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Plaintiff lawyers are hoping to make talc torts the next asbestos racket, but their dreams of mega-payoffs may have been shattered last week when a judge in California tossed a $417 million jury award against Johnson & Johnson. The case was brought by a 63-year-old woman with advanced ovarian cancer who had used baby powder for more than 40 years. She claimed the talc caused her cancer and that J&J knew the product was carcinogenic but failed to warn consumers. A Los Angeles jury in August awarded the plaintiff $70 million in compensatory and $347 million in punitive damages. (10/26)

Imagine you're diagnosed with a rare cancer. There are no FDA-approved treatments. But after frantically searching the internet, you discover hopeful news – a pharmaceutical company is developing a possible cure. Unfortunately, the drug is in the early stages of development. It's not FDA approved – at least not yet. There's no guarantee the medicine will work. ... The good news is that under current law, you could petition the company for permission to try the experimental drug. If the company agrees, you would then have to seek permission from the FDA. Some members of Congress believe the FDA should be taken out of the equation. ... Lawmakers' hearts are in the right place. But they're misinformed. The FDA doesn't delay the process – and cutting out the agency would be dangerous. (Peter J. Pitts, 10/25)

President Trump on Thursday signed a $36.5 billion disaster bill to pay for damage caused by the floods, hurricanes and fires of the past months. Of this amount $6.3 billion will be used to salvage Puerto Rico from the wreckage of Hurricane Maria. ... What is unusual is that the North Carolina congressional delegation cast the most nay votes of any state. Ninety thousand Puerto Ricans reside in North Carolina, making it the state with the 12th largest Puerto Rican population. ... sometimes humanity outweighs fiscal probity. More than a month after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, the families of North Carolinians are still lacking shelter, food and medical care. (Gretchen Sierra-Zorita, 10/26)

A.J. Burgess was born without kidneys. He spent the first 10 months of his life in a hospital in Atlanta. At 2 years old, he weighs only 25 pounds and has yet to take his first steps. He receives dialysis treatment daily and his health could take a fatal turn at any moment. One can only imagine the suffering his parents must be going through. Luckily, A.J. is finally old enough that a kidney transplant is now an option. With a transplant he could have a normal childhood and live a long, healthy life. A.J. is even luckier because his father, Anthony Dickerson, is a perfect match. Dickerson is willing and able to save his son’s life — but he is not permitted to do so. (Glenn E. Martin and Joshua Morrison, 10/27)

In August of 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine published a striking report on cancer and body fat: Thirteen separate cancers can now be linked to being overweight or obese, among them a number of the most common and deadly cancers of all — colon, thyroid, ovarian, uterine, pancreatic and (in postmenopausal women) breast cancer. (Sam Apple, 10/27)

When a fatal disease becomes increasingly common, scientists along with public health and government officials sound the alarm and try to identify what is causing the disease, how it spreads, and how to prevent it. Why aren’t we taking a similar approach with mass shootings, which are a similar sort of public health issue? (Dominik Wodarz and Natalia L. Komarova, 10/26)

I sometimes had a tough time with doctors before I found out — at the age of 41 — that I was intersex and that my true medical history had been hidden from me for decades. Now that it’s out in the open, I still can’t find knowledgeable doctors to help me. ... I’m not alone. Hundreds of intersex people have shared similar stories with me in person, at conferences, or on social media. As a friend recently lamented on Facebook, “I read a ton of medical journals and peer-reviewed papers. It’s the only way for the intersex community to be informed, so we in turn can inform our doctors and nurses.” (Kimberly Zieselman, 10/26)