Trending issues in medicine – issues bubbling below the top 5

One can easily criticize the 5 issues I picked this year.  I could criticize myself.  Here are some other important issues that we should consider. Pharmaceutical pricing greed – The concept of capitalism should not excuse the outrageous pricing of many new (and some older) drugs.  Pharmaceutical companies get a patient monopoly for 20 years from the time of patent application.  A great discussion of the problem. Medical school tuition – our students incur extremely large debts to finish medical school (in addition to undergraduate debt).  Talk to 4th year medical students, and their debt significantly influences specialty choices.  Moreover, the debt changes how physicians think about money.  The cost likely discourages the financially disadvantaged from considering medical school. The impact of being an employee rather than being independent. The heroin epidemic – an indirect impact of opiate overprescribing and then regulations tightening access to opiates. The lack of enough new residency slots. Please suggest other issues that we should follow.
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs