Patients and caregivers writing on KevinMD about the experience of illness and the health care system from the other side of the exam table: navigating care, the doctor-patient relationship, being heard, and what patients want physicians to understand. Physicians who have become patients write here too. For the record of what pain patients and physicians have said to each other about opioids and chronic pain since 2007, with patient authors cited at the same weight as physicians, see Opioids: what physicians and pain patients say, in their own words. For what patients, families, and physicians have said about dying, hospice, and the decisions families face at the end of life, see End of life: what physicians say, in their own words. For what women and the physicians who treat them have said about pregnancy, menopause, and the conditions dismissed for years, see Women's health: what physicians say, in their own words. For what physicians have said about consent, honesty, and who decides, see Medical ethics: what physicians say, in their own words.
I believe in the power and sanctity of the relationship between nurses, patients, and physicians. A feeling that one is part of a team, part of a triad, whose sole purpose is centered on enhancing the patient's health. This security…
I believe in the power and sanctity of the relationship between nurses, patients, and physicians. A feeling that one is part of a team, part of a triad, whose sole purpose is centered on enhancing the patient’s health. This security empowers a patient to move forward on his journey of health. In recent years, this strong bond has been tested and shaken. Why?
An excerpt from Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win. The American epidemic of unnecessary medical treatment is one of the reasons your health care costs keep going up. Experts estimate…
The American epidemic of unnecessary medical treatment is one of the reasons your health care costs keep going up. Experts estimate it’s wasting hundreds of billions of dollars a year. That’s not some number that’s detached from you and me. We pay higher monthly insurance premiums and larger deductibles …
Recently, I came across two high-profile Twitter accounts sharing a meme insinuating that parents who have children with nut allergies are hesitant to give the coronavirus vaccine to their children. The author of the tweet, Bette Midler, so eloquently says,…
Recently, I came across two high-profile Twitter accounts sharing a meme insinuating that parents who have children with nut allergies are hesitant to give the coronavirus vaccine to their children. The author of the tweet, Bette Midler, so eloquently says, “Vaccinate, or I’m bringing the Jiffy.”
To date, this tweet is still standing and has been retweeted over 2,600 times with over 19,000 …
Chances are, if you’ve heard of “dysautonomia,” it’s in relation to the buzz surrounding the recently identified post-COVID-19 syndrome. However, dysautonomia is not new. Patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) have long suffered from this elusive comorbidity, contributing to some of…
Chances are, if you’ve heard of “dysautonomia,” it’s in relation to the buzz surrounding the recently identified post-COVID-19 syndrome. However, dysautonomia is not new. Patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) have long suffered from this elusive comorbidity, contributing to some of its most disabling symptoms. You may not know it, but it’s likely that you have at least one “difficult” patient in your practice right now who has undiagnosed EDS. Unfortunately, …
Days morphed into weeks, into months. It's now been over a year, and the world is still living in the shadow of COVID. The world has changed; I have changed. There is a sense of vulnerability now, more so than…
Days morphed into weeks, into months. It’s now been over a year, and the world is still living in the shadow of COVID. The world has changed; I have changed.
There is a sense of vulnerability now, more so than any time in recent years. Well, maybe the exception would be on September 11, 2001, when two small planes purposefully crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The …
An excerpt from About Natalie: A Daughter's Addiction. A Mother's Love. Finding Their Way Back to Each Other. I look around at the pale walls of the emergency room. Yes, we are back here. Not for an overdose, but this…
I look around at the pale walls of the emergency room. Yes, we are back here. Not for an overdose, but this time for an abscess so severe from injecting needles into her arms that it will probably need an operation.
An excerpt from Nick's New Heart: 30 Years and Counting. In January of 1991, at twenty-two months old, Nick had another heart catheterization. Andy and I had started thinking about the next stage of surgery to finish the heart repair.…
In January of 1991, at twenty-two months old, Nick had another heart catheterization. Andy and I had started thinking about the next stage of surgery to finish the heart repair. Just before Nick was discharged, I discussed it briefly with Dr. Kanter.
“Tell me when you would like to do the surgery,” he said.
I was sitting in a cold hospital room next to my husband, anxiously clutching his hand. The genetic counselor across from us withdrew a piece of paper from a white envelope and placed it on the table. She knew we…
I was sitting in a cold hospital room next to my husband, anxiously clutching his hand. The genetic counselor across from us withdrew a piece of paper from a white envelope and placed it on the table. She knew we were anxious to hear the results, so she got right to the point.
“You have tested positive for the gene that causes Huntington’s disease (HD),” she said.
“Go have a seat,” the receptionist at the imaging center told me, gesturing to the waiting room. It was a close, poorly ventilated space, and several of the chairs were already occupied. I turned back to the receptionist. ”I have…
“Go have a seat,” the receptionist at the imaging center told me, gesturing to the waiting room. It was a close, poorly ventilated space, and several of the chairs were already occupied. I turned back to the receptionist.
”I have a primary immune deficiency,” I patiently explained. “I spoke to the scheduler about this. She said I could wait somewhere isolated.”
”This is what we have,” the receptionist said indifferently and turned to …
Chronic pain affects almost every aspect of a person’s life. I know because I live with it every day. Here are five seldom-recognized and, thus, seldom-understood consequences of living with chronic pain. 1. Sleep deprivation Some people with chronic pain…
Chronic pain affects almost every aspect of a person’s life. I know because I live with it every day. Here are five seldom-recognized and, thus, seldom-understood consequences of living with chronic pain.
1. Sleep deprivation
Some people with chronic pain can find a sleeping position that allows their pain to subside enough to fall asleep. I usually can. Unfortunately, something that worked when I turned the lights out can wake me up …
It's been a rough and difficult year for us. Separation, desperation, depression, illness, and death are scattered among the months that have passed by. Hope, for the longest time, seemed non-existent. The COVID virus gave the world a "sucker punch,"…
It’s been a rough and difficult year for us. Separation, desperation, depression, illness, and death are scattered among the months that have passed by. Hope, for the longest time, seemed non-existent. The COVID virus gave the world a “sucker punch,” leveling us all to the ground. Positivity test rates sky-rocketed, death rates at unacceptable levels. The days have been dark.
Faulty political power plays brought havoc upon our country when we …
Some years ago, my husband and I sat with his mother at her kitchen table and went over advance care planning documents her doctor had given her. She was in her mid-70s then, living independently but managing several chronic health…
Some years ago, my husband and I sat with his mother at her kitchen table and went over advance care planning documents her doctor had given her. She was in her mid-70s then, living independently but managing several chronic health issues.
The documents included a living will, which specified the kind of care she wished to receive – or not receive – if she were unable to
My heart pumps rhythmically, as does yours, and aches when sadness strikes. I am stressed and discouraged when I feel I have no control over an illness that invades my body. Is this not true for you as you lay…
My heart pumps rhythmically, as does yours, and aches when sadness strikes.
I am stressed and discouraged when I feel I have no control over an illness that invades my body. Is this not true for you as you lay in your bed at night, feeling that “your best was not good enough” to help your patient?
We enter this world and we will leave it someday; our mortality confronts us. Our …
Yes Virginia, there are still some doctors who truly care for their patients. On December 13, 1993, my husband Bill was playing golf. Early in his round, he suffered a massive heart attack. Bill was 56 years old. Thanks to…
Yes Virginia, there are still some doctors who truly care for their patients.
On December 13, 1993, my husband Bill was playing golf. Early in his round, he suffered a massive heart attack. Bill was 56 years old. Thanks to the staff and emergency room staff’s quick action, Bill was stabilized by the ER physician. That same afternoon, Bill suffered a second heart attack, and Dr. Robert Barden performed Bill’s first angioplasty.
"The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head." - Sir William Osler One of the most sacred and intimate relationships…
“The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.”
– Sir William Osler
One of the most sacred and intimate relationships is that which exists between patient and physician. A patient shares feelings and fears as he traverses the path of illness or chronic disease. As roadblocks in health emerge, a patient looks …
We live in a world today where there is misinformation in abundant supply. What we see and hear in the media one day seems to be reversed the following day. What to believe, who to believe? Our world appears to…
We live in a world today where there is misinformation in abundant supply. What we see and hear in the media one day seems to be reversed the following day. What to believe, who to believe? Our world appears to be in a state of turmoil, a state of contradictions. Amid all of this, people are struggling to find some sense of peace and balance in their lives.
I taught myself as a child how to lip read. I needed something to help me know what was going on around me other than relying on my hearing aids. I went to a deaf school as a kindergartner for…
I taught myself as a child how to lip read. I needed something to help me know what was going on around me other than relying on my hearing aids. I went to a deaf school as a kindergartner for all of three months and hated it, so my parents switched me over to the local public school system. I was the first deaf student to be mainstreamed in that …
There are times when I feel that I am boxed-in by this unrelenting virus, COVID-19. This microscopic entity has put the majority of the world into lockdown, affecting all aspects of human life and social interaction. The virus does not…
There are times when I feel that I am boxed-in by this unrelenting virus, COVID-19. This microscopic entity has put the majority of the world into lockdown, affecting all aspects of human life and social interaction. The virus does not discriminate due to race, creed, or color. Be you rich or poor, a professional or laborer, you are fair game to be its next victim. It stealthily works its evil …
I walk this dark and winding path between wellness and illness, moving between darkness and light on this journey of life. As I move between well-being and an uneasy state of uncertainty, a roller-coaster of emotions moves over me. I…
I walk this dark and winding path between wellness and illness, moving between darkness and light on this journey of life. As I move between well-being and an uneasy state of uncertainty, a roller-coaster of emotions moves over me. I am brought to my knees with doubt, restlessness, discontent, anger, and fear. At times, I feel heavy with the weight of the world upon my shoulders; other moments, I feel …
It seemed like an innocuous tweet. It was just a doctor, somewhere on Twitter, declaring that it was important to learn to quickly ascertain if patients were “sick or not sick.” It was sentence; perhaps two. It spoke volumes. He…
It seemed like an innocuous tweet. It was just a doctor, somewhere on Twitter, declaring that it was important to learn to quickly ascertain if patients were “sick or not sick.” It was sentence; perhaps two. It spoke volumes.
He was not suggesting that doctors needed to learn to quickly assess severity; to triage for treatment priority; to know when to send a patient to a specialist. Nope. It was “sick or not …
