cover story one
Serious Illness Communication
Building a statewide standard of care
BY Lori Brostrom, MBA
Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, in his ground-breaking book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” talks about how medicine so often “fails the people it is supposed to help,” especially with respect to the elderly and those with terminal illnesses. He goes on to say, “We’ve been wrong about what our job is in medicine. We think our job is to ensure health and survival. But really it is larger than that. It is to enable well-being. And well-being is about the reasons one wishes to be alive. Whenever serious sickness or injury strikes and your body or mind breaks down, the vital questions are the same:
cover story two
Radon and Lung Cancer in Minnesota: A bigger problem than you think
By Nancy Torrison
Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in people who never smoked. Smokers who are also exposed to radon have an increased risk of developing lung cancer. Radon is common across the state of Minnesota due to its unique geology and glacial history. Radon is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless radioactive gas that forms in the soil when natural minerals like uranium and radium decay and break down. The amount of radon in the air is measured in picocuries per liter of air, or pCi/L. The average radon level in Minnesota is more than three times higher than the U.S. radon level:
Neurology
Multiple Sclerosis: Understanding a treatable chronic condition
By Shelly L. Larson-Peters, MD
Multiple sclerosis (MS), which is now one of the most common chronic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), is a result of immune-mediated inflammation directed toward the myelin that not only may go on to result in chronic demyelination but also may lead to axonal damage or loss and, ultimately, neuronal cell death. It is an unpredictable disease of the CNS and currently there is no cure. It is estimated that there are more than 2 million cases worldwide, and it can occur in most ethnic groups but is most common amongst white people of northern European descent.
Interview
Addressing Disparities and Improving Health
Jeremy Hanson Willis, CEO, Rainbow Health
Health Care Policy
Medical Aid in Dying: Examining the facts
By Rebecca Thoman, MD
Oregon’s 1997 Death with Dignity Act was the nation’s first law to allow mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live the option to request, obtain and self-ingest medication to die peacefully in their sleep. Since then, nine states (Washington, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico) and the District of Columbia have authorized medical aid in dying.
Health Care Legislation
2023-2024 Health Care Roundup: A look at some important bills
By Jennifer A. Forbes, JD, Jacob Gray, JD, and Jessica Anderson, JD
The Minnesota Legislature returns to the state Capitol for the second half of the 2023-2024 biennium on February 12. Here is a look back at just a few of the health care proposals passed into law last year and others to watch when legislators reconvene.
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