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Not long ago, medical decision making was largely left to doctors. Patients were a passive bunch, arriving at the doctor with their concerns and symptoms, and departing with their doctor’s orders. But today patients have incredible access to information online and elsewhere, and this has prompted a shift to what is sometimes called “shared decision making”: patients and doctors, together, sharing the burden of making consequential health choices. (Emily Oster and Nathan Fox, 4/30)

H5N1 is in a better position than ever to move between species and spill over aggressively into humans: This bird flu virus is now thought to have been spreading among dairy cows for many months, and federal regulators have found viral fragments circulating widely in the commercial milk supply chain across the United States (though live virus has not been found). (Erin M. Sorrell, Monica Schooch-Spana and Meghan F. Davis, 5/1)

American dairy cows have been contracting avian flu, and inactive traces of the virus have been found in milk supplies across the country. The spread to humans has been very limited, but the Times Opinion columnist Zeynep Tufekci argues that hoping for good luck is not a strategy for responding to potential pandemics and that government agencies need to do a better job of coordinating, testing and reporting their findings quickly. (Zeynep Tufekci, 5/1)

I am not writing here to talk about my husband, Chadwick Boseman, who died far too young from colorectal cancer. I am not here to give any glimpses into our obviously private life and his obviously private battle with this cancer, which is affecting far more young lives than it should. (Simone Ledward-Boseman, 5/1)

Across the U.S., a growing challenge to our children’s mental and physical well-being has been felt in every corner of our country — while countless children and youth are fulfilled and thriving physically and mentally, so many are struggling. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that over the last 10 years, feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness — as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviors — increased by about 40 percent among young people in this country. (Sen. Tom Carper and Kara Odom Walker, 4/30)