Posts Tagged: cataract

Insurer’s new policy limits access to cataract surgery

An ophthalmologist performs eye surgery on a patient. (Photo: PRESSLAB, via Shutterstock)

by CRAIG H. KLIGER posted 08.02.2021

OPINION: “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” proclaims an elderly woman in a 1980’s commercial for LifeCall, a home system that summoned emergency care, but became the subject of derision and perhaps a bit of schadenfreude over time, spawning parodies. Of course,  it might seem funny until it’s you or a loved one, perhaps the victim of a fall due to poor eyesight.

Deadly opioid overdose epidemic overshadowed by COVID-19

Illustration: Hydrocodone pills and prescription bottles. (Image: Andy Dean Photography, via Shutterstock.)

by RANDAL PHAM posted 05.04.2021

OPINION: A record 3,200 Californians lost their lives to opioids in 2019 — well before the stress and disruption caused by COVID-19 caused overdose deaths to spike to new highs nationwide. By May 2020, powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl caused California’s 12-month all-drug overdose death rate to spike nearly 27%, significantly faster than the national average.