I am a bit embarrassed to have to spell this out so directly but maintaining separation between sales and editorial is a foundational tenet of journalistic ethics.

Either ESPN is a news-gathering operation or not. If ESPN bills themselves as a news organization - which, for the record, they do - then advertising concerns dictating editorial content is a fundamental breach of the ethics of professional journalism. A newsroom is not “any other business.”

The “bad thing” is the journalism branch of a company, and the advertising branch, are supposed to operate independently of each other

Or, and I know this is wild, don’t let sponsors dictate your writing. I’m sure Amazon isn’t happy with a lot of the coverage that happens on GMG considering they advertise here, but thankfully sales and editorial here are separate like they should be.

I would take a backup QBs salary, a Super Bowl MVP and a colossal penis any day.

On the flip side: I had some feeling of weirdness, went to the doctor, told doctor ‘I feel weird, this is how I feel weird’ - got made to feel like I should’ve known why I felt weird - turned out to be a sinus infection, fine. Next time I feel weird in close to the same way, go to doctor, mention possibility of a…

Trust me, it is one component that has pushed some doctors to burnout. Used to be you did what the doctor told you (most docs gave sound advice, but there were quacks). Now, with information overload, everyone thinks they are Dr. Oz, and try to argue like a physician (“I read on Goggle...”) without the proper…

Fellow physician here (EM). I agree with the crux of your post, but I should point out that patients should not be allowed to dictate care, whether here in the US, or in a country w/ single-payer. If you come to me with a viral illness, you’re not getting abx. Same goes with an emergent MR. If I believe you have cauda…

Damn. That’s some Richard Feynman-level thinking that guy had. I aways remember a famous quote of his:

The story gets a bit apocryphal sometimes, so I looked up the details. This cool dude is the one who exposed the survivorship bias and drew attention to what people weren’t seeing (the downed planes). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Wald

That’s an amazing story about the WWII planes — thank you!

In the US you would be dead, your house and all your assets would be seized and liquidated, and your family would spend the next ten years getting collections calls at all hours of the day and night.

“But that’s because the people who die from having no insurance are not around to tell their stories.”

This is like that story about WWII airplanes. People were seeing these planes come back full of holes, and they were like, well we need armor where all the holes are. No, you need armor where the holes *aren’t.* The…

I am happy to pay my National Insurance contributions and would be happy for it to increase to be safe in the knowledge that when my daughters have babies, or get sick, or if I need more medical care, I don’t have to bankrupt myself just to get the help I need.

Reading this, as a UK resident, I can only shake my head in disbelief. Since last year, I have had a number of health issues all no doubt due to hitting 40 and my body deciding that the previous 20 years of ill use were enough.
I’ve had cameras in three orifices, and due for two of those orifices to receive cameras…

I’m so glad you wrote this. I wish more politicians could be forced to read stories like yours so that they understand what the difference is like between having good insurance, and shitty insurance or no insurance. Republicans will still claim, “Oh, nobody dies in this country because they don’t have insurance.”

Kim Dickens is great in it, too. I remain ever-hopeful that Jake Kasdan will someday become a “name.”