First Opinion Podcast

From our friends at KFF Health News, Chief Washington Correspondent Julie Rovner gathers top reporters to discuss the latest health and health policy news.  Check out this episode and if you like it, be sure to give them a follow.  

Pretty much everyone in the U.S. agrees that the American health care system is not working for patients. The disagreement comes over what to do about it. On this episode, law professor Charles M. Silver proposes that the U.S. should have a market-based system, just as we do for many other sectors of the economy. Insur

No one goes to medical school because they want to type quickly while listening to patients talk. But that’s what practicing medicine means for many today: fingers flying over the keyboard to log data. Later, they will use that information to create a note for the patient’s file. Technology now offers a solution to thi

In the 19th century, medical schools were desperate for corpses from which their students could learn. Grave robbers would sell bodies; sometimes, janitors, students, or even instructors would dig up corpses themselves. Today’s medical students don’t have to go into cemeteries themselves, but schools still struggle to

When a person with dementia gets something fundamental wrong — the year it is, your relationship to them — it can be difficult to know what to do. Do you correct them and risk upsetting them? Is it a lie or unethical to go along with it? Ted Johnson, who chairs the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the Em

In 2024, as zoos were hit hard by H5N1 bird flu, big cats were particularly affected. But house cats are vulnerable to the virus, too, as veterinarian and epidemiologist Meghan F. Davis recently wrote with co-authors in a First Opinion essay. In this episode, editor Torie Bosch spoke with Davis about the lack of survei