In the wake of the Newtown shootings, as a country we are all taking a step back, looking at our laws and our policies and thinking about what we can do to prevent unspeakable tragedies like the deaths of those children from happening again.
I am not a gun owner and never will be, but I am not advocating getting rid of all the guns. I totally get that there are ...
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Having married parents is good for children. That's why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) thinks that same-sex couples should be able to marry.
In a policy statement, that's exactly what they said. It's going to put the AAP in the middle of controversy--but it was the right thing to do for children.
There are currently almost 2 million children being raised by gay and lesbian parents in the United ...
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Sometimes, when a parent tells me about something that happened with their child, I think (and say, as nicely as I can): Why didn't they call right away?
And sometimes, when I'm talking to a parent or seeing their child in the office, I think (but don't say): Why did they call about this?
It can be really hard to know when to call the doctor.
It's hard because sometimes you plain old ...
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Your child has an earache. You are worried it is an ear infection. You call the doctor and make an appointment. After all, he needs antibiotics, right?
Maybe not.
We have a real problem of antibiotic overuse in our country--and because we are overusing our antibiotics, many bacteria are getting smarter and stronger. Because ear infections is the diagnosis that kids in the United ...
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Recently I've been wondering if pediatricians are out of touch when it comes to media and kids.
Our messaging is pretty straightforward: turn it off. The recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that children under the age of 2 should not watch TV at all, and everyone else should watch no more than 2 hours a day. And when we talk ...
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Lots of people are using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) these days—things like vitamins, homeopathic or herbal medicine, chiropractors, acupuncture or massage therapy. But they don’t always tell their doctors about it.
In a study in the journal Pediatrics, researchers in Canada found that among kids with chronic health problems, 64.5 percent of them were using some form of CAM—but more than a third didn’t tell their doctor. That’s ...
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Here in the Boston area, we’ve all been shaken by the news that a known sexual offender raped and molested children for years at a daycare just north of the city—even babies. It’s beyond horrible. For those with a child in daycare, this story is especially terrifying. You can’t help thinking: could this happen to my child?
Ultimately, the sad truth is that we can’t always stop these things ...
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For around four years in a row, starting around 1996, my husband and I rented one of those inflatable bouncy houses for my son’s birthday party every August. We invited a whole bunch of his friends and cousins to bounce in it for a few hours (and let them play in the sprinkler and fed them cake). Nobody got hurt.
Which, in retrospect, ...
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When it comes to getting parents to cut back on their kids' screen time, we doctors aren't doing such a great job.
Like most of my colleagues, I talk about screen time at almost all checkups. I talk about how too much screen time makes a kid more likely to be overweight and have behavioral problems. With the parents of babies and ...
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Your child has a rash and is acting a little sick. You reach for your phone--not to call the doctor, but to look up rashes on Google or your symptom checker app.
This, according to the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, is the direction we are moving. As a doctor, I think it's great.
In May ...
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"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
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Past 6 Months
Dear lawmakers: This is what it’s like to be a doctor today
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Jeffrey Parks, MD | PhysicianIf I’m wrong about guns, can you please explain why?
Claire McCarthy, MD | PhysicianPrimary care doctors may no longer be needed
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Kevin Pho, MD | Kevin's Take