Kate Scannell, MD

By Dr. Kate Scannell, Syndicated Columnist
First Published in Print: 10/13/2012

How do 14,000 people in 23 states hobble into a doctor's office complaining of back or joint pain -- only to discover, days to months later, that they may have been injected with a potentially lethal infection?

That's the central question for public health authorities who are trying to contain the current multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to contaminated steroid injections. As of last Thursday, the number of people known to have developed the meningitis had risen to 170, including 14 deaths. Regrettably, those tallies are expected to rise as doctors and patients become increasingly aware of this unusual fungal infection which can take weeks to months to diagnose.  Read More 

By Dr. Kate Scannell, Syndicated Columnist
First Published in Print: 07/06/2012

Cora Sledge soberly recalled all the useless prayers she had offered up throughout her 80 years of hardscrabble living. Without a hint of self-pity, she recounted: "I used to pray to keep my ma and daddy safe, but that was no use. I prayed for gifts at Christmas and to win the school prize. I prayed to be slim, so no one would make fun of me. That didn't happen, either. I asked Jesus to protect my kids. Look what happened."

Yet somehow, despite all the tragedy that had seeped into her long life through small holes in her big prayers, Cora remained hopeful about her uncertain future. But her hopes now focused more internally, and her prayers reshaped around her longing to escape the assisted-living facility in which her children had abandoned her. She asked for her heart to be healed, all the while it stayed open and "ready to love." She explained, "I pray now like I did when I was a little girl -- not needing to understand. I ask for simple things. Let me not hurt. Let me not be hungry, or cold. Please keep my loneliness at bay."

I finished reading about Cora Sledge in Berkeley novelist Leslie Larson's moving (and comical) novel "Breaking Out of Bedlam" the same day that UC San Francisco researchers reported finding statistical associations between loneliness and an increased risk of dying among elderly people.  Read More