Professional hockey player Rich Peverley gave a news conference today in which he and his medical team announced surprising details about his heart condition. We learned that atrial fibrillation and its treatment featured prominently in his collapse during a game earlier this week. “A flare-up last week led Peverley to skip a road game, and […]
Last night my Twitter stream lit up with the news that NHL player Rich Peverley collapsed from a heart arrhythmia. Fortunately, he was successfully treated, and is reported to be in good condition. Here is a link to the best story I could find. It sounds awfully significant. [Dr.] Salazar said of the treatment, “We […]
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Small things, big things
I ran up the hill. It seemed shorter, and less steep than I had remembered. I was barely winded at the top. I looked into the front office windows as I ran by the old high school. I don’t run fast anymore, yet the image was gone in seconds. My memory had the building as […]
A recent case taught me a lot about how people perceive their medicines. I was trying to help a 92-year-old man get off some of his medicine. I can’t go into the details, but suffice to say, there was much opportunity to trim a long list of drugs, many of which were threatening his existence […]
 How can social media improve AF patient and provider interaction? It was an honor to speak at the seventh annual Western AF symposium this past weekend in Park City Utah. Once in the shadow of the Boston AF symposium, Dr. Nassir Marrouche (@nmarrouche) and his colleagues at the University of Utah have elevated Western AF […]
I recently took on a position of medical journal editor. It is with the Journal of Kentucky Medical Association. It’s been a good learning experience. Part of the job of editorial board members is to write an opinion column. (Check, I’ve done that before.) What follows below was published in this month’s journal. The editorial […]
Here are 13 things I tell AF patients. I am sorry that you have AF. Welcome to the club, there are many members. (Three million Americans and counting.) I know how it feels. Your fatigue, shortness of breath and uneasiness in the chest are most likely related to your AF. AF may pass without treatment. […]
This week, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a comprehensive study that has major health implications. Major because the negative findings should change how Americans think about health and healthcare. Plus, the findings validate a belief this doctor holds as truth. First my belief, then the study. One blog is enough for […]
The Wall Street Journal began the week by publishing a provocative essay in which a young man suggested Obamacare kept his mother from getting appropriate medicine for her cancer. The writer crafted a poignant story about his mother, who sounds like a good person with a bad disease. Mainstream media buzzes with these types of stories. […]
(What follows is a brief introduction for a post I wrote over at Medscape/Cardiology. The link is at the bottom of the page.)Â It is appropriate to worry about medical errors and patient safety. Here the low-hanging fruit is plentiful: antibiotic stewardship, automated notification of drug interactions and attention to hand washing all join a […]
For me, maybe you too, the best part about science is how it disrupts the status quo. A belief, a way of doing something, a paradigm if you will, becomes entrenched. Humans love patterns. We get attached. I call this the way-it’s-always-been-done philosophy. It’s endemic in medicine, and, from what I can see, in education […]