A new study published yesterday in Jama found that a test used to diagnose patients with lung cancer had a built-in racial bias. The algorithm in the software used to diagnose patients assumed that Black people had naturally weaker lung capacity, raising the threshold for recommending care and making it less likely that they would be prescribed medication. According to the study, up to 40 percent more Black men would have been diagnosed with breathing problems if the bias had been corrected. The study also pointed out that this specific test isn't the only place where racial bias affects medicine. Prejudices and assumptions about racial differences affect patients looking for heart and kidney care as well.
WARNING ABOUT PAYMENT APPS
There's a new warning for people who store money in payment apps like Paypal, Venmo, and Cash App. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPC) said that the funds may not be secure in the case of a crisis, because while traditional bank accounts are secured up to $250,000, money held in a payment app doesn't have the same protections. So if one of these companies ever had a funding issue or was forced to close, customers could lose their money.
Michele Power, a meteorologist for News12, said that one explanation for this "parade of storms," at least in the United States, is a phenomenon called the "atmospheric river,:
The beginning of the year is critical for those in need of blood transfusions as people tend to stop donating during the holidays. The winter in general also experiences a dropoff as donors get sick more frequently.
President Joe Biden is set to tour damage and be briefed on recovery efforts after devastating storms hit California in recent weeks, killing at least 20 people and causing destruction across 41 of the state's 58 counties.
The federal government says it will begin a targeted crackdown on nursing homes’ abuse of antipsychotic drugs and misdiagnoses of schizophrenia in patients.
Pallbearers in La Verkin, Utah, carry a casket at a funeral for victims of Michael Haight, who killed his wife, their five children, and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself. The funeral was held on Jan. 4, 2023. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
