‘You Don’t See the Sun’: What We Heard This Week

— Quotable quotes heard by MedPage Today‘s reporters

by
MedPage Today Staff



March 12, 2023

“You don’t see the sun. You don’t smell the flowers.” — Oleksandr Rikhter, MD, a top trauma physician from Ukraine, on the day-to-day lives of healthcare workers after the country was invaded by Russia.

“Even asking one question routinely — how do you manage your stress? — can be very helpful for patients to open up and discuss this common condition.” — Ambar Kulshreshtha, MD, PhD, of Emory University School of Medicine, discussing his research about stress and cognitive impairment.

“Less than 5% of the people who would benefit from these medications are getting them.” — Robert Cronin, MD, of the Ohio State University, on the small percentage of sickle cell disease patients who have access to appropriate pain medications.

“The San Francisco health order is a ray of appropriate behavior in a gray wilderness.” — Jeoff B. Gordon, MD, MPH, a retired family doctor in Santa Cruz, on San Francisco’s orders that health workers must continue to wear face masks in indoor health facilities and be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“These are the people that are more educated in public health science than ever before, in pandemic crisis management than ever before. How do you replace people like that?” — Jonathon P. Leider, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, on his research that showed 46% of public health workers in state and local agencies left their positions over the last 5 years.

“It is truly striking how just one class of substances was implicated so frequently in child poisoning deaths.” — Christopher Gaw, MD, MBE, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, on opioids’ contribution to fatal poisonings among children ages 5 and younger in recent years.

“Imagine going to a job where we think there’s an 80% chance that you’re going to be abused. Who would want to come to work? Yet our colleagues continue to show up.” — U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, on the disinformation that has led patients to become vitriolic toward healthcare workers.

“The misinformation and misleading messages and social posts are part of an organized political campaign that is hurtful not only to our physicians and staff, but also to our community.” — A spokesperson from Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida on the death threats sent to the hospital’s doctors over its COVID-19 policies.