Doctors order too many tests.
That's not a surprise for regular readers of this site, but even the physicians themselves think so.
A recent survey reported that, "42% of the 627 respondents believed the patients in their own practice were getting too much care. Just 6% of doctors believed their patients were getting too little care ... And 28% of ...
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Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has been in the health care headlines recently, saying the HPV vaccine was dangerous.
Although doctors and other health experts, along with editorials in major newspapers, rebutted her claims immediately, they didn't stand a chance.
The damage was already done.
A piece from the New York Times explores the power both celebrities and politicians have when it ...
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Physicians are human, like everyone else.
And when things go wrong, like making a medical error or having a patient die, they suffer like most people would.
Pauline Chen writes about Schwartz Rounds in the New York Times, where, in a confidential environment, doctors and other health professionals can discuss challenging cases.
As Dr. Chen writes, "the discussions that ensue ...
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A recent study from Health Affairs took aim at physician salaries.
Well, not exactly their salaries, but fees. It's a subtle difference, but that nuance is lost in the mainstream media narrative.
According to the study, "American primary care and orthopedic physicians are paid more for each service than are their counterparts in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United ...
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What would happen to physician salaries if the United States adopted a single payer system?
The concept of a single payer system is a progressive ideal, and has been vociferously pursued by some left-leaning physician groups. For a variety of reasons, not least of which is the political climate in our country, I think the chances of single payer ...
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I read somewhere in the comments here something to the effect of this: "Physicians are only good for one thing: doctoring."
That would explain the general ineptitude of many physicians when it comes to skills outside medicine, such as political lobbying, or business and personal finance decisions.
The New York Times has written a helpful column that's required reading for any ...
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As access to medical information has become more common, patients are gaining empowerment in their medical care.
And rightly so. Gone are the days where medical decisions are paternalistic in nature, with the physician leading, and the patient following. Today, an ideal medical decision has input from both patient and provider.
But, have we gone too far the other way?
In ...
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Every year, according to a recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine, a typical physician has about a 7% chance of being sued for medical malpractice.
Surgeons almost certainly will face a malpractice claim sometime during their career. Neurosurgeons, for instance, have a 19.1% chance of being sued in a given year, while that number is 18.9% ...
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Darshak Sanghavi recently wrote an excellent piece in the New York Times summarizing the controversy over resident work hours.
The topic has been discussed here frequently, with ramifications ranging from the fact that errors arising from patient handoffs negate any benefit gained from restricting work hours, to surgeons not accumulating enough experience during their work hour-restricted training.
I've ...
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With the patent for Lipitor expiring, Pfizer is considering selling an OTC version of the statin.
It's generated a firestorm of debate, with doctors speculating on the impact for patients.
According to Pharmalot, "an OTC version would allow Pfizer to capture some of the sales that will be lost when the Lipitor patent expires in November. In fact, Pfizer execs recently ...
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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
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