A doctor confronts his addiction
An excerpt from Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction.
It was a frigid winter day in February 2005, when two officers — one from the state police, one from the Drug Enforcement Agency — arrived at my office and sat waiting amid the spellbinding view of the neighboring arboretum and the friendly clutter of charts, papers, stethoscopes, medical books, discarded coffee cups, and pharmaceutical samples.
At the time, I was scurrying back from a noon lecture on cholesterol management, in order to resume office hours. My attention was focused on the first patients I was soon to examine, an elderly Jewish cou...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 21, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Peter Grinspoon, MD Tags: Physician Medications Source Type: blogs
“"I enjoy the fact that colorectal surgery allows you...
""I enjoy the fact that colorectal surgery allows you to care for patients in a broad manner. I can help someone with hemorrhoids, ameliorate symptoms of Crohn's disease or diverticulitis, or cure someone of colorectal cancer or ulcerative colitis," says dpopsmd, a colorectal surgeon on Figure 1. By sharing cases from a variety of categories, including gastroenterology and geriatrics, dpopsmd has captured the attention of our global community. To see colorectal surgery cases like this, follow "dpopsmd" on Figure 1." By figure1 on Instagram Posted on infosnack. (Source: Kidney Notes)
Source: Kidney Notes - February 22, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Maybe God made teenagers difficult so we can let them go
It happens each time one of my children enters the teenage years (sometimes a little bit before). I go from having a lovely child and feeling like a reasonably pleasant parent to having a moody houseguest and becoming a shrew.
You’d think, having gone through this now four times, that I’d figure out how to avoid it. Or that I’d expect it. Or not let it bother me so much. Nope. It happened again, it caught me off guard, and I hate it.
To be fair, it’s only natural to be optimistic each time a child of yours moves out of the sweet years. After all, they are such sweet years: the years after diapers an...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 15, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Physician Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
A quantitative analysis of the first year of internal medicine residency
In a few weeks, thousands of medical students find out where they have matched for residency. I still remember the excitement and anxiety of peeling back that envelope and hoping I would see my top choice. My medical school had a tradition of putting each 4th year’s name in an old doctor’s bag. One by one, our dean would pull out a name, the student would contribute $1 to the bag and, in exchange, be given their envelope at the podium. Cheers, tears, champagne would flow as one announced their fate, and the last student called up to the microphone would get money as consolation for the long wait. In retrospect, it had ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 11, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Peggy Bui, MD, MBA Tags: Education Hospital Residency Source Type: blogs
A letter to myself as a first-year oncology resident
I’m writing to you from the future — approximately ten years from where you are now. You’re a few months into your medical oncology residency, just beginning to assimilate to the flow of your daily responsibilities as a doctor committed to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
You hate living in upstate New York, and are dreading the upcoming winter and the associated endless piles of snow and sub-zero temperature nights guaranteed to envelop your existence over the next three-plus months.
You’re starting to refrain from feeling pure panic every time your pager goes off, but remain tethered to its incessant bl...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 15, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Joanne Intile, DVM Tags: Physician Cancer Source Type: blogs
Eyesight and filth
I understand that diabetes will attack the eyes. Hubby has been having events which he calls white migraines. He will get the headache, everything goes white and he cannot see.But I'm wondering about other vision. He had cornea transplants at age 30 and now wears hard lenses over soft lenses in both eyes which are supposed to correct his vision to 20/40.We are at the in-laws working on some estate issues. I pray this is my last trip here. I left in May and he came home in August. He's been here for 2 weeks this time and I flew in yesterday.I cannot begin to describe how filthy the toilet...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - December 24, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
The bait and switch of health care IT
Last week I was playing golf with some friends. The Boston area has been having a bit of an Indian summer, and we are lucky to still be getting out there (long may it last). The conversation during one of the holes turned to health care information technology, when my friend, who is also a physician, told me about his experiences with a (certain famous) new electronic medical record that’s just been installed in their hospital.
I remember this same friend telling me a few months ago that he was looking forward to the change, anticipating that it would make his and his patients’ lives better. He turned around to me...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 22, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Suneel Dhand, MD Tags: Tech Health IT Source Type: blogs
Beware beauty products in jars – Episode 106
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Is Rodan and Fields really different?
Dawn asks…
I’m interested in getting your opinion on whether or not Rodan and Fields is different from any other skin care line. My gut says they are the same. I participated in a virtual information session (my friend wants me to join her team) and all the other consultants raved about the products as if nothing else had ever worked for them before. I feel the price point is high. And to be frank, my degree is in chemistry and I recently closed my own skin care business. So, when I received some...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - October 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Perry RomanowskiDiscover the beauty and cosmetic products you should use and avoid Source Type: blogs
Thoughts on the Digital Health Gold Rush
The post below was originally published on Venture Valkyrie.
In 1998 I was forming my first venture fund with a focus on healthcare IT and healthcare services. It was an interesting time to be undertaking such a mission. The Internet boom was in full swing and the money was flooding away from healthcare. Few were yet talking about rising healthcare costs the disastrous state of healthcare errors, or the need to share data to improve the management of chronic disease, much less the operating efficiency of payers or providers. One seasoned VC, whose firm was in the process of laying off all of its healthcare partners in 1998...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - October 13, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: HIT/Health Gaming Innovation Technology Source Type: blogs
Deeply Superficial
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span><span><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>“People
need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live
because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly.” – Andy
Warhol</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>This past weekend was the last one for The Late Drawings of Andy Warhol: 1973-1987 exhibit at <a href="http://www.hydecollection.org/">The Hyd...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - October 9, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Hayley Dittus-Doria Tags: Clinical Ethics Health Care advance directives Eudaimonia euthanasia quality of life syndicated Source Type: blogs
Pfizer's Latest International Pfiascos - Charges of Anti-Competitive Practices, Inflated Prices, Deception and Secrecy
Many big health care organizations seem to just be unable to keep out of trouble, and the bigger they are, the more kinds of trouble. Pfizer Inc, considered to be one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, has supplied us with plenty of stories. Enough new stories about Pfizer have accumulated since last year to do a roundup. Presented in chronological order....Italy Demands Damages from Pfizer for Anti-Trust ViolationsThis story came out in May, 2014, via Reuters,Italy said on Wednesday it was seeking more than a billion euros in damages from multinational drug companies following a...
Source: Health Care Renewal - September 13, 2015 Category: Health Management Tags: adverse effects antitrust deception executive compensation health care prices legal settlements marketing Pfizer suppression of medical research vaccines Source Type: blogs
Waste in Federal Property Management
The Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a report finding waste in the department’s vast warehousing of equipment and supplies. Here are a few examples of the problems found by the IG:
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leases a 54,000 square foot warehouse in Northern Virginia to store mostly excess furniture leftover from projects in which CBP reduced office space. CBP also stockpiles reams of printer/copier paper at this location and will pay about $934,000 per year to lease this warehouse. Many of the items in the warehouse appeared to be obsolete or broken. The annual lea...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 10, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Cry 'Hemorrhoids!', and let slip the dogs of war
What do the Caronia, Vascepa, and Pacria cases have in common? Well, for one thing all the plaintiffs are small companies, largely dependent on the sales of a single product for their revenues. Suing the FDA used to be considered a high-stakes gamble, but recent rulings – and the lack of action on the part of the agency to put forward new draft guidance – seem to have changed the risk/benefit analysis. At least for small companies. (Source: drugwonks.com Blog)
Source: drugwonks.com Blog - September 10, 2015 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs
Quit your pushing: A cutting-edge guide to constipation
Here’s an update to an earlier Wheat Belly Blog discussion about constipation.
I really don’t like talking about constipation, since it makes me wonder whether I’m starting down that inevitable decline towards the day when all I want to talk about is having a “good bowel movement.”
But the C word–constipation–continues to come up regularly when people go wheatless and grainless. “Won’t I lack fiber?” many ask. For example, in response to the Wheat Belly Blog post, The Wheat-free “Movement,” Janne posted this comment:
I am very happy on a no-wheat regi...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - June 29, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle bowel habits constipation fiber magnesium microbiota prebiotics probiotics Source Type: blogs
Free Market Recycling
Environmentalists often assume that free markets work against their goals. But the market is the best friend of the natural world because it generates constant pressure to innovate, to cut costs, and to use resources efficiently. The price system prompts consumers and businesses to minimize consumption of dwindling resources. To ease California’s water problems, for example, we need markets not regulatory controls.
The Wall Street Journal today has a pair of stories on scrap metal recycling:
Waste has long been a major U.S. export, providing material to be melted in foreign steel mills or made into new paper products. Bu...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 8, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
