The hidden cost of health care: burnout, disillusionment, and systemic betrayal

Physician
June 2, 2025

An excerpt from Doctor Slave: Reflections on the Future of Medicine.

The distance from clinical practice provided a clarity that was impossible to achieve while embedded within the system. From outside, I could see patterns, pressures, and paradoxes that had been invisible when I was caught in the daily grind.

I recognized that many aspects of modern health care that are presented as inevitable or necessary are actually artificial constructs designed …

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What one diagnosis can change: the movement to make dining safer

Conditions
June 2, 2025

Some people eat to live, but most of us live to eat. Meals are more than sustenance; they are how we celebrate milestones, connect with loved ones, and mark the passage of time. But for people living with food allergies, dining out can feel less like a joy and more like an exercise in survival.

Trust becomes the most important ingredient on the plate. Trust that an unfamiliar chef has taken …

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Why this doctor hid her story for a decade

Physician
June 2, 2025

I’ve had a few moments in my life where time seems to stand still.

I’m not talking about being in the flow of creativity or about a near-death experience. I’m referring to those times where a sudden realization makes you reconsider how you’ve viewed yourself or your life in fundamental ways.

After leaving clinical practice, I was dogged by guilt and shame for at least a decade. I viewed my choice as …

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Reimagining Type 2 diabetes care with nutrition for remission [PODCAST]

Podcast
June 1, 2025
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Endocrinologist William Hsu discusses his article, “Reimagining diabetes care with nutrition, not prescriptions.” William argues for a paradigm shift in treating Type 2 diabetes, moving away from a primary reliance on medications …

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How AI is revolutionizing health care through real-world data

Tech
June 1, 2025

Turning real world data into insights

A lot has been said and written about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to advance and improve health care. And while there are still many challenges to overcome and questions to answer, one area in particular shows dramatic positive results.

The use of AI to unscramble the unstructured data from electronic health care records (EHR) is uncovering previously hidden insights and bringing significant advances to …

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Ambient AI: When health monitoring leaves the screen behind

Tech
June 1, 2025

A quiet revolution is taking place in health care technology. AI is shedding its screen-bound constraints and stepping into forms that blend seamlessly into our lives—rings, glasses, pendants, earbuds. These “ambient” devices collect real-time insights from sound, motion, and physiology, surfacing only when needed. For clinicians, this shift means more than convenience: It reimagines how we gather data at the bedside …

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How kindness in disguise is holding women back in academic medicine

Conditions
June 1, 2025

Sexism in the workplace is often associated with overt hostility, harassment, insults, discrimination, or intimidation. But what about the subtler, seemingly well-intentioned behaviors that can still hinder women’s advancement? Our study explores benevolent sexism (BvS) in academic medicine and how it may quietly limit women’s careers, even in environments committed to gender equity.

What is benevolent sexism?

Coined by Glick and Fiske in 1996, benevolent sexism refers to attitudes that appear …

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Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ laws

Policy
June 1, 2025

In a time when anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is proliferating across the United States, targeting everything from gender-affirming care to inclusive science education, many physicians are facing a new ethical frontier. More than ever, the duty to protect patient health extends beyond the clinic walls. When policy threatens the well-being of entire communities, an inclusive and affirming exam room is no longer enough. It is time for doctors to speak up and …

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From burnout to balance: a lesson in self-care for future doctors

Education
June 1, 2025

Last fall, more than 20,000 first-year medical students donned white coats, pushing total U.S. medical school enrollment to nearly 100,000. Yet despite this surge of new trainees, the American Association of Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000 doctors by 2036.

The strain is already evident. Each year, tens of thousands of American physicians pack up their stethoscopes and scalpels …

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How conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 31, 2025
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Health reporter Martha Rosenberg discusses her article, “Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies.” Martha outlines how faith in government health bodies like the FDA and CDC has plummeted …

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Why young doctors in South Korea feel broken before they even begin

Education
May 31, 2025

I am a first-year medical student in South Korea. I wrote this essay to share what it feels like to enter a system that demands so much and still receives so little understanding in return. I haven’t even worn a white coat yet, but I already feel the weight of it.

In South Korea, becoming a doctor requires six years of undergraduate medical education, followed by exhausting years of internship and …

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When errors of nature are treated as medical negligence

Physician
May 31, 2025

Risk management has been around for centuries. In ancient times, there were oracles and soothsayers. In the 1950s, risk management became a science. Nevertheless, 75 years later, a medical malpractice lawsuit is still a problem. An unknown number of claims are reviewed by lawyers, but 85,000 lawsuits are represented. Of these, 66.6 percent are frivolous.

It stands to reason that many meritorious cases are reviewed but are never represented. There are …

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Physician job change: Navigating your 457 plan and avoiding tax traps [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 30, 2025
YouTube video

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Shane Tenny discusses his article, “Navigating your 457 plan: key steps for physicians changing jobs.” He provides crucial advice for physicians, particularly those with non-governmental 457(b) plans, on how to manage these …

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The hidden chains holding doctors back

Physician
May 30, 2025
YouTube video

If you have been to the circus and toured the tent where the elephants rest and are fed, you will see that large, two-to-three-ton elephants are tethered to a small wooden stake with a small chain around the ankle of one of their hind legs. This tiny wooden stake driven into the ground could be pulled up in a nanosecond, and the elephant could run away.

But the large …

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Hope is the lifeline: a deeper look into transplant care

Conditions
May 30, 2025

A few months after meeting her during rounds at a dialysis center, an elderly woman gripped my hand and quietly asked, “Do you think I’ll make it in time?” Her voice trembled. She had been silent for weeks, worn down by dialysis and overwhelmed by the long transplant process. Her question pierced through the clinical routine. I looked into her eyes, squeezed her hand gently, and said, “We’re going to …

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Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

Education
May 30, 2025

In the race to get into competitive medical residency training, today’s medical students are chasing something that may surprise you: scientific abstracts, posters, workshops, and research papers.

Lots of them. Not necessarily new ideas or meaningful research—just enough to stack their résumés and stand out during the screening of their application for postgraduate residency match. But while scholarship can be a powerful tool in shaping their future, there’s a growing question …

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Reclaiming trust in online health advice [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 29, 2025
YouTube video

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Urologist Diana Londoño discusses her article, “From healers to influencers: How fear took over health care advice.” Diana addresses the concerning trend of physicians using fear-inducing tactics on social media, which she …

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The business lesson new doctors must unlearn

Finance
May 29, 2025

When graduating residents and fellows begin their careers as attending doctors, there is a wealth of financial advice out there. Grow into your salary slowly. Don’t buy a house right away. Get disability insurance. Plan ahead for the tax bomb that always takes attendings by surprise during that half-trainee/half-attending year.

Today, we won’t discuss any of those. We’ll focus instead on a business lesson that you must unlearn …

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