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A critique of medicine’s response to RFK Jr.

Physician

September 21, 2025

In recent years, American politics has witnessed a disturbing rise in conspiracy-driven health narratives that undermine science and public safety. Among the most vocal proponents of anti-vaccine rhetoric has been Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose campaign of misinformation poses a clear threat not only to childhood immunization but to medical research more broadly. One might assume that the nation’s leading physician organizations, particularly major medical and pediatric associations, would respond …

Can AI spot a frivolous malpractice lawsuit?

Howard Smith, MD

Physician

September 21, 2025

When I am sued by a prominent medical malpractice plaintiff attorney, I open the firm’s website. Despite the lawyer’s prominence, the website uncharacteristically solicits for medical malpractice, claiming, “If you have a phone, you have a lawyer.” We all know that it takes more than a phone; it takes a case. What I have learned since that day is a lesson for every physician practicing medicine because each, like it …

The hidden danger in pediatric dental offices

Irim Salik, MD

Physician

September 21, 2025

A dangerous truth is hidden behind the winning smiles and cartoon-adorned walls at pediatric dental offices: Children are dying or suffering from debilitating neurologic injury during routine care, and few are paying attention. This glaring oversight in ambulatory pediatric dental care is concerning not only for the potential harm to vulnerable, unknowing families but also to the medical community at large. Now more than ever, pediatric dental care is being …

He begged for mercy and his family refused

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Conditions and Diseases

September 21, 2025

In the hierarchy of health care professionals, I supposedly stand on one of the lowest steps of that ladder. Some say I am just a CNA. Some say I am the backbone of nurses and physicians. I say: I am a strategic part of this ladder. I do not have the medical knowledge or skills of a physician nor of a nurse. But what I do have is a heart …

Why kratom addiction is emerging as a hidden public health crisis [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 20, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article “Why kratom addiction is the next public health crisis.” Muhamad explains how kratom, a botanical imported from Southeast Asia, has …

What is financial therapy for physicians?

David B. Mandell, JD, MBA

Physician Finance

September 20, 2025

Physicians dedicate years of training to caring for patients, often at the expense of their own financial well-being. While most doctors are well-versed in diagnosing illness, far fewer have the tools to diagnose the emotional and behavioral challenges that affect their relationship with money. In a recent episode of my podcast, I sat down with orthopedic surgeon Greg Gilot, MD, and financial therapist Erika Wasserman to explore the emerging field …

Are you addicted to false urgency?

Yekaterina Angelova, MD

Physician

September 20, 2025

The urgency epidemic

I was in my office at 8 p.m. about a year ago. My back was hunched, phone in one hand and papers in the other, with twenty open tabs glaring at me from two adjacent monitors. I heard a nearby door shut and wondered, “Why is my colleague leaving so late?” Then it hit me: Have I thought of leaving yet?

If you asked me what I was doing …

Read more…

Are you addicted to false urgency?

How therapy helps uncover hidden patterns

Maire Daugharty, MD

Physician

September 20, 2025

The brain is a pattern-seeking organ that continually organizes the world into a more predictable experience. Our first predictions arise out of early childhood and are predicated on messaging from primary caregivers. These are deeply buried in implicit memory meaning that much of what we anticipate from interactions lies outside of our awareness. Over the course of a lifetime, these guiding assumptions working in the background are continuously modified in …

Lessons on compassion and autonomy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Thi My Nguyet Nguyen, MD

Physician

September 20, 2025

The first time I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it stayed with me for days. As an internist who has had the opportunity to care for psychiatric patients, I could not watch it as just a movie. I saw the familiar faces, the emotional extremes, the silent battles between care and control. And I felt the weight of questions the film still asks us today: Are we truly …

Why medicine needs a second Flexner Report

Robert C. Smith, MD

Physician

September 20, 2025

Modern medicine is failing in three critical areas: mental health, chronic disease, and prevention at the cost of trillions of wasted dollars and untold suffering.

The problem runs deep. In my earlier KevinMD post, “Medicine’s mental health crisis: why the system is failing us,” I described the “mind-body split” theory of the 16th and 17th-century Scientific Revolution as guiding medicine and medical education since that time. It …

Drug giants face suit over hidden cancer risks

Martha Rosenberg

Medications

September 20, 2025

Bridgett Brown, a resident of California, developed breast cancer from using brand-name and generic versions of the antipsychotics Risperdal (risperidone) and Zyprexa (olanzapine) says a new lawsuit from the Wisner Baum law firm.

Neither Brown or her two prescribing physicians knew or “had reason to know” that the drugs could cause breast cancer since the drug manufacturers “obfuscated and disclaimed such risks while promoting these dangerous, expensive drugs over safer, …

How physicians can turn criticism into collaboration for better teamwork [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 19, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Licensed counselor and certified coach Mary Remón discusses her article “How doctors can turn criticism into collaboration.” Mary explains why physicians often react defensively to suggestions from colleagues, citing hierarchy, malpractice fears, …

The ignored clinical trials on statins and mortality

Larry Kaskel, MD

Conditions and Diseases

September 19, 2025

As a practicing internist and lipidologist, I have long been trained to believe in the cholesterol hypothesis. Statins were not just recommended; they were the gospel. Lower LDL, save lives. That mantra was repeated at every lecture, every conference, every guideline committee.

But like many dogmas in medicine, the cracks are there if you dare to look. And some of the most damning cracks are found in a set of randomized …

Why awe may be the missing pillar of lifestyle medicine

Stacey Funt, MD

Physician

September 19, 2025

Lifestyle medicine is now a known, respected and utilized aspect of medical care to help patients live healthier lives and ward off chronic disease. Clinicians often counsel their patients on the pillars of LM: movement, nutrition, sleep, stress management, connection, and avoiding risky substances. These pillars are powerful and proven to be effective. But after integrating my training as a physician and health coach to lead group wellness travel adventures …

A lawyer’s guide to physician side gigs

Contract Diagnostics

Health Policy

September 19, 2025

Remember the “before times” pre-pandemic, when most doctors had a single job that they went to every day, saw patients, did surgeries, took call for the same employer or practice?

Then in March 2020, the unthinkable happened. There was a worldwide shutdown of almost everything, including physicians’ offices, except for emergency rooms, ICUs, and other essential health care functions.

Once the realization set in that medicine was going to have to change …

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A lawyer’s guide to physician side gigs

Inside the exam room: anxiety, trust, and medicine

Michele Luckenbaugh

Conditions and Diseases

September 19, 2025

The door closes with a soft click, sealing me inside a room that smells of alcohol and cotton swabs. The light is too bright, pouring down from overhead panels that have withstood the test of time. The entire room is bathed in a white-wash of light, leaving no shadows, except those that lie within me. A token landscape or two adorn the antiseptic walls, attempting to distract me from the …

Create your own financial vision for independence

Michael Lynch, CFP and Alisa Olsen, CFP

Physician Finance

September 19, 2025

An excerpt from Taking Care of Your Future: Your Simple System for a Big Retirement.

Whose plan? Is it yours or someone else’s?

Your financial plan is too important to be someone else’s. It must be yours. This book will help make it so.

It all starts with your vision.

Ever notice that when you get a new car, you suddenly see the same model all over the road and in about every …

Alice in Wonderland: the AI first health system

Bhargav Raman, MD, MBA

Health Technology

September 19, 2025

Dara closes one eye, then the other. “What the hell?” she thinks. The vision in one eye is noticeably darker and worse than in the other eye. She exits the dark room, where she had been coding a new website for a client, and heads to the bathroom. She looks at herself in the mirror. Nothing seemed wrong with her eyes. Nothing hurts, well, maybe a slight headache, but she …

How to transform your mindset by rewiring your brain with positive language [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 18, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Clinical psychologist Faust Ruggiero discusses his article “How to rewire your brain with positive language.” Faust explains how the words we use internally shape our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and why negative …

What is a varicocele and how does it affect fertility?

Martina Ambardjieva, MD

Conditions and Diseases

September 18, 2025

Varicocele is one of the most common findings in men being evaluated for infertility. Roughly 15 percent of all men have one, and the number climbs to about 40 percent among men with fertility problems. Yet despite how common it is, a varicocele remains a confusing diagnosis. Some men are told they need surgery right away, while others are advised to do nothing at all.

The truth is somewhere in between. …

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