Conditions

Evolution of targeted cancer therapies: a radiation oncologist’s perspective

Conditions
April 2, 2024

On July 1, 1987, I started treating cancer patients as a full-time radiation oncologist – a cancer specialist who uses radiation therapy to help cancer patients beat their disease. Now, nearly 37 years later, I have the privilege of caring for cancer patients at a cancer center. Nearly every type of cancer is treated differently; for example, breast cancer is treated differently than colon cancer, which is treated differently than …

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Hospital retaliation and my fight for patient rights

Conditions
April 1, 2024

I found myself compelled into the complex world of health care advocacy under extraordinary circumstances last year when I went to my university administration to request a table to do a free speech petition because of a personal and troubling experience. My mother, a respected pediatric intensive care doctor, had been abruptly terminated from her workplace after she raised concerns about patient safety.

Throughout my studies as an undergraduate, I frequently …

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The battle of the bulge: The struggle is real

Conditions
March 30, 2024

The economic impact of obesity looms large, casting a shadow over both individual well-being and national prosperity. Beyond the personal struggles and societal pressures surrounding weight management, the financial ramifications of obesity ripple through health care systems, labor markets, and various sectors of the economy. In the United States alone, the annual health care costs attributed to obesity-related conditions soar into the hundreds of billions of dollars, placing a significant …

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Addressing mental health in the medical field

Conditions
March 29, 2024

In the heart of a bustling hospital, where the relentless pace of saving lives never wanes, lies an unseen battle that rages quietly within the souls of those who care for us. Health care professionals, heralded as heroes, especially in the wake of a global pandemic, face an array of mental health challenges, often overlooked and underaddressed. This article delves into the psychological toll of working in high-stress medical environments …

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Real pain deserves real treatment

Conditions
March 29, 2024

When a patient comes to us and describes confusing symptoms that don’t seem to fit into any immediate category, we can see it in two different ways: as a challenge, we can rise to, a riddle to solve … or we can see it as an opportunity to denigrate the patient, to imply that they are malingering or that it’s “all in their head.” This tendency is amplified when we …

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How my sister’s rights were taken away, like thousands of others with developmental disabilities

Conditions
March 29, 2024

Teresa has Down syndrome and was 49 when the capacity assessment took place in Ontario.

I saw her as happy, healthy, and active. She enjoyed living nearby with my 91-year-old father, who often said, “We’re a team. We help each other.”

But that’s not how the social worker saw her.

Teresa didn’t understand what the assessment was for, and according to the records, she did not agree to be …

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Can you predict Alzheimer’s? New research on early detection.

Conditions
March 27, 2024

You can’t treat something until you know it’s there. Currently, there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but earlier diagnosis may lead to better understanding of how the disease inexorably progresses, which in turn may lead to prevention of AD and ultimately eradication of this horrific scourge. The latest breakthroughs in earlier diagnosis and even perhaps pre-diagnosis have involved lumbar punctures, brain MRIs, eye exams, and blood tests.

A 2024 study, …

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Wendy Williams’s battle with health and the fragility of success

Conditions
March 26, 2024

Lifetime recently premiered the documentary Where is Wendy Williams? This four-part special delves into the captivating life and career of Wendy Williams, the once dynamic 59-year-old American broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Renowned for hosting the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, from 2008 to 2021, Williams has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry.

The documentary follows Williams’s journey to revive her career after health concerns …

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A potential discovery of highly fatal SARS coronavirus?

Conditions
March 23, 2024

Has a highly fatal SARS coronavirus already been discovered? Maybe yes, but just its report is highly concerning. On January 4, 2024, a letter to the editor was uploaded to a preprint server which gave too few details but described a 100 percent fatal virus in genetically modified mice. The modifications made these mice similar to humans by adding a human ACE2 receptor to their cells, including in …

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Understanding seasonal affective disorder: more than just winter blues

Conditions
March 21, 2024

As the summer sun bids its farewell, a distinct group of people seem to “fall back” as a mysterious change begins to take hold. Several individuals get caught in the embrace of the transitions of fall and winter, revealing a shift between their mood and energy levels. Ever felt a subtle dip in energy, a touch of melancholy, or an unexpected irritability as the days grow shorter? I’m here to …

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Shedding some weight on the health care crisis

Conditions
March 21, 2024

In today’s world, the term “obesity” is more than just a medical diagnosis—it’s a complex issue intertwined with personal experiences, societal norms, and systemic challenges. As a seasoned family doctor, I’ve witnessed firsthand the multifaceted nature of obesity and its profound impact on individuals’ lives. But beyond the clinical observations, I carry a personal history marked by struggles with weight and body image.

I’m a family doctor, and I have been …

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Women of color face biases in endometriosis diagnosis and surgical treatment

Conditions
March 21, 2024

March is endometriosis awareness month. Endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus, affects 1 in 10 women, or 190 million individuals worldwide. Although endometriosis leads to chronic pain and fertility issues and can impact bowel, urinary, and sexual function, it may take up to 7 to 10 years after symptoms appear to be diagnosed …

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Beyond the workout: the hidden struggle of diabetic gastroparesis

Conditions
March 21, 2024

The final three minutes of my hour-long elliptical workout were not easy. Pain spread across my stomach, causing me to row in a half-sitting motion, and my chest vacillated between violent coughs and the sorts of deep breaths people take when they think they’ve seen a ghost. Perspiration fell from my shirtless torso to the garage floor. The amount of sweat was not the kind my body produces from exercise. …

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Sepsis protocols coupled with rapid host response technologies are the key to improving patient outcomes

Conditions
March 20, 2024

Patients come into the emergency department (ED) with symptoms, not diagnoses. That’s when time is of the essence. Clinicians must quickly triage patients and establish an appropriate care pathway to obtain the best possible outcome. Most patients entering the ED are time-sensitive, requiring clear protocols for care. However, even some of the deadliest conditions still lack the necessary data, tools, and standards to quickly diagnose and effectively treat patients.

Over the …

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A doctor’s journey: from student to healer, facing a mentor’s illness

Conditions
March 20, 2024

I had a teacher in my third year of med school. His name was Dr. T. He taught us pediatrics. At that time, he was the head of the department of pediatrics in the busiest teaching hospital in our city, where I was working. Every day, hundreds of children from far-flung areas are referred to our hospital with complications due to suboptimal treatment received in their local areas, as we …

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Assisted suicide: Safeguards debated as bioethicist warns of unintended consequences

Conditions
March 19, 2024

At a time when many states are considering assisted suicide legislation, I was interested to encounter the perspective of the well-known bioethicist Arthur Caplan who recently expressed his support for these laws on these pages.

While I appreciate Caplan’s endorsement of protecting doctors’ ability to refuse, as a matter of conscience, to participate in assisted death, I admire his insistence on restrictions or safeguards within these laws to …

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Inside the cancer waiting room where hope hangs in the balance

Conditions
March 17, 2024

I sat there, frozen in time, full of fear, full of anxiety. Waiting for my time to “face the music,” but this wasn’t a dance party.

My fellow patients, complete strangers, were seated about me, and each of us kept a safe distance apart from each other—a carry-over from the pandemic, I guess. All of us waiting to get our news—a thumbs up or thumbs down.

For me, it is a yearly …

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From overdose to ICU: a doctor’s battle for a young woman’s life

Conditions
March 13, 2024

An excerpt from Adventures of an American Medical Student.

I can still remember Ms. Osborne’s long, messy, brown hair and pale, attractive face like it was yesterday. She was young, and she presented to the Brighton Medical Center Emergency Department (ED) unconscious after an OxyContin overdose. I saw her as soon as she arrived with Brent Johnson, a young, trim, handsome MD who was wearing hunter green scrubs embroidered with …

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The humorous essay that predicted today’s medical anxiety epidemic

Conditions
March 10, 2024

In elementary school, we read an essay named “The Man Who Was a Hospital” by Jerome K. Jerome. This is a humorous essay in which the writer describes his misadventure in a humorous way. He says that once, he was reading a liver pill circular when he suspected that his liver was out of order. He went to the British Museum Library to study the details of liver disease. He …

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America’s nurses have PTSD: Will anyone listen to them?

Conditions
March 9, 2024

My first clinical rotation as a nursing student was on the same floor where my mother died of cancer. And my very first patient was a young Hispanic man with four children. I was asked to tell him that he had pancreatic cancer and very little time left. I was 21 years old and the only Spanish speaker on the floor – back in those days, interpretive services were rarely …

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CME Spotlights