—
Quotable quotes heard by MedPage Today‘s reporters
by
MedPage Today Staff
December 29, 2024
In place of our usual “What We Heard This Week” feature, and as part of our year-end wrap-ups, we’ve selected some of the best quotes our reporters heard in 2024.
“It’s not just some little fever or some little rash. It’s much more severe, and it’s much more dangerous.” — Sarah Lim, MD, of the Minnesota Department of Health, discussing the rise in measles cases.
“I have the unfortunate genetics that I am bald, and so is the driver of the vehicle who was saying these horrible racist things to this woman.” — Andrew Spector, MD, of Dartmouth Health, on an unflattering case of mistaken identity.
“They kind of felt like sacrificial lambs.” — Michael Myers, MD, of SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, discussing physicians who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The real risk is a bad trip.” — Smita Das, MD, PhD, MPH, of Stanford University in California, on the risks of off-label ketamine use.
“If we have a thermonuclear war, all I need is a scalpel.” — Stavropoula Tjoumakaris, MD, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, during an FDA advisory committee on critical medical devices during public health emergencies.
“Is it safe to hit a kid in the head 200 times?” — Chris Nowinski, PhD, of the Concussion Legacy Foundation in Boston, discussing head trauma in youth football.
“That’s a society-ending pandemic.” — James Lawler, MD, MPH, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security, discussing early concerns about the high case fatality rates associated with avian flu in humans observed over the past few decades.
“This is not your grandparents’ marijuana anymore, and there’s a decreased harm perception.” — Tucker Woods, DO, of Lenox Health Greenwich Village in New York City, on the increased use and potency of cannabis.
“He is not a comic book super-villain.” — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), discussing Anthony Fauci, MD, during a House subcommittee hearing on the origins of COVID-19.
“Physicians believe they can extract money and information from industry without being influenced, but numerous studies prove them wrong.” — Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD, director of PharmedOut at Georgetown University Medical Center, discussing the billions of industry dollars paid to physicians in recent years.
“This is a movement that needs to happen in medicine.” — Roshan Modi, MD, a radiologist at ChristianaCare in Delaware, on physicians’ efforts to unionize.
“It’s really a fascinating medical mystery.” — Rachel Rubin, MD, a sexual medicine specialist in Washington, D.C., discussing post-orgasmic illness syndrome.
“It’s still a pain in the ass.” — Christie Ballantyne, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, discussing how despite some improvements in access to newer, highly effective cholesterol-lowering drugs, frustrations remain over the prior authorization burden.
“It’s very, very clear that physician spending is not the problem in healthcare.” — Jen Brull, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, commenting on proposed payment cuts under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
“The only side effects are good ones.” — Dean Ornish, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, discussing an intensive lifestyle intervention that may help slow early Alzheimer’s disease.
“She felt like she was buying toilet paper during COVID; she’s going to take it home on the T [train] and she feels like she has to extra protect it.” — Jody Dushay, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, about one of her patients who picked up a refill for a scarce GLP-1 agent.
“I think in medicine, just like in society, we see death as a failure — and we do everything we can to avoid failure.” — Shoshana Ungerleider, MD, president and founder of the nonprofit End Well, discussing death and dying.
