The Tucson Tragedy: Is the Mental Health System at Fault?

By Sally Satel January 11, 2011

From a psychiatric standpoint, there is not yet enough information available to answer the key question surrounding Jared Lee Loughner: At what point, if any, in the last few years ...

Politics & Policy

What the Doctor Ordered

By Sally Satel May 7, 2008

Is your physician under the influence? He or she is indeed, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The new Report of the AAMC Task Force on Industry Funding of ...

Politics & Policy

Code Red

By Sally Satel & Benjamin Hippen April 14, 2008

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post broke the dramatic medical news that as many as one third of all people waiting for an organ transplant are actually ineligible to ...

Politics & Policy

One Harsh Prescription

By Sally Satel April 3, 2007

On February 14, 2006, Paul Wagner gave Gail Tomas, a total stranger, his left kidney.  #ad#Wagner, a 40-year-old Philadelphia purchasing manager, met Tomas, a 65-year-old former opera singer on the ...

Politics & Policy

Think Before You Drink

By Keith Humphreys & Sally Satel August 11, 2006

News of Mel Gibson’s expletive-laced, alcohol-soaked rant loosed a torrent of contempt for the actor. He was condemned as an anti-Semite by the Anti Defamation League, Hollywood powerbrokers (prominent among ...

Politics & Policy

A Statement of Madness

By Sally Satel April 5, 2006

Imagine your brother has schizophrenia. When he takes his medications, he can hold a part-time job in a mom and pop hardware store. When he stops the drugs–something he ...

Politics & Policy

Biased Doctors?

By Sally Satel & Jonathan Klick February 23, 2006

Dr. Foreman to African American patient: Your blood pressure’s a little high. I have something new that should help you out. Combines a nitrate with a blood pressure pill. It’s ...

Politics & Policy

Prescription: Flexibility

By Sally Satel September 27, 2005

Last week, The New England Journal of Medicine released the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE). It tested whether an old standby drug once popular for treating schizophrenia–perphenazine, a ...

Politics & Policy

Where’s The Choice?

By Sally Satel August 22, 2005

The Breastapo are at it again, trying to dictate what American women should and shouldn’t do with their breasts. On August 9 they were at the National Press Club, speaking ...

Politics & Policy

Just The Facts, Ma’Am

By Sally Satel April 12, 2005

Ever since women have been enlarging their breasts with implants, feminists have been upset. So predictably, today when an FDA advisory panel begins hearings to consider approval of silicone gel-filled ...