Surgery

Institutional distrust in health care: Why a doctor lost faith

Physician

March 24, 2026

Faith implies trust: confidence in an idea, a system, or a set of principles. In religion, it often requires adherence to divine authority, shaped by interpretation and tradition. Over time, those traditions can harden into dogma, discouraging curiosity and resisting ideas that challenge the prevailing worldview. This is not unique to religion. Any system that depends on belief risks the same fate.

When contradictions within a belief system become impossible to …

The sensing gap: Why medical AI misses critical diagnoses

John C. Ferguson, MD

Conditions

March 9, 2026

The patient walked into the ER obtunded, breathing deep and fast, blood sugar over 400. Classic diabetic ketoacidosis. She had been symptomatic for three days.

Three days earlier, she had asked ChatGPT about her symptoms: excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue. The AI told her it was “probably related to dehydration and stress” and recommended increasing fluid intake and rest. It suggested calling her doctor “if symptoms don’t improve in a few …

The hidden toll of physician regulatory investigations

Jean Paul Brutus, MD

Physician

February 28, 2026

I have spent my career believing in systems. As physicians, we are trained to trust oversight. We are taught that regulatory bodies exist to protect patients, maintain standards, and intervene when care falls below acceptable levels. We are taught that if we act ethically, document carefully, and prioritize patients, the system will ultimately be fair. What we are not trained for is what happens when that power becomes opaque.

Over the …

From glucose to vascular health: the future of diabetes care

Palma Shaw, MD

Conditions

February 25, 2026

Historically, diabetes management focused on blood glucose control and preventing severe complications such as neuropathy and amputation. Over the past two decades, this limited view has proven insufficient for long-term health. Many now emphasize risk factor management, lifestyle changes, and early screening instead of crisis response.

The vascular health risk of a diabetes surge

Diabetes is an epidemic: In the last decade alone, the number of adults living with the disease globally …

The vascular surgeon shortage: Why amputations are rising

Daniel Torrent, MD

Conditions

February 24, 2026

Steven couldn’t remember when he first noticed the spot on his toe, only that it began as a blister a few weeks earlier. He finally saw his doctor, but only when the entire toe had turned black. His doctor referred him to me, but he missed the appointment because the drive was 90 minutes, and he couldn’t take the day off work.

Two weeks later, half of his foot was dead, …

Surgical practice efficiency: How to fix a broken system

Paul Toomey, MD

Physician

February 23, 2026

For years, patients did not complain about their surgical care. They complained about not getting calls back.

The frustrating part was that my staff was calling them back. Messages were left. Voicemails filled up. Phone trees were in place. And still, patients felt ignored, staff felt defensive, and I found myself on a constant apology tour.

I assumed this was just how modern medical offices worked.

We had three people answering phones. We …

Future of AI in medicine: Will algorithms replace doctors?

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

February 22, 2026

I recently wrote a four-part series examining AI and the future of medicine. The response confirmed something important. Physicians are not merely curious about artificial intelligence. They are unsettled. The headlines are loud. Automation. Disruption. Replacement. It is reasonable to ask whether doctors will lose jobs, whether surgeons will be replaced, whether this is the beginning of a profession fundamentally reshaped.

The answers are neither triumphalist nor catastrophic. AI replaces tasks. …

Early screening saves limbs from silent vascular disease [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 18, 2026

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Postdoctoral researcher Wei Zhang discusses the article “Peripheral artery disease prevention: Saving limbs and lives.” Wei explains how peripheral artery disease acts as a silent burden on the “life-highway” vessels of …

How naming grief can restore meaning in medical practice

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

February 17, 2026

Almost every day, a physician says to me some version of the same sentence.

It may sound like frustration about metrics. Or exhaustion. Or administrative opacity. But beneath it is something more elemental:

“I am grieving what I hoped medicine would be.”

When that sentence is spoken plainly, without defensiveness, something shifts.

The suffering moves from defect to meaning.

Grief, in existential thought, is not weakness. It is evidence of attachment. We grieve what we …

Mobile wound care in 2026: Navigating regulatory pressures

John F. Curtis IV, MD

Conditions

February 15, 2026

I practice mobile wound care because it works. Treating chronic wounds in patients’ homes, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living settings improves adherence, reduces missed visits, and often prevents avoidable hospitalizations. For medically complex patients, mobile wound care is not a convenience; it is frequently the only viable model.

But in 2026, mobile wound care is under sustained pressure. Lower local coverage determinations (LCDs), intensified CMS surveillance, and expanding documentation requirements …

Physician wellness theater: Why pizza parties do not fix burnout

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

February 12, 2026

There are resilience workshops. Mindfulness apps. Yoga sessions scheduled between clinics. Burnout surveys. Pizza in the call room on Doctor’s Day.

There is nothing wrong with any of these efforts. Some are thoughtful. A few are genuinely helpful.

Yet many physicians feel a quiet unease. A sense that something important is being performed rather than addressed.

I have come to think of this as wellness theater.

By this, I mean programs that signal concern …

The surgical safety checklist: Why silence is the real enemy

Brooke Buckley, MD, MBA

Physician

February 5, 2026

There is a moment in the operating room so brief it almost disappears.

Names are spoken. Roles clarified. A question offered into the air: Does anyone see something we don’t?

For a heartbeat, hierarchy loosens. For a breath, the room remembers it is made of humans. That is the moment the checklist was built for. Not because surgeons forget steps, but because under pressure, even the best of us forget how to …

Why organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast in health care

Jeffry A. Peters, MBA

Conditions

January 22, 2026

Eighteen months ago, I learned something every patient hopes never to hear: that my cancer had returned. Years earlier, I had been treated successfully for prostate cancer. When my PSA began to rise again, I knew something was wrong. It took persistence and more than a few second opinions to confirm what my instincts already told me.

That journey eventually led me to a leading cancer center. I had already seen …

The economics of prevention: Why an ounce is worth a pound

Joshua Mirrer, MD

Conditions

January 21, 2026

We repeat the phrase “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” as if it were a folksy reminder to eat better or get a flu shot. But taken seriously, it is not a medical cliché. It is an economic law. And it exposes a devastating flaw in how modern societies choose to spend money.

Prevention is not the opposite of cure. Cure is essential, lifesaving, and often extraordinary. …

Why Brooklyn’s aging population needs more vascular health specialists

Anil Hingorani, MD

Conditions

January 17, 2026

When I began my surgical training in the 1990s, vascular surgery looked very different than what it does today. At that time, only a small number of physicians specialized in treating blood vessel diseases, and even fewer practiced in Brooklyn. I chose to complete my education and surgical training here in New York so I could stay rooted in the community I care most about. As the second board-certified vascular …

The decline of professionalism in medicine: a structural diagnosis

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

January 15, 2026

Most physicians sense it, even if they struggle to name it.

Something fundamental has changed in medicine. Not the science. Not the patients. Not even, at root, the doctors themselves. What has changed is the status of medicine as a profession, and with it, the psychological footing that once made the work bearable.

For much of the last century, medicine functioned as a profession in the classical sense. That meant more than …

Why a nice surgeon might actually be a better surgeon

Sierra Grasso, MD

Physician

January 8, 2026

“If you ask what they like about their surgeon and they only say they are nice? I don’t want a nice person.” This sentiment comes from Dr. Oz, a boarded and licensed thoracic surgeon, and was posed to the house of medicine at the 2025 House of Delegates Interim Meeting.

I have grappled with what being a good surgeon means to me. Our training would have us believe that a good …

Moral dilemmas in medicine: Why some problems have no solutions

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

December 28, 2025

Every now and then I go back to a book I read decades ago. Sometimes it feels dated, a period piece. Sometimes it sounds uncannily current, as if it has been waiting. And sometimes it does both at once, which is more unsettling.

Recently I reread Moral Dilemmas in Medicine, first published in 1975. I read it as a younger physician, still believing that if you learned enough and tried …

Saving limbs from the silent threat of peripheral artery disease [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 24, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Vascular surgeon Xzabia Caliste discusses her article, “The silent disease causing 400 amputations daily.” She shares the heartbreaking personal story of witnessing both her aunt and uncle lose their limbs to peripheral …

Why fee-for-service reform is needed

Sarah Matt, MD, MBA

Physician

December 10, 2025

You just saved a patient an emergency room visit with a three-minute portal message. You reviewed their connected blood pressure cuff data, saw a concerning trend, and tweaked their medication. It was efficient, high-quality, proactive care.

Your reward? Zero dollars.

Worse than that, your contribution was invisible. It didn’t count toward your productivity. It didn’t show up on a dashboard. In the eyes of our current health care system, that high-value interaction …

Read more…

Why fee-for-service reform is needed

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