This week’s edition of medical Grand Rounds is hosted by the famous Dr Val Jones, owner, operator and CEO of Better Health, a website that features a network of health bloggers. Better Health is well known for its curation of  “Smart Health” commentary. At first glance it looks like this week’s contributors have brought their […]
I would like to introduce you to a new medical website. It’s called MDNews.com. It’s a site about, from, and for doctors. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a doctor to enjoy and learn from it. MDNews looks pleasing to the eye, is easy to navigate, and filled with useful medical and health […]
I am in Boston for the annual Boston AF symposium. It’s a serious meeting– on the other side of the spectrum from old-school boondoggles like Echo-Hawaii or Nuclear-Vail. The sessions start at 7 and go into the night. I am sneaking a few observations in during a coffee break. For starters, if snow removal is […]
“John…Why are you going out in the cold?” “I need some stuff for work.” “Stuff?” “Pens…those cool felt tip ones that write really dark and bold.” I like it when the ‘Electrophysiology’ note stands out in the chart—like John Hancock’s signature did. Until a few months ago, a pacemaker company used to give out nifty […]
They are gathered around the back of the darkened room, standing too close together, eating hurriedly, non-enjoyably. Â A voice crackles over a 1980s-era microphone. The food is in the back, the slide projector in the front. Â One Friday a month, the doctor’s lounge is transformed into a lecture room. The retired docs looking for […]
His voice on the line was uncharacteristically shaky. “John…It was bad…It was really bad…The car crushed him…I was driving through the park and saw the whole thing.” Brad is one of many local cyclists who have benefited from the unparalleled ‘fury’ of modern-day trauma care. Brad Swope’s Story from UofL Health Care on Vimeo. The […]
Smart doctors will take help from wherever it lurks. Today, advice on doctoring came from an unlikely and well-camouflaged source. (I always ask: “where are you talking to me from?”) He was advising me from a warm cubicle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  It was a paternalistic male voice—another doctor, he said. Obviously, he was savvy, disguising […]
It beats 100,000 times per day. It pumps liters of blood per minute. If it stops, you stop, in about six seconds. For the human heart to contract this reliably, without hiccups, it requires a steady stream of nutrients. A healthy heart has clean pipes. There are two ways to keep pipes clear of blockage. […]
The best part of doctoring is its humanness. Machines cannot do it–not even Apple products. But that’s the worst part too. Since humans practice medicine, there will be ‘medical errors.’ Â And when doctors err, people–not spreadsheets or profits–are hurt. Â That’s the rub. Â Like any endeavor, the greater the reward, the greater the risk. Â […]
It will not last forever, nothing ever does. Some day I will have to find another big-pharma punching bag. It’s true; our pal dronedarone (Multaq) is back in the news again. This time the Multaq news (as reported on Cardiobrief and Pharmalot) is not about its inefficacy or Sanofi-sponsored professors, but rather concerns about it’s […]
I remember in high school, as an assignment, I wrote a letter to a prominent business person. I will try it again. In 2010, this would be an e-letter. To: J Martin CarrollCEO of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation: The makers of the recently-released exciting new oral blood-thinner, dabigatran (Pradaxa). Dear Sir, To start off on a positive […]