‘I Guess You Negotiate With a Mugger’: What We Heard This Week

— Quotable quotes heard by MedPage Today‘s reporters

by
MedPage Today Staff

December 17, 2023

“I guess you negotiate with a mugger when they show up. It’s your money or your life.” — Craig Garthwaite, PhD, an economist at Northwestern University, on new authority for CMS to negotiate on drug prices.

“We don’t get a lecture on how you create your family plan.” — Shirin Dason, MD, of Mount Sinai Hospital at the University of Toronto, on how students perceive family planning during medical school.

“At an average price of $11,000, it’s not like going to the store and buying some dietary supplements.” — Leigh Turner, PhD, of the University of California Irvine, after finding stem cell marketers have turned their attention to long COVID patients.

“We were surprised that over a quarter of Americans used these emerging cannabinoid products in the past year.” — Kevin Boehnke, PhD, of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, discussing his group’s survey findings.

“It’s not a quack diet.” — Helen Cross, PhD, of University College London, about new trial data showing a ketogenic diet may help reduce seizures in infants with drug-resistant epilepsy.

“Using sterile gloves for fixing wounds doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in preventing infections compared to using clean gloves.” — Loai Albarqouni, MD, MSc, PhD, of Bond University in Australia, discussing using nonsterile gloves to repair wounds.

“That’s more gradual regain than I think most people would have expected.” — Louis Aronne, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, on the slow but steady weight regain after patients stopped tirzepatide (Zepbound).

“Plugging your patient into one of these organizations is like turning on a light in a dark room.” — Ethan Lester, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research, on resources for patients with neurofibromatosis.