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The burden of substance abuse disorders can fall heavily on the families and friends of those who battle addictions. But society also pays a great deal through increased crime. Treatment programs can reduce those costs. For at least two decades, we’ve known substance use and crime go hand in hand. More than half of violent offenders and one-third of property offenders say they committed crimes while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. (Austin Frakt, 4/24)

Innovative medical research is fueled by creative and tenacious minds. Yet many of the researchers who do this vital work find themselves frazzled by a long-hours culture that not only hinders their creative ability but may also discourage the Nobel laureates of the future from joining their ranks. We need better balance between our work and our lives. (Robert Lechler, 4/21)

Only after this fundamental research did we have the ability to create novel antibodies. Then, various companies and agencies worked for almost ten years to develop antibodies into therapeutics. One such antibody drug, rituximab, was approved by the FDA in 1997. In 2005, my mother received her first injection of rituximab. Suffering from an autoimmune disease, she faced imminent loss of her vision. Rituximab halted the disease and prevented her from going blind. Now, when I look at my mother, I see the power of science. (Justin Wolfe, 4/22)

When President Trump and his (male) aides sit at a conference table deciding to cut off money to women’s health programs abroad, they call it a “pro-life” move. Yet here in Haiti, I’ll tell you the result: Impoverished women suffer ghastly injuries and excruciating deaths. Washington’s new women’s health policies should be called “pro-death.” (Nicholas Kristof, 2/22)

And so it is that, when the appropriations subcommittees in the Michigan House and Senate took up Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed health budget a few weeks ago, figuring out what health services the state needs to provide and how to pay for them were not exactly at the top of their to-do list. The first objective, as Sen. Jim Marleau, R-Lake Orion, tacitly acknowledged last week, was to find $124 million in the Snyder administration's health care budget that could be diverted to pay for a tax cut. (4/22)

For the last year and a half I have relied on a paid caregiver to help me get through each day. She arrives early in the morning and clocks in using a timekeeping app on my smartphone. Because my speech is limited, I type out instructions for her to read or I have my smartphone read them to her using the device's speech function. This continues throughout my caregiver's seven-hour shift as I use various templates saved on my phone: "Please fill my water glass" or "I would like to brush my teeth." (Jamison Hill, 4/24)

The 911 emergency phone call system was designed half a century ago, back when cellphones and email didn’t exist and Americans relied on land-line telephones and CB radios to call for help. The system has built-in deficiencies, particularly when it comes to helping blind and hearing-impaired callers. A bill being considered in Jefferson City would add Missouri to the growing list of states trying to make the system better. (4/23)

Will the injustices visited upon Richard Meredith never end? ... As a young adult, he was sent to live at a state institution where, at the age of 24, he was subjected to a lobotomy that left him profoundly disabled. ... It was a life that ended unexpectedly on Sept. 1, 2013, after workers at the state-run Mental Health Institute in Clarinda mistakenly gave him a peanut butter sandwich rather than the doctor-ordered pureed food he was able to swallow. ... His family sued the state and the Iowa Department of Human Services, which ran the institute. ... the two sides agreed recently to settle the case for $150,000. But as part of the deal, the Iowa Department of Human Services insisted on clawing back $25,000 of that from Richard Meredith’s estate as reimbursement for some of the Medicaid dollars spent on Meredith’s care at the MHI. (4/23)

We have many areas in dire need of pipe upgrades in Wisconsin. ... Last year alone, an Environmental Protection Agency study found 64 Wisconsin water systems that exceeded lead limits, including those in Lake Mills, Stoughton, Neenah, Racine and several schools. (Emily Mills, 4/21)