Hacker News with Generative AI: Healthcare

Montreal doctor says NYU cancelled her presentation fearing Trump retaliation (ctvnews.ca)
A Montreal pediatrician says NYU cancelled her presentation, likely out of fear of retaliation from the Donald Trump administration.
Luigi Mangione-inspired ballot initiative targets health insurance denials (newsweek.com)
A proposed California ballot initiative—informally named after Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—aims to bar insurers from delaying or denying doctor-recommended procedures or medications.
Rescission of the Final Scientific Integrity Policy of the NIH (grants.nih.gov)
Bill Gates: AI will replace doctors/teachers – humans unneeded for most things (cnbc.com)
Oracle Health (formerly Cerner) breach compromises patient data at US hospitals (bleepingcomputer.com)
A breach at Oracle Health impacts multiple US healthcare organizations and hospitals after a threat actor stole patient data from legacy servers.
Decline of cash credited for drop in NHS surgery for children swallowing objects (theguardian.com)
Figures reveal 29% fall in operations in England to remove foreign bodies from children’s airways, noses and throats
Medical Benchmarks and the Myth of the Universal Patient (newyorker.com)
When my daughter was ten and a half months old, she qualified as “wasted,” which UNICEF describes as “the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition.”
A breakthrough moment: Researchers discover new class of antibiotics (phys.org)
The last time a new class of antibiotics reached the market was nearly three decades ago—but that could soon change, thanks to a discovery by researchers at McMaster University.
I traded my U.S. medical career for Canada. Here's how the two systems stack up. (canadahealthwatch.ca)
After more than a decade practicing emergency medicine in the United States, I very recently began working shifts in Canada. The differences hit me immediately, and are profound.
Eli Lilly will soon release key data on its weight loss pill orforglipron (cnbc.com)
Doctors Told Him He Was Going to Die. Then A.I. Saved His Life (nytimes.com)
A little over a year ago, Joseph Coates was told there was only one thing left to decide. Did he want to die at home, or in the hospital?
Elon Musk Is Unplugging the Monitors of the Earth's Vital Signs (nytimes.com)
Here’s a nightmare scenario: You’re in the emergency room of a busy hospital and victims of accidents, disasters and diseases are streaming in. Nurses and doctors huddle around computer monitors displaying patients’ heart rates and oxygen levels. Suddenly, the screens go dark. Someone is going through the building pulling all the plugs.
Brown Medicine professor and doctor deported to Lebanon despite valid visa (nbcnews.com)
A doctor and professor was deported after she returned from a trip to Lebanon despite having a valid U.S. visa, according to a court petition filed on her behalf.
As AI nurses reshape hospital care, human nurses are pushing back (apnews.com)
Study finds 46 percent of U.S. counties have pharmacy deserts (ncpa.org)
A study published in JAMA Network Open found that pharmacy deserts are significantly more common in counties where patients are experiencing high social vulnerability. They said 46 percent of all counties studied had at least one pharmacy desert, and that 15.8 million people in the U.S. live in pharmacy deserts.
My Heart Surgery vs. Y Combinator Interview (manidoraisamy.com)
It was April 2021. With just one week to go before my Y Combinator interview, I found myself sitting in my doctor’s office, facing an unexpected crisis. The doctor told me that I had a severe leak in my heart and needed open-heart surgery immediately. The estimated recovery period was two months—one month for preparation and another for recovery. That was almost the entire duration of the YC program.
A doctor on what it's like to end a life rather than extend one (theguardian.com)
The patient referral comes through my reliable old fax machine on a single sheet of paper. “Thanks for seeing this 74-year-old gentleman with end-stage liver failure. He’s been following the news carefully and is eager to make a request for an assisted death. I hear you’ll be providing this service here in Victoria – courageous! I look forward to your assessment. Summary of his file is below.” I read it twice to myself before sharing it with Karen, my office manager.
Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases (ersnet.org)
J&J's Skin360 app faces scrutiny for biometric data collection (jdsupra.com)
A federal district court has denied a motion by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (JJCI) to dismiss a second amended complaint alleging it violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and storing biometric information through its Neutrogena Skin 360 beauty app without consumers’ informed consent or knowledge.
Renowned US health research hub Johns Hopkins to slash 2k jobs (medicalxpress.com)
Prestigious US university Johns Hopkins said Thursday it will lay off more than 2,000 employees around the world in the aftermath of the Trump administration's massive reduction in foreign aid funds.
'Profit-Enhancing Middlemen' Fuel $200B Health-Care Chaos (bloomberg.com)
The US health-care system spends as much on billing and claims processing as it does on treating cancer.
Johns Hopkins to Cut More Than 2k Workers Funded by Federal Aid (nytimes.com)
Johns Hopkins University, one of the country’s leading centers of scientific research, said on Thursday that it would eliminate more than 2,000 workers in the United States and abroad because of the Trump administration’s steep cuts, primarily to international aid programs.
'Uber for nurses' exposes 86K+ medical records, PII via open S3 bucket (websiteplanet.com)
Cybersecurity Researcher, Jeremiah Fowler, discovered and reported to Website Planet about a non-password-protected database that contained over 86,000 records belonging to ESHYFT — a New-Jersey-based HealthTech company that operates in 29 states. It offers a mobile app platform that connects healthcare facilities with healthcare workers, including Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), and Registered Nurses (RNs).
18F transformed government technology, and why its elimination matters (theconversation.com)
Healthcare.gov, the government health insurance marketplace website, launched in October 2013 only to buckle under the weight of just 2,000 simultaneous users. As millions of Americans stared at error messages and frozen screens, a political crisis unfolded, but so did a new era of government technology.
Desperate rich people to fund drug research (theguardian.com)
Each year, hundreds of potentially world-changing treatments are discarded because scientists run out of cash. But where big pharma or altruists fear to tread, my friend and I have a solution. It’s repugnant, but it will work.
Mayo Clinic's secret weapon against AI hallucinations: Reverse RAG in action (venturebeat.com)
Even as large language models (LLMs) become ever more sophisticated and capable, they continue to suffer from hallucinations: Offering up inaccurate information, or, to put it more harshly, lying.
'Uber for nurses' exposes 86k+ medical records, PII in open S3 bucket for months (theregister.com)
More than 86,000 records containing nurses' medical records, facial images, ID documents and more sensitive info linked to health tech company ESHYFT was left sitting in a wide-open S3 bucket for months — or possibly even longer — before it was closed it last week.
18F Transformed Government Technology and Why Its Elimination Matters (theconversation.com)
Healthcare.gov, the government health insurance marketplace website, launched in October 2013 only to buckle under the weight of just 2,000 simultaneous users. As millions of Americans stared at error messages and frozen screens, a political crisis unfolded, but so did a new era of government technology.
New Zealand's $16B health dept managed finances with single Excel spreadsheet (theregister.com)
The body that runs New Zealand’s public health system uses a single Excel spreadsheet as the primary source of data to consolidate and manage its finances, which aren’t in great shape perhaps due to the sheet’s shortcomings.
NHS job cuts: Up to 7k posts to go as Wes Streeting takes charge (thetimes.com)