You can be for freedom. You can be for smaller government that intrudes less. You can be for lower taxes. You can be for most anything, but if you are interested in improving the sagging health of American citizens, get on Michael Bloomberg’s wheel. Today, as reported in the WSJ, NYC mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has […]
Author: Dr John
All is well. It is a great day. You are riding smoothly with friends along a rolling hillside road. It is a peaceful spring morning; there is steam floating off the farmer’s pond, the warmth of the sun warms your body. For the moment life is just right. Then it is not. Suddenly, without warning […]
Sudden death in a young athlete is surely a tragic event. Sadly, many of the afflicted had an underlying undiagnosed heart anomaly that might have been detected with a screening ECG. On the surface, the idea seems so simple: just add an ECG to the routine pre-sport’s history and physical exam. ECGs are painless, non-invasive […]
Cardiac devices are battery powered. Like your TV remote, they require change–every 5-10 years or so. No worries…”it’s just a generator change” is a phrase one hears frequently in the cath lab. They are supposed to be easy cases. But they are not always. And here is more recent evidence that the simple pacemaker/defibrillator replacement […]
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The most noble Nobel…
He is perfectly soft, easy to hold. He is warm, infectiously so, of body and soul. He smiles, a lot. He cries, just a little. He soothes the hearts of many. Soon, he will throw a ball, spell a word, write a story, kiss a girl, walk to class on a crisp autumn morning, teach […]
It hurts…a bunch. Nothing punches the heart harder than grief can. And few things in life cause more grief than suicide. In my professional life, I have seen suicide cause the ‘broken heart syndrome,’ and unfortunately, in my personal life I have felt the awfulness of grief’s tug on my own heart, at the funeral […]
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Dear Nurses…Thanks
This came today from a social media stream. It was penned by a hard-working conscientious nurse. “Somewhere right now, a nurse is getting yelled at for being late with meds, holding their bladder because they don’t have time to pee, starving cause they missed lunch, being puked on, pooped on, bled on, yelled at, and […]
Hey cyclists, You are fit bunch. Near perfect. You eat right, exercise bunches and surely do not smoke. The “side effects” of such a focused lifestyle is good blood pressure, low cholesterol and smooth arteries. Congratulations. Unfortunately, there is one component of health you cannot control–your parents, your DNA. In heart disease and many cancers […]
True or False: Local TV “health reporting” is a reliable source of medical information? Let me tell you a story, as a hint. Just when one thinks mainstream media cannot sink much lower, we witness this fantastically misleading and sophomoric reporting, on the complex treatment options for atrial fibrillation. Their moniker says that they are “working for […]
“Did you sign those (three) consents?” “This patient needs a short form; your office letter was done 30 days and one hour ago.” (just over the legal limit) “The insurance ‘people’ in area code (***) denied the stress test.” “Mr Smith’s son, an alternative medicine specialist in California wants a phone call to discuss herbal […]
“I’ve read that…” “Did you hear about…” “So and so (publication) said this…” These days, medical information is like Kudzu in the Smoky mountains. But just a few years ago, or so it seems, researching a medical topic took personal initiative and a not inconsequential time commitment. Now, on an elevator at work with a […]