If a person tries to commit suicide, could that be considered as a statement that this person wishes to die and does not want aggressive treatment to save his or her life?
Not from a legal standpoint, and not if you are living in the United States.
A middle-aged man with a long standing history of depression decides to end his life. He puts a large caliber gun straight to his forehead …
Ahhh spring.
The lovely blooms unfurling. The trees budding.
It’s enough to make a girl get tears in her eyes.
And sneezes in her nose.
And itching on her face.
Yes, it’s allergy season again — but what can you do to make yourself more comfortable without emptying your wallet?
1. Avoidance. Close the windows. Make someone else cut the grass. Stay inside. (Yes, I hate this one too- let’s move on.)
2. Neti pot or other nasal saline rinsing. LOVE …
The role of autopsy in the medical profession is difficult to overestimate. Western medicine takes its roots from comparative studies between patient’s symptoms and the findings on autopsy.
Participation in an autopsy was one of the most valuable lessons from medical school and residency. If you participated in the patient’s care, there is no greater educational tool than witnessing the postmortem exam. It is especially true if the cause of death …
by David Edelman, MD
Heartburn and acid reflux disease are common problems affecting women of all ages. The problem develops when acid in the stomach backs up into the esophagus. There is a muscle known as the diaphragm that separates the chest from the abdominal cavity. When you eat or drink, the food goes from the mouth down the esophagus, through the diaphragm and into the stomach. …
Bret Michaels continues to be monitored in the intensive care unit after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
According to his road manager, “further testing this week will help locate the source of the bleeding.”
What exactly does that entail?
As I mentioned previously, aneurysms are responsible for the majority of brain bleeds. Finding that source is critical. Angiography, or …
When her gynecologist told her she had high blood pressure, Marie had a simple solution: switch doctors. After all, she had gone to him for a different problem, and this was the first time he had ever checked her blood pressure.
“He said, ‘Oh my God, you’re like a bomb waiting to explode.’ I said, ‘I didn’t come here for that, I came here for something else,’” she explained.
Two years later, …
by Michael Kirsch, MD
Does anyone out there know why President Obama underwent a virtual ‘colonscopy’ (VC) instead of a conventional colonoscopy earlier this year?
In my gastroenterology practice, we do not offer colon cancer screening to 48-year-old individuals, unless special risk factors are present. Of course, maintaining the president’s health is in the national interest, so I understand why professional screening guidelines might not apply to him. For …
I am often asked how we get the prices for the radiology imaging tests, such as MRI’s and mammograms, or ultrasounds. Most people assume that my day job as a doc gives me some sort of special access to this info. But that’s just not the case. Anyone can find out testing prices.
However, over the last year, those of us working at LesliesList.org have gotten more experienced and better at …
Part two of a series. See also part one.
Previously I’d discussed how most of the time diagnoses are relatively straightforward. But what do doctors do when a diagnosis isn’t immediately clear to them?
Likely one or more of the following:
1. Revert to “novice” thinking. Which, in fact, is completely appropriate. We’re taught in medical school that approximately 90% of all diagnoses are made from the history, so if we can’t …
Part one of a series.
The first patient I ever saw as a first year resident came in with a litany of complaints, not one of which I remember today except for one—he had headaches. The reason I remember he had headaches isn’t because I spent so much time discussing them but rather the opposite: at the time I knew next to nothing about headaches and somehow managed to end the …
Originally published in MedPage Today
by Kristina Fiore
Physicians tend to prefer intellectual hobbies — chess, reading, writing. Dr. Alfred Bove is no exception. His hobby often requires application of his expertise in physiology. You know him as the president of the American College of Cardiology. But you may not know that his heart belongs to the sea.
Bove’s interest in scuba diving …
by Michael Jaff, MD
Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), a condition commonly correlated with diabetes, also known as a “silent killer,” affects at least one in every three diabetics over the age of 50 and approximately eight million Americans in total over the age of 40. Although PAD is prolific among diabetic and senior populations, current data show that public and physician knowledge of the disease is startlingly low, with only 25 …
Here are the top 10 preventive services. These items were chosen by the National Commission on Prevention Priorities, and highlight those preventive services including immunizations, screenings, preventive medications, and counseling that give “the most bang for the buck.”
For an in depth discussion of methods and results, read Am J Prev Med 2006;31(1):52–61
Discuss Daily Aspirin Use
This counseling does not mean everyone should take aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke, but …
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It’s commonly thought that health care in the United States is heavily dependent on diagnostic testing.
But how do we compare with the rest of the world? Perhaps these graphs, courtesy of the New York Times can provide a stark illustration.
Here’s the data regarding CT scans, showing the number of tests per 1,000 people. Guess which country’s on top:
Originally posted in Insidermedicine
The eye is very similar to a camera. Both are optical systems that have lenses in the front to focus light rays onto a film. The retina is the eye’s film. It is a tissue that consists of 10 layers and is about 500 microns thick—or, half a millimeter. The main function of the retina is to trap light rays, convert them into electrical impulses, and send …
Originally published in MedPage Today
by Chris Emery, MedPage Today Contributing Writer
Complications from first trimester abortions performed by family practitioners are rare, and family doctors could help address abortion provider shortages across the U.S., a new study found.
Among more than 2,500 abortions performed by family physicians, abortion was successful without complications in 96.5% of patients using medications (95% CI 95.5% …
The Wall Street Journal and other sources reported on a study from the Annals of Internal Medicine that showed that most US doctors don’t know the guidelines of how often women should get a pap smear. More importantly, doctors were doing a lot of pap smears on women who didn’t need them. In all the talk about health care reform, reducing costs by eliminating unnecessary testing has been mentioned multiple …
Originally published in Insidermedicine
Nearly half of women who undergo surgery and other treatments for breast cancer report having persistent pain in and around the treatment area a year or more later, probably because of nerve damage, according to research published in the November 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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by an anonymous radiologist
I recently read the article and comments on this link from this post, concerning radiologists, from Musings of a Dinosaur.
I was disturbed to discover the animosity with which this topic is covered. The tenor of the blog is that radiologists are greedy, self-serving and are out to erode the doctor-patient relationship. The suggestion that radiologists would schedule percutaneous breast biopsies for their financial enhancement is both …
Caster Semenya is the South African track and field star who recently was engulfed in controversy at the recently concluded World Track and Field Championships.
Turns out, there are some who are questioning her gender, and subsequently, tests are being conducted to see if she is really a woman.
It’s not as cut and dry as it appears.
Consider the possibility of Read more…
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