Category Archives: MSK in the News

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How to Discuss End-of-Life Planning

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Dr. Alan Carver

Dr. Alan Carver. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

A Vox article on having conversations with loved ones about end-of-life planning features MSK’s Dr. Alan Carver.

Dr. Carver, a neurologist, emphasizes the importance of listening and not rushing these difficult conversations. Having end-of-life decision discussions starting when family members are healthy, and working with care teams when family members are ill, are strategies Dr. Carver recommends.

Learn more about having end-of-life conversations in this MSK feature.

Who Does Twitter Elevate?

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Social media offers valuable, accurate medical information—if you know who to trust. Unfortunately, identifying reliable sources of information remains a challenge for even the most savvy web users.

Dr. Fumiko Chino

Dr. Fumiko Chino. Photo: Richard DeWitt.

A recent Axios article reviews the problem of information and misinformation on Twitter. In it, MSK’s Dr. Fumiko Chino describes a recent study she coauthored in JAMA Network Open. Verified accounts (the ones with those blue checkmarks) of physicians on Twitter are more likely to be from male doctors in the United States. It is unclear why some accounts receive verification while others do not.

While Twitter worked to make the verification process more transparent last year, Dr. Chino believes room for improvement remains. She concludes, “It charges me to put a fine eye in terms of who I’m elevating, who I’m retweeting.”

I Have Symptoms. My COVID Home Test is Negative. Now What?

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CNBC recently featured MSK’s Dr. Esther Babady in an article answering a question at the forefront of our minds: Why is my at-home COVID test negative when I have symptoms?

N. Esther Babady, PhD
N. Esther Babady, PhD

In the article, Dr. Babady hypothesizes that BA.4 and BA.5, the current most common COVID variants, may have undergone structural mutations that makes them more difficult for a home test to detect. She also says that people may not have enough detectable viral proteins early in the course of disease, and that some home tests may be better than others at detecting the current strains.  

Dr. Babady recommends getting a PCR test, which is more sensitive than home tests, and to isolate and wear masks around others if you have symptoms, even with negative test results. Even if you don’t have COVID, you can prevent spreading other viruses using these precautions.