Viewpoints: Medical docs begin residency, best practices, Kansas abortions

The New York Times: Practicing Medicine Can Be Grimm Work
Today, after four arduous years of examinations, graduating medical doctors will report to their residency programs. Armed with stethoscopes and scalpels, they're preparing to lead the charge against disease in its ravaging, chimerical forms. They carry with them the classic tomes: Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine and Gray's Anatomy. But I have an unlikely addition for their mental rucksacks: "Grimm's Fairy Tales" (Valerie Gribben, 6/30).

USA Today: America Can Learn From Best Practices Abroad
American exceptionalism is also an invitation to smugness when just the opposite is needed. The nation does not hold a monopoly on wise policies. Far from it, as evidenced by our shrinking manufacturing base, underperforming schools and dysfunctional health care system. Rather than reveling in our greatness or turning up our noses at other countries, American leaders should be studying the best practices abroad and bringing them back home (7/1).

Des Moines Register: How Can Lawmakers Be So Uncaring Again?
As the clock ticked toward the end of the fiscal year and adjournment of the 2011 session of the Iowa Legislature, lawmakers scrambled for a final compromise. The focus should have been solely on the budget they needed to approve to keep state government properly funded. Instead, the final sticking point was abortion. Some of the 150 members of the Legislature tried without success — again — to limit access to this legal medical procedure (7/1).

Kansas City Star: Victory Would Leave Abortion Foes Speechless
No more abortions in Kansas? Not quite, but new licensing laws might well force two of the state's three remaining abortion clinics out of the abortion business, depending on the outcome of today's federal court hearing. For abortion foes, just think of the symbolism that would hold on this 20th anniversary of Wichita's Summer of Mercy clinic protests (Mike Hendricks, 6/30).

Arizona Republic: GOP Plan To Eliminate Medicare Devalues American Society 
Because of Medicare's guaranteed coverage and benefits, many seniors are able to maintain their standard of living and rest easy knowing that their health-care needs are met. Without the security of Medicare, many of my senior constituents would be living in poverty. However, Republican leaders in Congress want to end Medicare and replace it with inadequate vouchers for private insurance. The contrast between the current Medicare program and the radical Republican overhaul could not be starker (Ed Pastor, 7/1).