The ultimate sacrifice: A doctor martyrs himself in the fight against frivolous lawsuits
"Dr. Ticktin spent five years defending himself in a baseless lawsuit. Serving patients was his life. When he began to see the legal system prevent him from doing what he loved and lived for, life was no longer worth living. Dr. Ticktin took his life hoping his death would incite change in the legal system."
May 2005
All Stories
A former doctor convicted of sexually assaulting female patients has a medical investigation business
"'Dr.' James Sears maintains he's doing absolutely nothing wrong. Sears says even bad publicity is good for business. And he boasts that his biggest problem is the fact he's got too many people contacting him.
'I have an easy way of getting rid of them when they e-mail me. I just hit on them ...
The doctor is on trial for first-degree murder after his patient dies from snorting the Oxycontin he prescribed
Another reason to refer pain management cases out to specialists.
The fascinating story of the South Pole doctor who treated herself for breast cancer
"With the help of a welder and a maintenance man, Nielsen performed her own biopsy, e-mailing photographs of slide samples of the tumor to doctors in the United States.
After an airdrop of medical equipment and supplies, she administered chemotherapy to herself. She even had the maintenance man and welder counting the individual drops of ...
A drug cocktail revives a man from a vegetative state
"Ahmed would not identify the drugs Herbert receives in order to protect his privacy, but noted they included drugs used to treat attention deficit disorder and Parkinson's disease, along with an anti-depressant."
I would be curious to see what the actual medications were. Not sure if this is just luck or if there is real science behind this.
Rite of passage: One in three medical students are bullied in the hospital
"Thirty-five per cent of medical students who responded to the BMA Medical Students Committee welfare survey had experienced some form of bullying while at university or on a hospital placement.
Around one in four had been bullied by a doctor, while one in six had been bullied by a nurse. Forms of bullying ranged from ...
An ER doctor is sued after a patient he discharged later died of alcohol toxicity
"According to the paperwork filed by Bilbo, Amy Sue Gebhardt was stopped by Hanover Police shortly after 1 a.m. on March 25, 2004, on suspicion of drunken driving.
Gebhardt refused to take a field sobriety test and was taken to Hanover Hospital for alcohol testing, according to the complaint. A blood test showed ...
Should celebrities push cancer screenings?
"Screening is increasingly recognized as a two-edged sword . . . Celebrities should be judicious in using their powers of persuasion. When it comes to communicating about complex decisions such as cancer screening, the goal should not be to persuade but to inform."
I don't think that celebrities carefully weigh the evidence before using their fame to push cancer screening agendas.
Happy 1st year!
My humble medical blog is 1-year old today. What started out as an experiment has turned into a rewarding (and a bit time consuming) hobby. I've never thought there were that many people interested in what I had to say.
The blog has come a long way since the inaugural post. A lot ...
Why ERs are paying specialists to be on call
More money talks: Some ERs are paying specialists to be on call
"Physicians have incredible financial pressures to stay in practice. All they can sell is their time. There is no reason for physicians alone to shoulder the entire burden of community health care."
A case where thrombolytics were successfully used in massive pulmonary embolus
From UptoDate: "Thrombolytic therapy clearly accelerates the lysis of acute emboli, but no clinical trial to date has been large enough to conclusively demonstrate an improvement in mortality . . . Most pulmonologists agree that thrombolytic therapy is appropriate when PE is accompanied by hypotension or extreme hypoxemia."
Use of thrombolytics for PE is always a ballsy call. ...
A doctor acts out: He's charged with assaulting an attorney
"Pietermaritzburg attorney Renenthren Padayachee has vowed to pursue a civil claim against a former client, local doctor Aslaam Mohamed, who he has accused of assaulting him with an ashtray and chair and also biting his cheek and attempting to gouge out his eye in an attack on the attorney in his office on Friday."
The child who initially tested positive for HIV, is now negative after a confirmatory test
That's why they always follow the initial HIV test with a confirmatory Western Blot test. The specificity of an initial HIV serology is 99.7% (i.e. 0.3% chance of a false positive). It is because of that small chance of false positive that a confirmatory test is needed.
The frequency of a ...
Should pharmacists' personal moral codes should trump their professional duties?
ABC News looks at the recent controversies where pharmacists refused to dispense the morning-after pill.
A day in the life: Grand Rounds is up
The weekly best of the medical blogosphere is here a day early.
Patients sue Trover Clinic Foundation doctors, then ask for their help
Wanting it both ways: We sued you, but we still need you
"In March 2004, dozens of patients who had films re-read joined together to file a state court lawsuit that alleged, among other things, negligence, outrage and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit, still working its way through Hopkins County Circuit Court, requests punitive damages and injunctive relief.
After the patients filed the lawsuit, the Trover ...
Oops: A glitch in the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills exam erroneously fails some medical students
"Dr. Scoles said that he was personally calling those who the problem affected. The error is 'something that the organization deeply regrets, but it [uncovering the error] shows the kind of process that we're committed to, to keep checking and rechecking,' he said.
Of the 38 students affected, 14 were from U.S. ...
Can't have it both ways: Cutting Medicare reimbursement will delay adoption of EHRs
"Unless Congress reverses impending Medicare cuts, some observers fear the cuts will severely crimp physicians' investment in information technology. A recent AMA Member Connect survey found 54% of physicians would defer buying information technology if Medicare reduces rates in one year, and 67% would do so under multiple years of rate cuts."
Shoddy weekend care? A physician defends himself
"The state said in its report that nurses had tried to call Pesavento about Allen. Nurses said they did not report the situation to the surgeon's superiors because they feared they would 'get in trouble' for going over a doctor's head, according to the health department."
This is follow-up to the case where a patient died after allegedly not being ...
Kevin Pho, MD
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Warren Buffett’s prostate cancer choices aren’t right for every man
A version of this column was published on April 24, 2012 in USA Today. There has been a recent uptick of elderly men...
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Many medical decisions require shared decision making
The following column was published on April 1, 2012 in USA Today. I recently saw a middle-age man in my primary care clinic...
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Patients deserve a medical malpractice early offer
The following column was published on March 25, 2012 in the Nashua Telegraph. Medical malpractice historically has been a contentious issue. Doctors...
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Discussing whether tests actually help patients or cause more harm
The following column was published on April 11, 2012 in CNN. When you visit the doctor, chances are you are given a...
Physician
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Being a good doctor is no more an achievement than being a good Mom
At no other time in my medical training was I as confident that, with hard work and dedication, I could master the...
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The malpractice risk of volunteer medical coverage at sporting events
From Outside Online, an article about how physicians are increasingly hesitant to provide volunteer medical coverage at athletic events: "Last year, 13 Americans...
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What does a perfect pediatrics practice look like?
I had a phenomenal day in clinic yesterday. Imperfect for sure but inspiring, connected, and busy. I felt useful and like anybody...
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Tips to improve your patient satisfaction scores
Recently I was asked, “How can I improve my Press Ganey scores?” Presently this question applies mostly to hospitals as CMS is...
Patient
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What meaningful encouragement can be given to someone who is dying?
Theirs is a lonely journey; to be moving towards the separation and end of all things known and loved. Being with a...
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Health care journalists have tendencies similar to those of doctors
As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert....
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Adaptation can be painful, but it can also be a gift
Nothing will force you to live life on your own terms faster than almost losing it. In 2008, I was on fire....
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Embracing the longing without the outcome
I’m not sure when I stopped missing my husband. I suppose familiarity crept in after 7 years together and I rarely felt...
Policy
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Repairing the tear in health care’s safety net with social media
The nation’s “safety net” hospitals are designed to ensure that uninsured, lower income and indigent populations receive adequate medical care – a...
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Look to technology to reduce health costs
Technology to lower costs rather than accelerate them. Smart phones to increase physician and other providers’ productivity. Fewer primary care physicians but...
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How to save a trillion dollars in health care
It is both conventional wisdom and factual truth that, unimpeded, American healthcare cost inflation will bankrupt the United States economically, educationally, socially,...
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How the Affordable Care Act combats preventable hospital infections
As the Supreme Court deliberates the Affordable Care Act, Americans should take a closer look at the commonsense reforms embedded in the...
Tech
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EMR liability needs to go further than just the physician
This example of a disaster waiting to happen, in the form of an error-promoting CPOE, is a poster example of why the...
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AMA: Changes are needed in the stage 2 meaningful use EHR proposal
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Continuing our efforts to move medicine forward while prioritizing patient care and minimizing...
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EMRs require better user-centered design
Healthcare IT News recently asked, “Do doctors have to be typists to get MU incentives?” That question reminded me that given the...
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Electronic records don’t tell us stories that make cognitive sense
One morning recently, I found another physician standing morosely at one of the mobile computer terminals we refer to as “cows”—computers on...
Social Media
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We need to see the potential harm of social media
Prior to 1794, farms across the world could only pick cotton as fast as humanly possible. In the late 18th century, Eli Whitney...
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Why social media may not be worth it for doctors
Social media in healthcare is all the rage these days. You can’t visit even one physician-oriented website without someone breathlessly advising you...
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Transparency defines social media success for doctors
Want to understand social media? Physicians wanting to learn about social media must learn transparency. We must learn transparency on a personal...
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How Twitter was used in a potential mass casualty scenario
It was my first ER shift in charge of the resuscitation area. Needless to say, my adrenaline and nerves were firing like...
