A doctor tries to smuggle ecstasy by taping the drugs to his scrotum.
May 2006
All Stories
Today’s car crashes into doctor’s office story
It seems to be a weekly occurrence. There should be a study done about this.
Dr. Bennett redux
Another obese patient has his feelings hurt:
When the surgeon came in, he asked if I knew why my back was hurting. I told him that for 30 years, I'd had a job lifting heavy things and it had taken its toll. The doctor looked at me and said, "I think you have always eaten too much."
I told him most of my family was built large. He said, ...
Doctors gone wild 8
It's been awhile since we've had a story worthy of "Doctors gone wild":
A 55-year-old doctor has been released from jail following his arrest for investigation of assaulting an elderly man and kicking his dog, authorities said Thursday.
Bruce Allen Runyon of Redlands was arrested Tuesday at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he teaches medicine. He was freed after posting $50,000 bail, sheriff's Det. Michael Pelky said ...
Provocative advertising from the American Cancer Society
Hey, it worked:
A provocative advertisement featuring a bright red push-up bra symbolized the fierce opposition to a small business health insurance bill that collapsed in the Senate on Thursday.
The advertisement, by the American Cancer Society, seemed to pop off the pages of newspapers and Internet screens for the past week in a three-dimensional way. "Don't Let the U.S. Senate Leave Women Exposed," it warned of the ...
Should the sick and elderly get flu vaccine first?
A bioethicist says no:
"Death seems more tragic when a child or young adult dies than an elderly person -- not because the lives of older people are less valuable, but because the younger person has not had the opportunity to live and develop through all stages of life," Drs. Ezekiel Emanuel and Alan Wertheimer wrote for today's issue of the journal Science.
The Blog That Ate Manhattan is no more
Sad to see her go. (via shrinkette)
Once again, primary care leaders are out of touch
I harped on this before, now another physician feels the same way:
As a practicing general internist, I feel like an endangered species.
I am in my mid-50s, and planning my retirement. I have watched many of my colleagues leave the practice of general internal medicine, and I have seen few younger colleagues replace them.
There are many factors that cause general internists to leave the practice, ...
Loathing, then admiring, illegal immigrants
Great story from the WSJ.
Google Health, sort of
It's part of Google Co-op. MedGadget with more details.
A lawyer argues for more malpractice lawsuits
A view from the other side (NEJM - subscription required). This time it's George Annas, the medical ethicist and JD from Boston, with a dissenting view on the malpractice problem:
Like most defendants in tort litigation, physicians have always despised malpractice suits. Even those who consider litigation appropriate in cases of serious injury to a patient still think of the system as fundamentally flawed and corrupt. But modifying ...
Going too far with pandemic planning?
This doctor wants the funds diverted to more common problems, like cancer:
A senior medical health officer from B.C. has issued a warning that too much money and resources are being poured into pandemic planning, when the real threat is low.
Speaking at a disaster forum in Banff, Dr. John Blatherwick said the $400 million set aside in last week's federal budget for pandemic planning would be better spent ...
Matthew Holt is sad about the obsession with malpractice
He laments:
People, malpractice is one percent of the dollars, and it's about 17th on the list of major health care problems and issues we face in this country! It's the abortion issue of health care - polarizing way way beyond it's importance.Deal with it. With 40 percent of malpractice cases being baseless, there is certainly reason for the obsession with malpractice. When physicians let ...
A new anti-smoking drug
This one has potential, unlike Pfizer's inhaled-insulin dog Exubera:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it approved Pfizer's Chantix tablet to help cigarette smokers stop smoking.
The active ingredient in Chantix, varenicline tartrate, acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine, the FDA said.
The drug may help smokers trying to kick the habit by providing some nicotine effects to ease the withdrawal symptoms, ...
Mayo Clinic wants a "6th vital sign"
Just how many do we need?
For a host of reasons, at least half of patients fail to comply with the treatments their doctors prescribe. Dr. Edward C. Rosenow III of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine calls compliance "the sixth vital sign," as important as respiration, heart rate, temperature, blood pressure and pain in evaluating a patient's medical status.
Movies don’t get coma right
Some of "coma effects" probably doesn't film well:
Not showing typical coma-related effects such as muscle wasting, bed sores and incontinence may be a conscious decision on the part of filmmakers to "maximize entertainment but is a disservice to the viewer," they write in the journal Neurology.
Almost half of malpractice cases are frivolous
Both sides of the tort reform debate are using this study as ammunition:
About 40 percent of the medical malpractice cases filed in the United States are groundless, according to a Harvard analysis of the hotly debated issue that pits trial lawyers against doctors, with lawmakers in the middle.
Many of the lawsuits analyzed contained no evidence that a medical error was committed or that the patient ...
Dude, you need to get a life
This doc goes overboard while on vacation:
Even when I'm on vacation, I can manage my patient's care thanks to a program called pcAnywhere that gives me remote access to the office network. When I was in Aruba with my family last year, I used pcAnywhere to view lab results in my EHR and prescribe medications.
Microsoft’s EMR
Microsoft Word that is. This physician explains how he does it.
The sad case of a psychotherapist duped by the Nigerian e-mail scam
Fascinating story from the New Yorker. (via kottke.org)
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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How we deliver bad news is critical to how families deal with grief
As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during...
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His father’s suffering had already been too great
He looked dead. The paramedics brought him down the hall toward one of my critical care beds, and for a moment I...
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Diversity provides color to the tapestry of human experience
I was recently appointed the Assistant Director of the Yale Cancer Center with the portfolio of Diversity/Disparities. While I’m not sure I’m...
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Necessary is a word best defined when looking back in time
How do you define a “good” doc? I was reading the patient responses to an article here on KevinMD.com and was saddened...
Patient
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How death can be a beautiful experience
I was honored to be part of a beautiful experience in late January of 2011. It was the death of my mother-in-law...
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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....
Policy
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Hospitals around the world aim to remain relevant to patients
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." So begins a story called A Tale of Two...
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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,...
Tech
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Doctors, use Google to get more patients in less than 7 minutes
Every month, hundreds of thousands of people look for a doctor on Google. As an amazing practitioner, your site deserves to be...
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The user interface for EHRs should be uniform
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the physician’s office were the tall cabinets filled with manila folders, tabbed with...
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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...
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...
