It’s been awhile since I have written about the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). I would like to remedy this by sharing a few thoughts on three recent stories about AF: one involved a soon-to-be-approved blood-thinning drug; the second highlighted a potentially exciting new device for ablating AF, and the third story irresponsibly sensationalized the […]
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Should doctors be salesmen?
I read two interesting sentences today about the act of doctoring. The first from the White Coat Underground blog: “Medicine involves a lot of salesmanship.” The second was from this NY Times health piece highlighting the difficult decisions that arise when recommending procedures to an elderly patient: “…[Have] you felt that a doctor or hospital […]
It’s funny how coincidence works in medicine. A number of patients, and a couple of cyclists, have recently asked me about the worthiness of omega-3 supplements. And there it was today when I checked the mail: a comprehensive review article on n-3 Fatty Acids in Cardiovascular Disease, in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. […]
Doctors are suffocating under a fume of regulation. Our relationships with patients poked at incessantly. Our autonomy, and ability to use nuance hang by a thread. Our patients consume more care, but get sicker still. The health of the citizenry grows so woeful that it endangers our economy, and even our Armed Forces. But there […]
Heart rhythm doctoring made news again. This time it was a WSJ report on CRT—cardiac resynchronization therapy. What is CRT? (Briefly) CRT devices, formerly known as bi-ventricular devices, involve placing an extra lead in a vein branch of the left ventricle at the time of pacemaker or ICD implantation. The extra lead allows the right […]
Not every Friday brings doctoring bliss. Sorry. Some Fridays, the wrongness of our healthcare approach squeezes you like a vice-grip. The medical news of the week can hit you hard. –This highly tweeted report on how Overweight is the new normal speaks to the futility of asking people to help themselves. That our strong, vibrant, […]
A very accomplished colleague of mine once mused—about an athletic patient with a heart problem: “John…the guy is only a cyclist…It’s not like riding a bike is that hard.” I wanted to call him to the EP lab to feel how the heart of an endurance athlete rocks the catheter that you hold in your […]
There is a lot about young people that I don’t understand. Tattoos, body piercing, rap music and a complete lack of desire to detach from smart-phones are a few likes that make little sense to me. But one of the new generation’s basic tenets that I find highly enviable is their desire for balance between […]
I walked around the office today with a little extra spring in my step. It felt really good to be a doctor this day. So when good sensations come, I always look back on why they happened. (Like cyclists do when they have really good legs. Maybe it was that bee pollen?) But like having […]
As a passionate cyclist, I really like it when someone asks for bike advice. Cycling is something I know a lot about–though probably not as much as Sal Khan. Recently, a spin class enthusiast who was considering making the gigantic leap to outdoor cycling asked me whether it’s worth spending extra dollars on a super-light […]
My quest for low inflammation hit a speed bump recently. Usually patients uplift me. But… How would you have reacted if a patient asked you to write a prescription for aspirin? You might answer as I did: aspirin is available over the counter, and at very low cost. …“But if you write a prescription the […]