Christmas morning at 1:30 am the phone chimes away. What the … I’m not on call.
“Please call Dr. Dred for patient Selma, perforated colon at local ER,” read the text message.
Why are they calling me, I’m not on call. Dr. Young is. Maybe something’s happened and they can’t find him.
So, I called. It was just as reported. There was a fifty year old female with abdominal pain for three days, …
Back in the day, coal miners always carried a canary with them in a small cage whenever they would go down in the mine. The canary is a very talkative bird, always singing and tweeting in a constant background noise. Canaries have one more characteristic important to a miner.
When there is bad air in the mine, the canary’s sensitive lungs will cause …
An excerpt from When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests
Danielle is a 20-year old college student at the New England Conservatory. She came to the ER because of a …
Sometimes, I feel like I belong in law enforcement. There was a time in my life that I seriously considered a career where I would haul in the bad guys and make society a better place. Of course, every American male youngster fantasized that he would one day drive the Aston Martin, get the girl, defuse the bomb, and sip on a …
A common rebuttal to any discussion about of gun control is motor vehicle accident deaths. We don’t blame the car, we blame the driver. Regardless of the object’s intent (the car is for transportation and the gun is shoot people, targets, game, and skeet), neither a car nor a gun can kill or maim without human touch.
And I agree. Comparing guns and cars is fair, after all they kill about …
Somewhere near where you live, a couple will discover this week that they are infertile and that if they want biological children of their own, they are going to need in vitro fertilization (or IVF). According to treatment protocol, the woman will need to take powerful medicines to ramp up her production of fertilizable eggs. One monthly cycle of this treatment will run …
I wrote in a previous post about what life was like growing up in Newtown, Connecticut. It truly is a picturesque New England town. But what might be surprising is that within that town sat a gem. A hundred acres of wooded rolling hills within which sat an inner campus of professionally landscaped and meticulously manicured grounds crowned with stately and handsome brick buildings in a colonial architectural style. These …
Here is a little appreciated fact: Patients cannot order medical care; they can only accept or refuse it. Only a doctor can order medical treatment. In an extreme medical situation, the doctor can offer CPR, but it is the patient’s job to accept or reject. Any patient can refuse CPR. This refusal is known as Do Not Resuscitate or DNR, and for obvious reasons needs to be made ahead of …
You need a doctor, and I love what I do. But this work just isn’t sustainable.
In 2009, I finished medical training and joined a clinical academic practice. For those not in the know, doctors can — very generally speaking — work in one of two domains: in private practice, or on faculty at a medical school where they see patients, teach, and/or do research. Some docs manage to keep a …
Chatting with some med students, a good question was raised: how do we, as doctors, deal with the emotional baggage we encounter in our profession? It’s high stress, we see disturbing things, and sometimes we make mistakes that can result in harm to patients. The pressure and responsibility can be very hard to handle.
These stresses, if unmanaged or poorly managed, can …
A few years ago, I was sued. Yes indeed, I can now shout it from the rooftops. I know what it feels like to sit in the fire and burn into ashes of self-doubt, regret and emptiness; staring into the soulless, Cyclopean eye of a deposition camera, recounting my sins, defending my pride. I know what it’s like to live with fear, up close and personal. And I know what …
I review a lot of cases in my professional life. Some of them are just ones that our QA group comes across in our practice. Some are cases related to our liability policy. Some are cases I’m sent for review, or educational cases I present. We see a lot of cases which could have been done better, or in which the …
Internal medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with diseases of the internal organs in adults. It also involves dermatology, minor surgical procedures, general psychiatry and preventive care of well people. It is an excellent field, full of opportunities to think and feel and connect with people, mysteries to be solved and an endless variety of stuff to be learned. …
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The Affordable Care Act comes with the promise of a dramatic overhaul in what many see as a broken health care system. It promotes the potential for “better all around” – better care, easier access to hospitals, and affordable treatment. It also comes with a price. For one reason or another, the turbulence within the American health care system is causing doctors to shut down, downsizing or sell their practices …
My heart began pounding as I listened to the sound of the dial tone in my ear. After three rings a woman answered groggily and uncertainly, “H-hello?”
“Mrs. Peterson?” I asked. My voice trembled slightly. It was 2 a.m., and I’d awakened her from what I imagined had been a troubled sleep.
“Yes?”
“This is Dr. Lickerman. I’m calling from the hospital.” I paused. “I’m calling about your husband.”
There was silence. Then a breathless, “Yes?”
“Mrs. Peterson, …
Physicians are terrible patients. That fact is one of the few absolutes in medicine. I can remember developing an acute appendicitis as a medical student. I remember the fear, the uncertainty and the discomfort. I can remember wanting someone who was in charge to spend a little time in my room explaining things to me. I can remember the embarrassment I felt when a group of 6 student nurses paraded …
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The idea that patients are better off paying their doctor directly and using their insurance only for unaffordable catastrophes is gaining some traction. With implementation of the Affordable Care Act looming in 2014 many patients are looking at their doctor’s already crowded waiting room and wondering how their care will be impacted when their doctor is responsible for even more patients. And doctors who even now are swamped and frustrated …
As a primary care doctor, my days are busy. Seeing patient after patient, I try to provide the most patient-centric, evidence based care that I can. But if I read anything about healthcare reform, it will tell me that 80-85% of the patients I see can be seen by a nurse practitioner or a physician’s assistant. So why did I train for an extra 3-4 years as a doctor, incur …
One of medicine’s ethical traditions is to relieve suffering whenever possible. I believe in this, and try to treat all of my patients as I myself would want to be treated under similar circumstances.
My dilemma is, even after practicing medicine for over 30 years, the definition of a “suffering patient” has become a moving target.
On the one hand, I hear arguments primarily from governmental agencies that presume to “advocate for …
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She sat in her crisp, white coat, probably not much older than I am now, leaning back with all of the assurance of someone who recently completed a cardiology fellowship, newly hired by the academic medical center to which I was applying for residency. One of the first of many interviews for me, the conversation was anything but smooth. She clearly …
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