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Physician voices
The other day I felt like a used car salesman. I was carefully phrasing my words, picking out just the right ones -- the kind that really pack a punch -- and delivering them at the right moment, with the…
The other day I felt like a used car salesman.
I was carefully phrasing my words, picking out just the right ones — the kind that really pack a punch — and delivering them at the right moment, with the perfect momentum. I was trying to make a sale.
Now, my cadence happened to be spot on, as I approached the finish line: the part where I get to package it all up. …
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Your doctor may need lessons from a used car salesman
Physician voices
Humans need human touch Patients sometimes need a shoulder to cry on. When I say that, I normally mean it on a completely figurative level. However, at times, it needs to be interpreted differently. There are instances in a medical…
Humans need human touch
Patients sometimes need a shoulder to cry on. When I say that, I normally mean it on a completely figurative level.
However, at times, it needs to be interpreted differently. There are instances in a medical encounter where an actual shoulder could be of service — a physical crutch that takes off an emotional load — and that’s when the popular adage can be beneficially carried out in …
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The human touch in medicine: good or bad?
Social media in medicine
Fear of exposure I hear from a lot of my professional friends, especially the doctors I'm in touch with regularly, about the fear of diving in — of starting out on their own social media journey. They're watching us all…
Fear of exposure
I hear from a lot of my professional friends, especially the doctors I’m in touch with regularly, about the fear of diving in — of starting out on their own social media journey. They’re watching us all swim around them, paralyzed by the thought of even dipping in their feet. It’s OK to feel that way. We all start somewhere, and many of us have experienced the same …
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Physicians: scared of social media? Stop and dive in.
Physician voices
When preparations are underway for vaccinations to take place, my household becomes a war zone. The thought of an impending vaccine, to my boys, resembles the actual possibility of a weapons attack. It is, in essence, a weapon. It's a…
When preparations are underway for vaccinations to take place, my household becomes a war zone.
The thought of an impending vaccine, to my boys, resembles the actual possibility of a weapons attack. It is, in essence, a weapon. It’s a needle that comes your way and invades the comfort of your normally undisturbed skin surface. But it also serves a purpose — much like the police department does — to protect …
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I believe in vaccinations. And do my kids know it.
Physician voices
I've said it to my patients, and I'll say it here as well. Finding the right provider is crucial when it comes to two providers of medical care — your primary care doctor and your therapist. It makes logical sense.…
I’ve said it to my patients, and I’ll say it here as well.
Finding the right provider is crucial when it comes to two providers of medical care — your primary care doctor and your therapist.
It makes logical sense. Patients tend to see these doctors most, more than any other specialty.
Now, I can’t speak for therapy, because it’s not my field. While I do engage in a lot of one-on-one guidance …
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Your primary care doctor should be a hero: choose wisely
Conditions and diseases
The commentary below is meant to invoke meaningful discourse rather than incite an unpleasant argument. Less than a year ago, I heard Ben Stiller doling out kudos to his heroic doctor who diagnosed him with early-stage prostate cancer by using…
The commentary below is meant to invoke meaningful discourse rather than incite an unpleasant argument.
Less than a year ago, I heard Ben Stiller doling out kudos to his heroic doctor who diagnosed him with early-stage prostate cancer by using a simple, widespread screen.
What was interesting was that Stiller was actually underage. What I mean is that the star was not of age to be screened, according to current prostate cancer …
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Screening: Do you follow guidelines or your gut?
Physician voices
Back in the grueling training days of my residency, I was the first-hand victim of theft. Not the kind you see on the big screen, where you're held up at gunpoint, or the kind where your belongings get ransacked. It…
Back in the grueling training days of my residency, I was the first-hand victim of theft. Not the kind you see on the big screen, where you’re held up at gunpoint, or the kind where your belongings get ransacked. It was worse, at least in the way that it made me feel. I had my handbag stolen from me, right from its usual resting place on the shelf near my …
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A physician suffers a betrayal of trust
Physician voices
"The doctors who did this should be hanged." It's a statement the came at me with a bang. It stood out in its thread, in the accusatory way of old courtroom scenes of black and white movies, where the heroine…
“The doctors who did this should be hanged.”
It’s a statement the came at me with a bang. It stood out in its thread, in the accusatory way of old courtroom scenes of black and white movies, where the heroine dramatically screams out at the jury, seated wide-eyed in their box nearby.
But it was merely a response to a Facebook post on the topic of the opioid epidemic, typed in nonchalantly, …
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Doctors are taking the blame for the opioid epidemic. It’s time to push back.
Physician voices
The setting: an inpatient unit in the Bronx, circa 2005. I was a resident (and hence was likely disheveled, groggy or exhibiting some other outward display of exhaustion) of the internal medicine program at Albert Einstein University Medical Center/Moses Division,…
The setting: an inpatient unit in the Bronx, circa 2005.
I was a resident (and hence was likely disheveled, groggy or exhibiting some other outward display of exhaustion) of the internal medicine program at Albert Einstein University Medical Center/Moses Division, aka Montefiore. The fact that the program was considered “malignant” by those in my industry — mainly due to the strict nature of the training program — likely strengthens the possibility …
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A patient thought she knew who the real doctor was. She was wrong.
Physician voices
I’m not here to tattle. No siree, Bob. I’ll save that for my kids. But what I am here to do is spell out a story in which I ended up down in the dumps. A medical mistake happened. To…
I’m not here to tattle. No siree, Bob. I’ll save that for my kids. But what I am here to do is spell out a story in which I ended up down in the dumps.
A medical mistake happened. To me. On me.
I’ll never forget it. I can’t because I carry it with me forever.
Here’s the short of the long:
My obstetrician messed up. She took care of my pregnancy during one of the most …
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A physician was the victim of malpractice. Here’s her story.
Physician voices
I find interesting how much lies in the fate of the day's mood when it comes to forming a new patient-physician relationship. I can have one of my typical days (and thankfully this is usually the case) in which my…
I find interesting how much lies in the fate of the day’s mood when it comes to forming a new patient-physician relationship. I can have one of my typical days (and thankfully this is usually the case) in which my mood is great; I stroll into work, after having sipped an entire cup of coffee, maybe nibbled on a Moroccan cookie or two, and donned my white coat and stethoscope, …
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Meeting your new doctor can come with some baggage
Drugs and prescribing
Bacteria are rapidly becoming resistant in our antibiotic-loving society. This statement is a fact. We are facing a threat not only to our country, but to the world. I have a proposal to make: over-the-counter antibiotics. (Insert tongue-in-cheek here.) Will…
Bacteria are rapidly becoming resistant in our antibiotic-loving society. This statement is a fact. We are facing a threat not only to our country, but to the world.
I have a proposal to make: over-the-counter antibiotics.
(Insert tongue-in-cheek here.)
Will this help us deal with the falsely popular notion that antibiotics are a cure-all? I don’t know, but here’s something I do. I’ve had patients storm out because I’ve said no, and I …
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Why not make antibiotics over the counter?
Social media in medicine
There’s an old saying from the country where my mother was born relating to certain situations in which we are helpless. “You have to prove your sister is a not prostitute when you don’t even have a sister.” It seemed…
There’s an old saying from the country where my mother was born relating to certain situations in which we are helpless. “You have to prove your sister is a not prostitute when you don’t even have a sister.” It seemed rough to me at first, when I heard it. But when I gave it some thought, it actually made sense and scared me at the same time.
I woke up this …
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There are two sides to every story. Unless it’s on Facebook.
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