‘Like Trying to Soak Up a Lake With a Napkin’: What We Heard This Week

It’s like “trying to soak up a lake with a napkin.” — Shawn Ryan, MD, vice chair of the legislative advocacy committee for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, noting the current situation of opioid treatment providers, who say they are bleeding cash and unable to keep staff in the face of rising drug overdose deaths.

“The possibility that a company like Puff Bar might gain months of profit off children because of a backlog at the FDA is troubling and unacceptable.” — Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), commenting on the all the Pre-Market Tobacco Applications piling up at the agency from e-cigarette makers and vape shops.

“But with the variants on the side stage, I think we would be better suited to getting [children] fully vaccinated and giving them (and the population in general) a larger margin of protection.” — Robert Schooley, MD, of the University of California San Diego, on cutting the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in kids.

“It’s despicable.” — Lee Zhao, MD, the co-director of the Transgender Reconstructive Surgery Program at NYU Langone, referring to surgeons who were unwilling to take care of patients’ complications from gender-affirming surgery.

“The idea that drinking coffee decreases the adverse risks of chronic liver disease has been brewing (excuse the pun) for some time now.” — Craig Gluckman, MD, a gastroenterologist at UCLA Health, discussing results of an observational study.

“I’m still in shock that I was terminated for this.” — Steven Weiss, MD, an internist who practiced at the Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who was fired after publishing a book about his experience on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic.