Today's Globe

Nursing home clashes, tainted meat, prayer healing, mammogram message, childhood hunger, Kenneth Baughman

Some nursing home residents instantly warm to their roommates, much like college freshmen who lucked out in the roommate draw. But for many, the adjustment can be difficult.

"For a penny a pound, producers of ground beef could greatly reduce the danger of E. coli contamination, especially the lethal strain of the bacteria that recently took the life of a New Hampshire victim and in 2007 left a 22-year-old dance teacher in Minnesota paralyzed below the waist," a Globe editorial says.

"While tens of millions of Americans are lacking access to even basic medical treatments, Congress should not use limited public resources for Christian Science prayer healing and other forms of spiritual care," a Globe editorial says.

"We all have a stake in evidence-based medicine - what’s the alternative? - and have to accept that evidence keeps changing," columnist Ellen Goodman writes on the opinion page. "This is not just true for mammograms and pap smears. We’ve learned the downside of screening older men for prostate cancer. And we keep revising advice on everything from virtual colonoscopies to bone marrow treatment for breast cancer."

"Children’s HealthWatch, the research arm of the Grow Clinic, found that food insecurity among families with young children seeking care at Boston Medical Center rose from 19 to 26 percent between the first half of 2008 and the first half of 2009," columnist Renée Loth writes on the opinion page. "Even fairly mild cases can start a child down a spiral of health and developmental setbacks."

As one of the nation’s leading experts and innovators in the treatment of heart failure, Dr. Kenneth Baughman emphasized the importance of exercise and healthy eating and tried daily to lead by example. That is why it was not unusual for him to be out jogging on the morning of Nov. 16, when he was struck and killed by a motorist while crossing a four-way intersection in Orlando, Fla.