Matt Biven Substack News Today

Editor’s note: The following story is co-published with Matt Bivens’ Substack newsletter, The 100 Days. Here are some things we know about Pfizer’s brand-name antiviral elixir Paxlovid: It makes everything taste terrible. “Paxlovid mouth” is discussed from Reddit feeds to scholarly journals. (“Dysgeusia” is the fancy medical term for this persistent foul taste in one’s mouth.) It’s rapaciously priced. It’s now five times more expensive per gram than gold. Once upon a time, Pf...

Editor’s note: The following story is co-published with Matt Bivens’ Substack newsletter, The 100 Days. There is something in medicine we worry about a lot called “a Never Event.” This is an error so terrible we hope it will never be made. The classic example would be accidentally taking the wrong patient to the OR for someone else’s surgery. Or, a similar example, you’ve got the correct patient but still end up doing the wrong surgery — replacing the wrong hip, or biopsying the wr...

Editor’s note: The following story is co-published with Matt Bivens’ Substack newsletter, The 100 Days. There’s a haunting video out there of Ukrainian military conscripts being serenaded by a young woman. It takes place in a drab auditorium. The men, their heads newly shaven, sit in red faux-velvet chairs, glum and bored, some looking at their cell phones, clearly wishing they were anywhere else. And for conscripts, they are old. Many appear to be in their 40s or 50s: One can see the vide...