Will he get to play, or not? Dear Coach, (or administrator, or secretary, or school legal department.) I have seen and examined, Mr. “Joe Teen.” (name changed for HIPPA) He came to me for a school physical because he is deathly embarrassed over the check for inguinal hernias. He is a healthy teen. This I […]
Category: General Medicine
Possessing great intelligence is not a guarantee for being right. Judges and professors are surely smart, but the quagmire that is the obesity epidemic can fell the smartest of the smart. So it is when a professor of public policy and a famous federal circuit judge, author and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago […]
In cancer treatment, detection of a tumor in an early stage markedly increases the chance of favorable outcomes. Can the much-maligned blood thinner, warfarin, occasionally help in early detection of cancer? Few pharmacologic agents receive more bad press than warfarin. Stories, which are too numerous to count, like “Did warfarin kill my father,” can […]
Statin drugs are in the news. The real truth is coming out. The truth that statin drugs (Zocor, Lipitor, Crestor are a few of the more recognizable names) are much more than simple cholesterol lowering agents. This very informative WSJ piece presents the thesis–first published by renowned experts in the Annals of Internal Medicine this […]
When does Medicine in America rock? When things like this happens… The call came during one of the earlier cases to see this patient who had complete AV block. As her BP was normal, the report described her as“stable.” (Note: cardiac output requires an adequate heart rate, so just because one’s BP is stable, does […]
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On a lighter note… Many years ago, in medical school there were a brave few who–for generous compensation–agreed to participate in various drug trials. They were mysteriously sequestered and given various potions and elixirs and then poked and prodded. Here would have been a far more interesting trial to have been a subject of study. […]
In medical practice, the words, “in my experience,” or “this is the way we have done it forever,” are scary. Do these words imply an out of date doctor who fails to embrace the new, or is it really true that older less expensive therapy is still better–like Classic Coke. So much of medical dogma lingers […]
He seeks me out for another opinion about his atrial fibrillation. This is good. “Doc, you know I had one of those ablation procedures (at another hospital) last year. It hasn’t seemed to work, as I am having lots of AF.” About that time, my MA comes in the room with a copy of the […]
Do doctors know whether their therapies really work? We are doctors. We know. Don’t we? Wide variations in the application of medical treatments often differ greatly, sometimes solely by adjoining county or state line. This shouldn’t be. That a place of residence, not a clinical scenario, determines one’s treatment, highlights the inherent uncertainty of medicine. […]
Medical advancement stomps on. This week, Genetics takes front stage. Really, it’s cool. I know; I was a skeptic too. That is, until I read this most amazing paper on the real-life clinical utility of knowing the whole genome of a person. It felt like peering into the future of medicine. Background from the real […]
Images taken via the iPhone on visiting the cardiac nurses lounge today. Indeed, it seems America is running to Dunkin. Now for the closer: KFC’s double down. Fried chicken as the bun, processed white flour, saturated fat, pork fat, dairy fat, special sauce and nearly an entire days worth of sodium masquerading as food. […]