On the way home from the American College of Cardiology meeting this spring, I wrote a post about the lack of real progress in Cardiology. I got to thinking: Here I was attending major meetings all over the world, and few, if any, studies struck me as game-changers. Everything seemed so painfully incremental. So many […]
Category: Doctoring
Let’s be honest: If you are bold enough to hit the ‘publish’ button, it’s normal to care what readers think. I write about Medicine; I like doctors; I respect doctors. So it matters how colleagues react to my words. I was both proud and concerned when the Greater Louisville Medical Society decided to republish my […]
Reform of healthcare in the United States is infinitely complex. Millions of words have been written. The noise drowns out the signal. It’s rare therefore that one paragraph could sum up the problem so concisely. It came from Edward Davies, an editor at the British Medical Journal. He was quoting journalist Owen Dwyer who was […]
On day 1 of ObamaCare, the headline in our paper said “SHUTDOWN.” It’s here; it’s really here. You might be wondering what’s been going on in the hospital or office–the contact points where healthcare actually happens. The funny thing is: nothing seems any different. And…this is the problem with ObamaCare. It hasn’t, won’t, or perhaps […]
As some of you may know, theHeart.org has merged with Medscape Cardiology. This will be my first post on the new site. Dr Donald Low was a prominent Canadian physician. When Toronto faced a deadly SARS outbreak a decade ago, Dr Low was a voice of calm and reason. His research in cell signaling and […]
Categories
Perspective…
Doctoring is a great job. It’s a privilege to serve with and for other people. Sadly, the impermanence of it all is often forgotten. This brings it back. I don’t know about you, but I find myself drawn to things that bring me back to the present moment. JMM P.S. Fellow electrophysiologist Wayne (@Toaster_Pastry) is […]
Perhaps writing about health matters from the perspective of a cardiologist/bike racer is a little like parenting: At times the message seems less than compassionate, even though it’s born out of concern for others, knowledge and a tincture of middle-age experience. The many excellent comments on my recent telomere/heart-health post stirred me to write a […]
Flexibility… -Bend easy without breaking. -The ability to be easily modified. -Willingness to change or compromise. Social media physician leader Dr. Bryan Vartabedian wrote a post last week in which he called flexibility a necessary skill of the 21st century doctor. He got the idea from another physician leader, Dr. Eric Topol. I’ve been thinking […]
“Why don’t we die the way we say we want to die? In part because we say we want good deaths but act as if we won’t die at all.†Katy Butler, WSJ There is a humanitarian crisis unfolding right now in nearly every hospital in this nation. Aggressive life-prolonging care of the elderly too […]
On the last day of ESC2013 I attended a press conference entitled Update in Rhythmology. The purpose was to highlight four rhythm-related studies released at ESC2103. The most noteworthy of the four abstracts involved gender-related issues in atrial fibrillation therapy. French researchers used a 1.6 million patient database (including 1200 French GPs) to come up […]
Okay, I’m getting the hang of this. The Monday morning and evening commute in Amsterdam is something special. You talk about focus. It requires laser-like focus. You’ve got bikes, narrow lanes, buses, trams, pedestrians and tourists. Still though, traveling 6k by bike took 15 minutes; a cab from the convention center, more than 30. I […]