Sunday catch-up. Trump's new medical condition, Covid-19 vaccine confusion, and the one thing MAHA isn't talking about.
Hi Inside Medicine readers,
I’ve been working a lot clinically lately—which means I’ve been a little quieter with the newsletter, especially on day-to-day stories. But my stretch of ER shifts is over, so I’ll have more time for writing coming up. I’ve also been spending a lot of time digging deeply into the Covid-19 vaccine story at the FDA, and I’ll have more to say on that soon. Which reminds me…
(In all transparency, I’m going to publish the work regardless because I’m working hard on it. But I am curious in your level of interest for the future.)
Today’s installment is just a quick catch-up on some media appearances I did this week on topics that I think you’ll find interesting. The first two were CNN appearances about President Trump’s newly diagnosed medical condition. I also appeared on Contagion Live to discuss some of the current Covid-19 vaccine confusion. Last, but not least, I joined my great friend Dr. Kaveh Hoda on his show The House of Pod to discuss my pediatric firearm mortality study published in JAMA Pediatrics last month. While that paper got great media attention, this podcast was probably my best opportunity to express deeper thoughts about the work my colleagues and I did, which we think is critically important for the safety of our kids.
Let’s get to it…
On President Trump’s swollen legs and bruised hand.
On Thursday, I was asked to go on CNN to discuss the news that President Trump was newly diagnosed with a medical condition called chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). The condition is fairly common in older people, especially those who are overweight/with obesity. But, the real issue is that when new swelling of the extremities is noticed, a handful of important medical conditions must also be considered by doctors. From what we’ve been told, the President had a pretty reasonable evaluation by his physician which ruled out the more serious causes of symptoms that look like CVI.
In my appearances, I discussed what causes CVI and some of the other conditions that the President’s doctor had to check for. I’ll add that I’m glad that the other physician who appeared in the segment mentioned heart failure. In my attempt to keep things brief, I didn’t get to heart failure. That said, the other doctor speculated that President Trump may have hypertension or sleep apnea. These are two conditions that President Trump does not have. (He certainly does not have hypertension, which we know from his annual physical readouts; it’s unlikely that sleep apnea caused the President’s new condition, because if it had, he’d have diagnostic signs of heart failure, which he does not).
We didn’t get to the second issue while on the air—the President’s bruised hands. Trump’s team chalked this up to aspirin combined with frequent handshaking. Aspirin is a platelet inhibitor, so it’s a reasonable explanation. Some have opined that the bruises look like they’re in the wrong place for handshake-related bruising. I disagree. The blood vessels of the hands can burst or leak due to adjacent pressure. So this explanation seems reasonable enough. Here’s my first segment.
The second segment is basically similar to the first one. But in the roundtable that followed (which I am not including here), the talking heads got into everything else about this story. Many people have opined about whether the sudden transparency on this medical issue (in a man who otherwise likes doctors to proclaim him the healthiest man alive) was a distraction technique from other certain stories the President would rather not discuss. That’s not my jurisdiction. However, what I was very tempted to say, but did not, was that it’s nice that the President has excellent medical care, ain’t it? It’s too bad that he convinced Congress to cut healthcare coverage to millions of Americans by axing Medicaid. In this case, I kept politics out of it while covering this issue.
On Covid-19 vaccine policy confusion.
I joined Dr. John Parkinson of Contagion Live to discuss the complete confusion on what we are supposed to do with Covid-19 vaccines now. What do the FDA decisions mean? Where does the CDC stand? Who can we trust? Where can we go for guidance? The interview comes in two parts.
What to Make of Changing COVID-19 Vaccine Indications and Guidance. (Part One.)
Looking for COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance? Other Clinicians Are as Well (Part Two.)
Doing this segment made me realize that if I’m confused about where people should look for guidance, many people must be.
I’m curious…
On pediatric firearm mortality.
As you may recall, my colleagues and I published a major piece of research in JAMA Pediatrics in June in which we showed that the pediatric firearm mortality crisis in the United States has worsened in some places, but not in others. My dear friend Dr. Kaveh Hoda invited me to discuss the work on his great show, The House of Pod. This was the longest I’ve been able to speak on the topic in public. While there were excellent stories in the mass media, which you can check out if you’re interested, the chance to discuss this work in a longer format was important for me, especially since RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement seems to be more interested in dyes than the leading cause of death in US children ages 1-17). Don’t get me wrong, it was really nice to be interviewed on All Things Considered (#LifeGoals) for a few minutes. But, I’m truly grateful to Kaveh for giving me a platform for a lengthier dive on this terribly important topic. Please check out the episode and let me know what you think.
That’s all for now. Thanks for supporting science! Please help the cause by sharing this work…
If you have information about any of the unfolding stories we are following, please email me or find me on Signal at InsideMedicine.88.
Thank you for your continuing courage in keeping people alert, thinking, and looking for roads back to sanity in health care/Research.
Your House of Pod episode queue’d up for today’s driving listen .. thank you!!