An article in the national section of today's New York Times reports on a proposal to establish a new commission to consider the closing of domestic military bases. "In the past, the commission has had free reign to alter the secretary's list," the Times reports. The correct word there is "rein," not "reign." The reference is to giving a horse free rein, not giving a monarch a free reign. This is the stuff of middle-school English classes; it's just remarkable that the Times, with its layers of highly paid writers and editors, can't get it right.
Antibiotics Overuse: A short item in the "national briefing" column of today's New York Times reports, "The National Institutes of Health said it had begun a $2 million advertising campaign, starting in Colorado, to persuade people not to overuse antibiotics. Researchers estimate that half of the roughly 110 million antibiotic prescriptions written in the United States every year are unnecessary." If true, this deserves more prominent display than a brief item in the national briefing column. It actually tells more about the health care system in America than all the tens of thousands of words the Times has spilled over the "patients' bill of rights." If the NIH advertising campaign is indeed directed at consumers rather than doctors, it's an interesting approach. If the Times had devoted more space to this story, readers might be able to learn whether any doctors are being disciplined for these 55 million unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions each year. What does it say about the integrity of the prescription-writing system if the government has to appeal to patients, rather than doctors, to prevent this sort of abuse? How many federal and corporate health insurance dollars are going each year to pay for unnecessary antibiotics?