the effects that infecting drugs can have on your heart.
Timothy Cushman
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Ap Biology - Current Events Comment
30 April 2018
Current Events #23
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/29/health/drugs-opioids-addiction-heart-endocarditis.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront
Ava wrote a great review of the New York Times article “Injecting Drugs Can Ruin a Heart. How Many Second Chances Should a User Get?”. One aspect of her review that was done well was her summary. She was able to explain the topic in an interesting way, included many quotes that aided in her explanations and gave the reader specific viewpoints on the topic. Quotes such as, “That’s like trying to do a liver transplant on someone who’s drinking a fifth of vodka on the stretcher” helped the reader gain a better understanding of the problem at hand. Another part of her review that was done well was her relevance paragraph. Ava was able to connect this article to everyone and show how much of a problem opioid addiction is, “Jobs go unfilled because, employers say, applicants often cannot pass a drug test”. This helped the reader better grasp how opioid addiction affects healthcare, jobs, and many other aspects of society. Finally, Ava did a great job critiquing the article. She was able to identify areas of strengths and weakness in the article such as the inclusion of “a ton of information” or a lack of quotes. This helped give Ava’s review credibility showing the reader that she read the article and was critical of it. Overall, Ava wrote a great review that was both interesting and informative.
Despite writing an overall great article, there were two areas that Ava could improve upon. Firstly, she did not include much data about the number of people this affects. By only giving percentages, the reader was left wondering what percent of the world’s population was suffering from endocarditis. By including the total number of people that have endocarditis and what percent of them used IV drugs and what didn’t the reader would be better able to grasp the overall impact of IV drugs. Secondly, there were many medical terms that Ava used but never explained. Terms like endocarditis were left undefined but were important to the topic and one’s overall understanding of the article. By adding definitions to certain terms used, she would aid the reader’s understanding. These two improvements would bring more interesting information to her review and allow for a better overall understanding.
I chose to read Ava’s review because of the title. I was intrigued by the question “How many second chances should a user get?” and wanted to read more about the reasoning behind each viewpoint. Through reading her article, I have a better understanding how opioids can not only hurt one person, they can cause problems within the economy of a city, causing a drought in workers, increase in healthcare needs, and an increase in poverty rates.
Luke Freeman
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology Current Events 1 - Comment
September 6, 2018
Goodnough, Abby. “Injecting Drugs Can Ruin a Heart. How Many Second Chances Should a User Get?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Apr. 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/29/health/drugs-opioids-addiction-heart-endocarditis.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront
This striking article, reviewed masterfully by Ava Austi, is a touching, serious issue. For starters, Ava did a great job at establishing the issue and giving the reader context about the article. Her summary is near-perfect in capturing the whole article, while keeping it brief. Secondly, in her explanatory section, she does a great job of bringing the reader back to the main premise of the article, as embodied by this statement, “All of this has doctors grappling with an ethically fraught question: Is a heart ever not worth fixing?”. This line was especially powerful as while continuing to explain this national issue, she keeps the main focus of the article in the foreground. Finally, Ava does a great job of utilizing statistics in her review, which further her credibility as an analyst. This ensures the reader, such as myself, that what I am being told is true, and that I can believe what the reviewer is saying.
Only two small things stood out when reading Ava’s review, the first being the slight repetitiveness at times. For example, in her final paragraph, she cites how she was intrigued by the idea of learning more about the drug issue, “... I wrote about a drug problem among the elderly and I wanted to learn more about the issue of drugs in different societies. I found it very interesting to contrast the drug issue among the elderly to this issue”. These two sentences seem to trip the reader up a bit, but it is not a huge deal. My main concern with her review was the lack of explaining Ms. Whitefields story. While I understand the article was not all about Ms. Whitefield and her surgery and battle with drug abuse, it was a key point. Ava barely mentions or attempts to tell this tragic story which would have provoked empathy in someone reading her review. That being said, her review overall was clear, concise, and easy to follow, making it an effective analysis.
This article by Abby Goodnough of the New York Times was shocking in all stages, however, one singular fact stood out the most while reading the article, and Ava’s review. This is best addressed by Ava when she explains, “... provide addiction treatment for willing endocarditis patients, at least on a trial basis, after their surgery. If the hospitals offered it, he reasons, doctors would have more justification for turning away patients who refused and in the long run, hospitals would save money”. This idea of the hospitals needing to conserve money never crossed my mind prior to reading this article. All this, relating back to the idea of whether or not it is worth giving a drug user a second chance, made me take a step back and look at this ethical dilemma. By offering addiction treatment, those who turned the offer down would be giving doctors and the hospital the morally sound ability to deny them a second operation, thus saving money. I’m not sure which side is right or wrong, but either way the harsh reality of it all shocked me to my core, and makes one think about the business side of the issue.
(Ps. I also submitted this on classroom as I'm not sure where you are looking at them)
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