Medical sociology
Branch of sociology
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We include updates on Psychopathy, Death of Savita Halappanavar, Theranos, Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Purdue Pharma, Hysteria, Scientific racism, Richard Sackler, Shell shock, Melancholia, Sadistic personality disorder, Female hysteria, Quackery, Idiot, Epinephrine autoinjector, Neurasthenia ... and more.
| 2025 |
Prescription drug prices in the United States
Donald Trump reversed price caps on life-saving pharmaceutical drugs like insulin that were previously set during Joe Biden's administration.
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| 2024 |
Race and health in the United States
A study revealed that residential segregation negatively impacts birth outcomes specifically for non-Hispanic Black infant populations.
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| 2024 |
Gender bias in medical diagnosis
A research study revealed that women constitute 40% of first authors and only 20.4% of last authors in clinical studies, with some disciplines showing as low as 9% female first authorship and 7.8% female last authorship.
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| December 13 2024 |
Sicko
In the aftermath of the Killing of Brian Thompson, Moore uploaded the entire film Sicko to YouTube on his official channel, arguing for health care reform as a non-violent solution.
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| August 2024 |
Prescription drug prices in the United States
The prices of the first ten drugs negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act for Medicare Part D were announced.
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| June 27 2024 | The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. to overturn the settlement, deciding the proposed settlement was illegal as the Bankruptcy Code does not permit liability relief for non-bankrupt parties, and remanded the case to the lower court for further review. |
| March 18 2024 |
Gender bias in medical diagnosis
U.S. President Joe Biden issues an executive order on advancing women's health research, calling for more stringent guidelines, increased funding for clinical studies, and reduced barriers for female participants in trials.
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| 2023 |
Health equity
G20 launched the Affordable Healthcare Model Hospital initiative in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, India, opening a 100-bed facility supported by the Aarogyasri scheme to promote healthcare accessibility.
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| 2023 |
Race adjustment
The American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society jointly endorsed a new race-neutral averaged approach for interpreting lung function testing results, potentially impacting disease classifications, occupational eligibility, and disability compensation for millions of people in the United States.
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| 2023 |
Race and health in the United States
A scoping review of medical literature highlighted the lack of thoughtful conceptualization of race and ethnicity variables in studies of multiracial or multiethnic populations.
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| 2023 |
Gender bias in medical diagnosis
A study of publications in 'Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics' and 'Clinical and Translational Science' revealed that women make up less than 40% of all study authors, highlighting gender disparity in medical research authorship.
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| December 2023 |
Health equity
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapy treatments for sickle cell disease using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, marking a significant breakthrough for treating a condition that disproportionately affects Black people.
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| December 2023 | Further increased drug inventory to over 2,200 drugs by December. |
| May 2023 | The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York endorsed the $6 billion settlement, with the Sackler family giving up ownership of Purdue and all profits to be sent to a fund for opioid addiction prevention and treatment. |
| May 30 2023 | Holmes began serving her prison sentence at Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas. |
| March 2023 | Expanded drug inventory to over 350 available drugs by March. |
| 2022 |
Prescription drug prices in the United States
The Inflation Reduction Act was passed, allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices for select prescription drugs through Medicare Part D (starting 2026) and Medicare Part B (starting 2028).
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| 2022 |
Homosexuality in the DSM
DSM-5-TR (Text Revision) released, continuing the approach of not including any diagnostic category applied to sexual orientation, further cementing the removal of sexual orientation from mental disorder classifications.
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| 2022 |
Right to health
Oregon became the first US state to enact a constitutional right to health care through Oregon Ballot Measure 111, marking a significant milestone in recognizing health care as a constitutional right at the state level.
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| 2022 |
Inequality in disease
A comprehensive study revealed the median weekly income for full-time workers over 25 in the United States, showing significant income disparities based on educational attainment: those without a high school diploma earned $682, high school graduates $853, college graduates $1,432, and doctorate degree holders $2,083.
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| 2022 |
Inequality in disease
Statistical analysis revealed the median weekly income disparities among workers over 25 based on educational attainment, highlighting significant economic differences between educational levels.
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| 2022 |
Race and health in the United States
Lown Institute study identified hospitals that continue to use segregation practices, undermining patient care for communities of color.
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| 2022 | Cost Plus Drugs began constructing a manufacturing factory in Deep Ellum, Dallas, with plans to produce drugs in-house. |
| 2022 |
Male infertility crisis
Follow-up meta-analysis by Hagai Levine revealed accelerating decline in sperm concentration and count, with steeper declines in studies post-2000.
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| 2022 |
Male infertility crisis
A second meta-analysis expanded the findings, demonstrating that the sperm count decline is not limited to Western countries but also affects regions in Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America, suggesting an accelerating trend of male fertility decline.
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| December 2022 | Sunny Balwani was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison and 3 years of probation for fraud. |
| November 2022 | Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison for fraud. |
| July 2022 | Sunny Balwani was convicted on all 12 counts of fraud brought against him. |
| June 2022 | The Milbank Memorial Fund apologized to the descendants of the study's victims for its role in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. |
| March 2022 | U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Drain approved a settlement involving eight states plus the District of Columbia, requiring the Sacklers to pay between $5.5 and $6 billion to a trust for opioid creditors, while shielding them from personal civil liability. |
| March 2022 | Hulu premiered 'The Dropout' miniseries internationally, featuring Amanda Seyfried portraying Elizabeth Holmes. |
| March 2022 | Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani's trial began. |
| January 2022 | Cost Plus Drugs is officially launched by co-founders Alex Oshmyansky and Mark Cuban, aiming to provide direct-to-consumer generic drugs at reduced prices by bypassing traditional pharmacy benefit managers. |
| January 3 2022 | Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. |
| 2021 |
Prescription drug prices in the United States
A comprehensive literature review confirmed that United States prescription drug prices were 256% higher than prices in 32 comparison countries, underscoring the ongoing issue of excessive drug pricing.
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| 2021 | Documentary 'Medical Racism: The New Apartheid' was produced, which referenced the Tuskegee trials in the context of COVID-19 misinformation. |
| 2021 | Atlanta rapper JID referenced the Tuskegee Experiment in his song 'Skegee'. |
| 2021 |
Health insurance coverage in the United States
Continuation of coronavirus relief measures helping to stabilize health insurance coverage rates.
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| 2021 |
Health insurance coverage in the United States
Health insurance coverage continued to improve, with 29.6 million Americans uninsured, dropping to 11.0% of the population.
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| 2021 | McKinsey reaches a settlement with 47 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and five territories, paying $537 million and agreeing to discontinue work with certain narcotics manufacturers. |
| 2021 |
Philoctetes
Kae Tempest's adaptation of Philoctetes, titled 'Paradise', was performed at the Royal National Theatre in London.
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| 2021 |
Race and health in the United States
A systematic review on hearing loss in adults found a lack of racial and ethnic diversity in research studies.
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| 2021 |
Race and health in the United States
Life expectancy varied significantly across racial groups: Native Americans at 65 years, Black Americans at 71 years, White Americans at 76 years, Hispanic Americans at 78 years, and Asian Americans at 84 years.
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| 2021 |
Male infertility crisis
Shanna Swan published 'Count Down' book, projecting potential sperm count decline to zero by 2045 if current trends continue.
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| December 2021 | Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York overturned the September settlement, ruling that the bankruptcy code did not permit releasing the Sacklers from civil liability. |
| September 2021 | America's Frontline Doctors filed a lawsuit against New York City, claiming vaccine passport orders were discriminatory against African Americans, referencing the historical context of the Tuskegee experiments. |
| September 2021 | Purdue Pharma won approval of a $4.5 billion restructuring plan to dissolve the company and create a public benefit corporation, with a settlement financed by the Sackler family, insurance payments, and ongoing business operations. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Male infertility crisis, Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Social determinants of health in poverty, Homosexuality in the DSM, Philoctetes (Sophocles play), Prescription drug prices in the United States, Gender bias in medical diagnosis, Theranos, Right to health, Health equity, Inequality in disease, Sicko, Health insurance coverage in the United States, Cost Plus Drugs, Purdue Pharma, Race adjustment & Race and health in the United States, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.