Conditions

Why palliative care is more than just end-of-life support

Conditions

September 1, 2025

As doctors, we often tend to focus on solving the problem at hand. We identify the issue, make a diagnosis, and try to treat the condition to the best of our capabilities. And in this pursuit to achieve our textbook level of homeostasis, we often forget that it is the patient who requires us. As rightfully pointed out in the posters outside the palliative care center, sometimes we may encounter …

My improbable survival of stage 4 cancer

Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO

Conditions

August 31, 2025

I have always despised the trope of the patient who pulls through against all odds, despite all evidence to the contrary. Yes, diagnoses can shift and treatment plans evolve, but the ultimate trajectory rarely strays far from the original suspicion. Still, I understand why those stories resonate.

As a resident, I cared for a teen who got a night off from treatment to get married, and another who went to prom …

The truth about sun exposure: What dermatologists want you to know

Shafat Hassan, MD, PhD, MPH

Conditions

August 30, 2025

Sunlight is essential to life. It stimulates the production of Vitamin D, a hormone that plays a crucial role in bone health, immune function, and possibly the prevention of several chronic diseases. Sun exposure also influences our circadian rhythm, improves mood through serotonin regulation, and has been linked to better mental health outcomes, including reduced risk of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

In moderation, sunlight can be deeply beneficial, especially in populations …

How a South Asian nurse challenged stereotypes in health care

Viksit Bali, RN

Conditions

August 30, 2025

“Are you going to be wearing a white skirt and a hat from now?”

That was one of the first things I heard when I told relatives I had been accepted into nursing school. It was a joke — at least that’s how it was delivered. But the meaning behind it wasn’t funny.

In my South Asian community, nursing is seen as women’s work — important, but low-status. For a man to …

Could ECMO change where we die and how our organs are donated?

Deepak Gupta, MD

Conditions

August 29, 2025

The question is not where one is born, because birthplace—whether a country or continent—is never chosen by oneself, but always determined by others and the surrounding environment.

Nor is the question where one lives, because even though the place, country, or continent may seem self-chosen, it is often influenced or guided by others and external circumstances.

The real question is where one belongs, because the feeling of belonging—to a place, country, or …

From Civil War tales to iPhones: a family history in contrast

Richard A. Lawhern, PhD

Conditions

August 29, 2025

We are informed by the Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, and poet George Santayana, that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

That has never been my problem.

I grew up immersed in family stories from both parents — some of them true, and some not so accurately remembered. Starting at about age three with Little Golden Books that my mom bought for a nickel each at local thrift stores, …

The hidden dangers of over-the-counter weight-loss supplements

STRIPED, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Conditions

August 28, 2025

In July 2017, 24-year-old mother Lucero Garza sought a natural diet pill to aid in her journey to lose weight gained after pregnancy. Without consulting a doctor, Garza bought the supplement’ Avitia Cobrax’ via Facebook. While the supplement was marketed as a natural remedy, its effects were anything but remedial. After consuming the product, Garza began experiencing severe headaches and ultimately fell into a coma. Tragically, she passed six …

How denial of hypertension endangers lives and what doctors can do

Dr. Aminat O. Akintola

Conditions

August 27, 2025

“Doctor, it’s not my portion. I don’t have hypertension,” she said confidently, shifting her wrapper and returning my gaze like I had just accused her of something terrible.

The blood pressure monitor read 170/120 mmHg. I had just measured it myself twice, yet here I was, facing a patient who flat-out refused to believe her numbers.

She was a middle-aged woman who came in complaining of a headache and body weakness. She …

How physicians can reclaim resilience through better sleep, nutrition, and exercise

Kim Downey, PT & Ziya Altug, PT, DPT and Shirish Sachdeva, PT, DPT

Conditions

August 27, 2025

Imagine a family physician who works 12-hour days packed with complex cases and endless paperwork. They may skip meals, miss their child’s recital, and stay late to finish charting. Patient care feels rushed, and the physician begins to feel emotionally numb and irritable. Driving home exhausted, the doctor wonders if medicine was the right career choice! A physician’s role is considered a calling, and when it starts to feel like …

Who are you outside of the white coat?

Annia Raja, PhD

Conditions

August 26, 2025

It is a question that has stopped more than a few of my physician clients in their tracks: Who are you outside of the white coat?

I do not mean your hobbies, though yes, of course those matter. I mean your identity. Your core sense of self when you strip away the pager, the patient lists, the provider ID, and even the deeply ingrained instincts to care, to fix, to achieve. …

Read more…

Who are you outside of the white coat?

How hospitals can prepare for CMS’s new patient safety rule

Kim Adelman, PhD

Conditions

August 26, 2025

Medical errors happen every day, and patients are being harmed in hospitals. Despite years of tracking and reporting outcome-based quality measures, preventable harm remains widespread, prompting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to launch the Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM). This measure, released in August 2024, focuses on structural and cultural root causes of harm rather than just retrospective results of quality improvement initiatives.

In our consultancy practice, we’re …

The truth about fat in whole milk and your health

Larry Kaskel, MD

Conditions

August 25, 2025

For decades, you were told that whole milk was the devil in a glass. Doctors (including me), dietitians, and public health agencies told you to toss the red cap and grab the blue — skim, 1 percent, or 2 percent milk. Why? Because whole milk had fat. And fat, particularly saturated fat, was supposed to clog your arteries like grease in a kitchen drain.

Except we were wrong.

The fat in whole …

Why primary care needs better dermatology training

Alex Siauw

Conditions

August 25, 2025

About a month ago, I developed a very sudden and alarming skin condition—clusters of painful, itchy bumps that quickly spread across my arms, legs, and chest. At first, I was not overly worried. I made an appointment with my primary care physician, expecting answers. But the exam was brief—she took a cursory glance and speculated it was an allergic reaction. To her credit, she didn’t jump to conclusions. She snapped …

Protecting what matters most: Guarding our NP licenses with integrity

Lynn McComas, DNP, ANP-C

Conditions

August 24, 2025

As nurse practitioners, our professional licenses are more than credentials. They are symbols of trust, responsibility, and commitment. It is vital we never take them for granted, because when they are compromised, not only do we suffer, but our entire profession pays the price.

We must be vigilant: Safeguarding our licenses is on us alone

No one cares about our NP licenses as much as we do. They grant us the privilege …

Why the future of cancer prevention starts from within

Raphael E. Cuomo, PhD

Conditions

August 22, 2025

An excerpt from Crave: The Hidden Biology of Addiction and Cancer.

Prevention, as commonly understood, has struggled to match the evolving reality of cancer. The traditional model rests on two main ideas: Reducing exposure to known carcinogens and detecting abnormalities as early as possible. Avoid tobacco, wear sunscreen, and get screened. These recommendations remain useful, yet they are incomplete. They overlook the terrain in which disease develops. They address threats …

Private practice employment agreements: What happens if private equity swoops in?

Dennis Hursh, Esq

Conditions

August 21, 2025

Physicians joining private practices have a relatively new issue they should be aware of. As more practices are taken over by private equity, the traditional concerns of a physician joining a practice as an employee with the hope of becoming an owner are heightened.

Traditionally, the physician would join the practice as an employee, work for a few years, and get the “golden ring” of ownership after a few years. Often …

Inside the final hours of a failed lung transplant

Jonathan Friedman, RN

Conditions

August 21, 2025

This story has been fictionalized.

Dorothy Klein. MRN 508291987. DOB 12/22/1962. Patient A-. Unit A-. Unit number W038306745014-K.

OK. Next.

Dorothy Klein. MRN 508291987. DOB 12/22/1962. Patient A-. Unit A-. Unit number W038306928906-K.

We finish checking the emergency release blood and wait. We know that whatever was coming up isn’t going to be pretty. A lung transplant gone bad, uncontrolled hemorrhaging, 14 hours on the table. So much blood transfused, an exploratory laparotomy was …

Why South Asians in the U.S. face a silent heart disease crisis

Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed

Conditions

August 21, 2025

Although cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s largest cause of mortality, its burden varies by ethnicity. People from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, and Pakistan, are among the groups most at risk for developing coronary artery disease too soon. However, this population frequently receives standard risk assessments in clinical practice across the U.S. that do not take ethnic-specific risk factors into consideration, which results in underdiagnosis and …

Why chronic pain patients and doctors are both under attack

Richard A. Lawhern, PhD

Conditions

August 21, 2025

At age 81, I am one of “the old guys” who writes in online chronic pain support groups. I get a lot of emails from people in pain. One recent inquiry was from a lady named Marisa, who asked questions that are combined in the title of this article. The following is my response to Marisa and others.

My wife is a chronic pain patient who has multiple medical issues. I …

The quiet work of dying: a hospice nurse’s reflection

Christopher M. Smith, RN

Conditions

August 21, 2025

The first thing I remember is the sound of oxygen at night.

It was my second week as a hospice nurse. I had just pulled up to a modest home on a cul-de-sac, the kind of place where wind chimes echo off empty sidewalks. Inside, a man in his seventies was dying of end-stage pulmonary fibrosis. He was surrounded by family, but it was that soft hiss—steady and rhythmic, like an …

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