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The notion that people will regularly use computers to diagnose their own illnesses has been discussed for decades. Of course, millions of people try to do that today, consulting Dr. Google, though often with little success. Given the low quality of many online health sources, such searches may even be harmful. Some governments have even launched “Don’t Google It” campaigns to urge people not to use the internet for health concerns. (Ruth Hailu, Andrew Beam and Ateev Mehrotra, 2/13)

As a sophomore in college in 2011, I was deferred from donating blood for being a gay man. I was confronting the homophobia built into the FDA’s blood donation ban for men who have sex with men. (Eric Kutscher, 2/11)

As the viral threat became clear in the pandemic's earliest weeks, Congress took a conscientious step. It boosted Medicaid funding for states willing to keep people enrolled continuously through the end of the public health emergency, ensuring people who contracted COVID would be able to access care. (2/12)

Almost everyone is a patient at some time. And even if the interaction with a doctor or nurse or other clinician is brief, it’s an opportunity to do something to fight climate change. The health care sector is responsible for 8.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. To be sure, some of that comes from the amount of energy hospitals consume 24/7. But some also comes from choices that health care workers make. (Matthew J. Meyer, 2/13)

I have a form of cerebral palsy called hemiplegia, which affects one side of the body. The word has two parts: hemi, meaning “half,” and plegia, connoting stroke or paralysis. I have had a “half stroke,” but I prefer the romance of my high-school Greek teacher’s translation: I was, as he put it, struck on one side. (Emil Sands, 2/11)

This week, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study on a promising, variant-proof treatment for COVID-19. The clinical trial of nearly 2,000 people evaluated one shot of interferon lambda compared to a placebo for treatment of outpatients with COVID. The participants were at high risk for progression to severe disease, and 83 percent of them were vaccinated. (Paul Sax and David Boulware, 2/10)

The role of mental health navigator — of providing humane, knowledgeable guidance — has been around for decades, filled by the country’s therapeutic consultants, with fees from $100 to $350 an hour or up to at least $5,000 per quarter. In recent years, nonprofits like the one where I volunteer have emerged to provide a similar, less concierge-like service at no cost to anyone in need. (Benedict Carey, 2/12)