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When should insurance companies be held responsible for medical malpractice?

Niran S. Al-Agba, MD

Physician

September 25, 2018

In July, 2009, the family of Massachusetts teenager Yarushka Rivera went to their local Walgreens to pick up Topomax, an anti-seizure drug that had been keeping her epilepsy in check for years. Rivera had insurance coverage through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income children, and never ran into obstacles obtaining this life-saving medication.

But in July of 2009, she turned 19, and when, shortly after her birthday, her family …

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It’s really hard to make money in the stock market

Wall Street Physician, MD

Finance

September 24, 2018

No, I’m not saying that the process of investing in index funds is difficult. In fact, it’s actually quite simple to build a diversified index portfolio, whether your money is invested at Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, or Etrade.

What makes investing in the stock market so difficult is tolerating its high volatility. Many investors are unable to stick with the stock market in the long run because of the ups and downs.

But those who stay invested …

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Quality over quantity in life and care

Physician

September 23, 2018

The surgical team filed out of the patient’s room. I looked over my shoulder to see a shaken daughter holding the wrinkled hand of her quiet, elderly mother who lay in the bed. I shuddered as I thought of the surgery her body would endure the next day. I knew I needed to return to her room later in the day to find out more about her history. After rounds …

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10 financial tips for physician maternity leave

The Frugal Physician

Finance

September 22, 2018

Let’s be real here. Women make babies. Women also kick butt working. Sometimes women need to make babies while kicking butt working. So, you know, the human race can survive … no big deal. But, all too often, families are unfairly burdened by our dismal maternity support system. Bleary-eyed and bloody, new mamas emerge from childbirth facing a mountain of medical bills and no income.

For my first pregnancy, my family …

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Why doctors can’t take sick days

Lisa Sieczkowski, MD

Physician

September 21, 2018

I learn all manner of interesting things from the information sheets posted on the walls of the employee bathrooms at my hospital. I learn, for example, about upcoming CME offerings for advance practice providers, how many seconds one has to scrub the hub of a central line, and what the new process is when nurses need to call in sick. They call a specific phone number and state that they …

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A physician with congenital heart disease

Conditions

September 21, 2018

Everyone always jokes with doctors, “What happens if you get sick?” Some of us laugh off the question. The busy schedule of health care often means our own health comes last. However, what happens when it’s a chronic disease that requires treatment? Then the answer to this question is a little different.

I am a family medicine physician dealing with congenital heart disease (CHD). Saying that someone has congenital heart disease …

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Words can hurt those on benzodiazepines

Nicole Lamberson, PA

Conditions

September 20, 2018

There exists a large, mostly-underground, growing community consisting of those iatrogenically harmed by benzodiazepines. Guilty only of following doctors orders, these patients are marginalized and misunderstood. This has been enabled, at least in part, by poor terminology.

Recently on Twitter, Michael P. Hengartner and Marnie Wedlake both posted critical questions in response to a benzodiazepine news story:

In response to …

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Shortening time in medical school is a bad idea. Or is it?

Charles Dinerstein, MD, MBA

Education

September 20, 2018

Recently, there has been a number of articles on reducing the length of medical training to help ease the physician shortage. And our medical curriculum is due for a major overhaul. Its foundational document, the Flexner report, was released over 100 years ago, and our medical needs and knowledge have changed. Shortening medical education may provide a “bonus” in easing the anticipated shortage of physicians …

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Stop the money-shaming in medicine

James M. Dahle, MD

Finance

September 18, 2018

There is a taboo in medicine. It is becoming less prominent, but it still exists. You’re not supposed to talk about money. Not how much something costs a patient, not how much you get paid, not how you invest, and certainly not about the freedom from medicine that financial independence can bring.

This first shows up as you are applying to medical school. You don’t want anyone writing a …

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10 things a pediatric oncologist wants you to know

Wendy A. Rhoades, MD

Conditions

September 17, 2018

1. Cancer is not rare. Technically, childhood cancer is rare compared to adult cancer, but it’s not as rare as you think. Outside of my work, I can think of 3 people who I know personally that had a childhood cancer. A teammate on my high school basketball team, my sister-in-law, and a high school debate teammate. My guess is that you also know someone from church, a coworker’s …

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Burnout doesn’t start in medical school

Education

September 17, 2018

Burnout affects as many as 50 percent of physicians. Interventions have been proposed at virtually every stage of a physician’s life, from medical school to residency training to professional practice. While the rigors of medical training certainly contribute to the high levels of burnout in the profession, there are indications that the trouble begins at the undergraduate level.

I recently graduated from an undergraduate program geared toward students interested in medicine. …

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It’s time to upgrade the outdated intake forms at health care clinics

Koorosh Joshua Elihu, MD

Physician

September 16, 2018

The process of setting up a new pain management clinic has allowed me to critically consider the role of patient intake forms, an area that has traditionally been ignored by technological advances and institutional innovation.

Health care must empower patients to conveniently complete intake forms digitally — whether at home, en-route to our clinics, or in our waiting rooms. When done correctly, the forms can greatly enhance the patient …

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12 tips to help you survive residency

Priyanka Jain, MD

Education

September 15, 2018

Each year, thousands of newly minted MDs are elevated from mere medical students to — drumroll, please — interns. If that’s you, congratulations and welcome to the world of residency.

Welcome to the world of motivation, inspiration and altruism — where you wake up every day knowing this was what you were meant to do.

And welcome to the world of the hungry, the tired, the poor. …

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Patients need an advocate at the bedside

Varun Verma, MD

Physician

September 14, 2018

Being a hospitalized patient is perhaps one of the most disempowering experiences an individual can face (besides being in war, or a prisoner). Patients face constant uncertainty; having no idea what time their physician will visit, when they will be taken for their tests, or who will suddenly interrupt them again with a demand – perhaps an early morning blood draw, or yet another round of interrogation and uncomfortable examination …

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The existential benefits of ginger ale

Conditions

September 14, 2018

On a curiously warm morning last February, the minister arrived at my childhood home to guide my father to the other side. When he approached the bedside where all of us were gathered around with the Eagles Pandora radio humming in the background, my dad emerged from a semi-conscious state and sat up as best as he could. “Listen. I am not dying,” he declared. As an early-career researcher focused …

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I’m sorry about what happened to your son under anesthesia

The Traveling Resident, MD

Physician

September 13, 2018

It was a sunny morning in July, and I was scheduled at the outpatient center with the oral and maxillofacial surgeons for teeth extractions. One of my patients was your son, an athletic teenager, whose only medical history was asthma. According to you and him, he had not experienced any recent asthma attacks and had never been hospitalized or intubated. In terms of breathing, he said he felt “perfectly fine” …

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Moving beyond National Women Physicians Day

Lisa Sieczkowski, MD

Physician

September 11, 2018

The supervising resident’s Voalte phone dinged: “Dr. Mel: Please meet Dr. Rosemond at room 514 for Cardiology rounds.”

She scrolled up a few texts and saw that her male counterpart who had rounded the previous day had been addressed as “Dr. Stearnes.”

When Mel mentioned the discrepancy to Jacob Stearnes, he just shrugged and said, “The cardiology nurse probably doesn’t even know my first name.”

When Mel mentioned the discrepancy to her husband, …

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Why “happy” doctors commit suicide

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

September 10, 2018

He was the go-to sports guy in Washington, DC. A masterful surgeon with countless academic publications, he trained orthopaedic surgeons across the world and was the top physician for professional sports teams and Olympians.

Dr. Benjamin Shaffer had it all.

Yet Ben was more than a stellar surgeon. He was a kind, sweet, brilliant, and sensitive soul who could relate to anyone—from inner-city children …

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The foundation of medicine is love

Dr. Eunice J. Minford

Physician

September 10, 2018

What do you think of when you hear the word medicine?

Perhaps it includes doctors, nurses, pills, prescriptions, operations, surgery, wounds, illness and disease, curing and healing, science, study, university?

But whatever your picture of medicine — does it include love?

I’m not a betting person, but I reckon for most who work within the profession that love is not top of the list, or even near the top. In fact, it probably …

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