Physician voices

12,751 articles · Since 2006

Articles, page 61

When doctors forget how to examine: the danger of lost clinical skills

June 20, 2025Jun 20, 20252

An older woman with osteoporosis fell at home, developed back pain, then went to urgent care and was diagnosed with a "muscle strain." During a follow-up visit in my office, she told me she'd had transient urinary incontinence after her…

An older woman with osteoporosis fell at home, developed back pain, then went to urgent care and was diagnosed with a “muscle strain.” During a follow-up visit in my office, she told me she’d had transient urinary incontinence after her fall, and on exam she had midline back tenderness, hip flexor weakness, and hyper-reflexive knee jerks. This woman had suffered a vertebral fracture, not a pulled muscle.

One of my patients …

When the white coats become gatekeepers: How a quiet cartel strangles America’s health

Anonymous

June 19, 2025Jun 19, 2025

A nation that can map the human genome, transplant a face, and land rovers on Mars somehow cannot guarantee its citizens a timely doctor's appointment. The official story blames "complex market forces," "geographic maldistribution," or the ever-handy "burnout." But beneath…

A nation that can map the human genome, transplant a face, and land rovers on Mars somehow cannot guarantee its citizens a timely doctor’s appointment. The official story blames “complex market forces,” “geographic maldistribution,” or the ever-handy “burnout.” But beneath the diagnostic babble lies a simpler, more uncomfortable truth: A powerful medical guild has learned that scarcity pays—and it intends to keep the spigot only half-open.

A cloister in white

Walk the …

The man in seat 11A survived, but why don’t our patients?

Dr. Vivek Podder

June 18, 2025Jun 18, 2025

On June 12, 2025, Air India flight crashed minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad in India. Among the 242 people on board, only one survived: a man seated in 11A. That image has stayed with me—not just because of the miraculous…

On June 12, 2025, Air India flight crashed minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad in India. Among the 242 people on board, only one survived: a man seated in 11A.

That image has stayed with me—not just because of the miraculous survival, but because of what it reveals about systems. Seat 11A was located near the plane’s wing box, the structurally strongest part of the aircraft, and beside an emergency exit. Experts …

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When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

Maureen Gibbons, MD

June 18, 2025Jun 18, 2025

When I was working full time in emergency medicine, I didn't think much about the systems in my personal life. I had just enough clarity to show up for the next shift, keep my kid fed, work out, stay married,…

When I was working full time in emergency medicine, I didn’t think much about the systems in my personal life. I had just enough clarity to show up for the next shift, keep my kid fed, work out, stay married, and try to remember where I parked the car. I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t lazy. I was underwater. So I did what a lot of physicians do when they’re trying …

Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem

Jessie Mahoney, MD

June 18, 2025Jun 18, 2025

The solution to the physician burnout crisis isn't more diagnoses or interventions. The antidote isn't more modules, surveys, screenings, or questionnaires. What's needed is cultural healing: One that we have so far been unwilling and/or too depleted to attempt. Over…

The solution to the physician burnout crisis isn’t more diagnoses or interventions. The antidote isn’t more modules, surveys, screenings, or questionnaires. What’s needed is cultural healing: One that we have so far been unwilling and/or too depleted to attempt.

Over the past decade, physician wellness has been medicalized. We’ve absorbed it into the very system that made us unwell. We’ve labeled it as pathology—when in fact, it’s a predictable outcome of …

Why some doctors age gracefully—and others grow bitter

Patrick Hudson, MD

June 17, 2025Jun 17, 2025

"Some people learn. Some don't. For the former, growing old is a joy. For the latter, it is hell." I’ve seen both. In exam rooms, break rooms, ORs, and coaching sessions. One physician softens—more present, less defended. Another hardens—brittle, often…

“Some people learn. Some don’t.
For the former, growing old is a joy.
For the latter, it is hell.”

I’ve seen both.

In exam rooms, break rooms, ORs, and coaching sessions. One physician softens—more present, less defended. Another hardens—brittle, often angry.

The difference isn’t intelligence, training, or temperament.

It’s whether they’re willing to learn—not just from books or trials, but from life itself.

What happens when physicians refuse to learn

Medicine does not require emotional growth to function. …

The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

Howard Smith, MD

June 16, 2025Jun 16, 2025

Eighty-five thousand medical malpractice lawsuits are filed per year, but the total number of claims reviewed by lawyers is unknown. What underlies their decision to proceed is their inability to determine which complication results from a systemic medical error in…

Reflected in this 85,000 is that two-thirds—52,000—are summarily dismissed and 4,600 are defense verdicts, and one-third—27,000—are settlements and 1,400 …

Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

June 15, 2025Jun 15, 2025

As health care professionals, we are constantly immersed in data, intricate details, and complex ideas. Whether presenting at grand rounds, sharing research at conferences, or explaining treatment plans to patients, your PowerPoint slides can either amplify your message or obscure…

Let’s be clear: Effective communication is not merely a desirable trait; it is a clinical necessity. Communication …

Marketing as a clinician isn’t about selling. It’s about trust.

Kara Pepper, MD

June 15, 2025Jun 15, 2025

Most of us didn't go into medicine thinking about branding or strategy. We went into it to care for people. That was always the goal. If we want to reach more of the patients who need us, we have to…

Most of us didn’t go into medicine thinking about branding or strategy. We went into it to care for people. That was always the goal.

If we want to reach more of the patients who need us, we have to look at how we’re showing up. If we want to build a practice that’s sustainable and aligned with who we are, it matters. It’s not about selling. It’s about connection.

That starts …

How doctors took back control from hospital executives

Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD

June 14, 2025Jun 14, 2025

Several decades ago at our local hospital in northern Los Angeles County, an onslaught against doctors began. The administration marginalized and discredited them. It was not due to a lack of medical skill or knowledge, as certain physicians were labeled…

The chief of staff and I, the chairman of the Department of Medicine, were members of the staff, some of whom …

How art and science fueled one woman’s path to medicine

Amy Avakian, MD

June 13, 2025Jun 13, 2025

Dreaming of medicine Everyone has an origin story. Mine doesn't include any radioactive spiders or vats of glowing fluid, but I did get a few extra volts of electricity being defibrillated back to life at seventeen, and that's close enough…

Dreaming of medicine

Everyone has an origin story. Mine doesn’t include any radioactive spiders or vats of glowing fluid, but I did get a few extra volts of electricity being defibrillated back to life at seventeen, and that’s close enough to a tragic backstory for me. It was a short-lived event, but long enough to change everything. I remember the blur of motion as a team of doctors worked around me. …

In a fractured world, Brian Wilson’s message still heals

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

June 13, 2025Jun 13, 2025

In memory of Brian Wilson (1942–2025). In a world increasingly marked by fracture and fear, it is hard not to return to the quiet, aching clarity of Brian Wilson's song Love and Mercy. Originally released in 1988, the song was…

In memory of Brian Wilson (1942–2025).

In a world increasingly marked by fracture and fear, it is hard not to return to the quiet, aching clarity of Brian Wilson’s song Love and Mercy. Originally released in 1988, the song was not a protest anthem or a sweeping political critique. Instead, it was a simple, open-hearted wish: “Love and mercy, that’s what you need tonight. So, love and mercy to you and …

Why being a physician mom is harder than anyone admits

Cynthia Chen-Joea, DO, MPH

June 12, 2025Jun 12, 2025

There's so much we don't say out loud. Not because it's not true. Not because it doesn't matter. But because somewhere along the way, we were taught that strength looks like silence—and that if we're struggling, it must mean we're…

There’s so much we don’t say out loud.

Not because it’s not true.
Not because it doesn’t matter.
But because somewhere along the way, we were taught that strength looks like silence—and that if we’re struggling, it must mean we’re doing something wrong. Or maybe we just forgot, in the brain fog of postpartum hormones and the blur of sleepless nights.

I’m a family physician. I’m also a mother to an amazingly bright and …

Removing vaccine advisers could jeopardize lives

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

June 11, 2025Jun 11, 2025

"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." Didn't take long, did it? The quote in the title is from George Santayana. The movie is It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey along with Clarence…

“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Didn’t take long, did it?

The quote in the title is from George Santayana. The movie is It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey along with Clarence Odbody, who played Clarence the angel. The scenes are from the moments when Clarence shows George what the world would have been without him and his value to his family, his friends, …

Why would any physician believe that the practice of medicine will become less abusive for them in the future?

Curtis G. Graham, MD

June 9, 2025Jun 9, 2025

The perpetuation of the increasing abuse of physicians across our nation has reached a level now that is essentially unrepairable. The Medical-Industrial-Economic Complex (Deep State of Medicine) has been the aggressive predator of the medical profession for decades. It is…

Older physicians have seen and experienced all the tactics that …

The hidden war on doctors: Understanding administrative violence

Maryna Mammoliti, MD

June 8, 2025Jun 8, 2025

Administrative violence in medicine is often understood as harm to patients due to systemic issues; however, administrative violence in medicine is also a process used to inflict harm on physicians, destabilizing the medical field on both systemic and individual levels. While much attention is given to how institutions and governments perpetuate administrative violence, it can also be enacted by individuals toward individual physicians with great harm, particularly by other physicians …

How doctors can stop frivolous lawsuits before they start

Howard Smith, MD

June 7, 2025Jun 7, 2025

All medical malpractice lawsuits stem from complications caused by medical interventions. Some complications are random errors of nature, which are unpreventable. Others are systemic medical errors, caused by medical interventions gone astray. Clinically, a medical error and an error of…

It is not that the inability to differentiate a systemic medical error from a random error of nature is unknown. On …

How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

Neil Baum, MD

June 7, 2025Jun 7, 2025

"Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness." – Chuang Tzu A hunter once lost his way deep inside the jungle while chasing a deer. He used all his navigation skills, but he did not find any way out of…

“Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.”
– Chuang Tzu

A hunter once lost his way deep inside the jungle while chasing a deer. He used all his navigation skills, but he did not find any way out of the jungle or food for several days. He started feeling so hungry that he could eat an entire elephant in one go. Disappointed, he lost all hope. And that is exactly when …

When a doctor becomes the narrator of a patient’s final chapter

Ryan McCarthy, MD

June 6, 2025Jun 6, 2025

"I will catch you on the flip side," I said these words as I planted a kiss on Laura's clammy forehead. I instinctively knew this would be the last time I spoke with her. I walked around the foot of…

“I will catch you on the flip side,” I said these words as I planted a kiss on Laura’s clammy forehead. I instinctively knew this would be the last time I spoke with her. I walked around the foot of her hospital bed to Sherry and told her not to get up as I bent over and gave her a big hug, the kind where I buried my face in …

Gaslighting and professional licensing: a call for reform

Donald J. Murphy, MD

June 5, 2025Jun 5, 2025

Gaslighting manifests in many forms. The most common may be political fights involving the extreme positions on any controversial issue (e.g., gun control, abortion, immigration, you name it). One extreme faction claims they have the truth and blames the opposing extreme faction for the problems in our world. We see this every day in news reports. Those who have experienced gaslighting know that political fights involve gaslighting on steroids.

Another common …

Physician voices

Articles, page 61

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