This article is sponsored by MagMutual.
Nearly one in three U.S. physicians report having been sued, and in some specialties, a malpractice claim is almost inevitable. When a clinical decision becomes the subject of a lawsuit, it can feel like an attack on your integrity and identity. Having the right support during this time can make all the difference. Litigation support …
Litigation stress is real: Here’s how to navigate it
For the last several years, burnout (a syndrome typically defined as emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and poor efficacy) has been a hot topic in the world of health care. But as a bit of good news, the AMA recently released that the rates of physician burnout are at the lowest they have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I would argue that if 43 percent …
A simple 10-10-10 tool to prevent burnout through mindfulness
As a board-certified neurologist in independent practice for three decades, I’ve watched the soul of medicine slowly erode, not due to a lack of compassion, skill, or science, but from a suffocating bureaucracy that has infiltrated every corner of patient care. Private practice doctors across America are being regulated, pre-certified, audited, and administratively strangled out of existence.
Each week in my office, my staff and I spend countless hours fighting with …
The crushing bureaucracy that’s driving independent physicians to extinction
It is Saturday, late in July and hot as blazes in Louisville, Kentucky where I live. I’ve been here for many years.
I sit in a McDonald’s restaurant close to my home. The place is just about empty. I am here after a short walk from my house, about half a mile. I am happy to be here—happy, that is, that I can manage to walk this far, even in the …
How community and buses saved my retirement
An excerpt from The Fix Your Internal Language Handbook.
“I talk to myself, and I talk to them. They are not here to listen to me.”
Most of us spend more time talking to ourselves than to anyone else. We use language to think and clarify our thoughts. Whether we are consciously ruminating or thinking on a more subconscious level, we are still using language. We have internal dialogues with ourselves, …
How changing your self-talk can transform your entire life
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Health care executive Shelli Pavone discusses her article “Why retail pharmacies are the future of diverse clinical trials,” highlighting the urgent need to improve representation in clinical research. Shelli explains how barriers …
Why retail pharmacies could transform diversity in clinical trials [PODCAST]
A busy waiting room with buzzing lights, cramped-up chairs, and rushed medical staff on the clock can make you feel more anxious about the care you are going to get. Clinic waiting rooms are often the first point of contact between patients and health care providers.
The psychology of waiting
While traditionally considered functional spaces, a growing body of evidence suggests that the design and ambiance of these environments significantly influence patients’ …
Why your clinic waiting room may affect patient outcomes
“What is your favorite homemade food?” I ask each patient. Almost always, there is a smile, and the conversation takes off from there. Moms light up describing their special dishes. Patients giggle when I suggest, “Should we have your mom make some for us to share?” Younger kids look at their moms with wide eyes, wondering if it could really happen. Those moments, those faces, are priceless; and they carry …
Food is a universal language in medicine
Previously, I wrote about politicians regulating medical practice. I support regulations that protect individual or public health. However, when these laws are not evidence-based, misguided or frivolous, and potentially harmful, as occurred when 16 state legislatures permitted over-the-counter sale of ivermectin, they are unacceptable.
There have been instances when pregnant women, who, because of circumstances, were unable to adhere to physician advice for increased bed rest to avoid premature labor, were …
The ethical crossroads of medicine and legislation
In the heart of major cities—from New York to Nairobi, Mumbai to Mexico City—medical professionals are confronting more than fevers, injuries, or chronic illness. Increasingly, they face diseases rooted in environmental exposure. From asthma linked to air pollution to cancers tied to industrial toxins, physicians are witnessing firsthand the impact of environmental degradation on human health. For many, this reality transforms them from caregivers into advocates—environmental activists in white coats.
Doctors …
When doctors breathe the same air: How medical professionals become environmental activists
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Osteopathic medical student Scarlett Saitta discusses her article “Integrating vitamin education in mental health care,” highlighting the growing evidence that nutritional deficiencies can profoundly impact psychiatric outcomes. Scarlett explains how deficiencies in …
Why vitamins should be part of the mental health conversation [PODCAST]
A few months ago, I met a woman who had stopped speaking at dialysis. She had grown quiet, worn thin by the rhythm of a system that seemed to talk around her but never truly to her. When she finally spoke to me, it was not about her labs or transplant status. It was a whisper — “Do you think I’ll make it in time?”
In that moment, she wasn’t asking …
Why transplant equity requires more than access
When I was a child, I watched a neighbor struggle after a stroke. He survived, but without rehabilitation he remained trapped in his disability, dependent on others for every task. That memory shaped my understanding of medicine: Survival alone is not enough. Patients deserve a chance to reclaim independence and dignity.
Years later, after completing medical training abroad, I came to the United States as an international medical graduate (IMG), determined …
An IMG’s story of exclusion in U.S. residency
Introduction
When I first arrived in North Carolina several years ago, I thought happiness would come easily. I had completed my medical education in Nepal, was ready to serve as a physician in the U.S. health care system, and carried the excitement of new beginnings. But I learned that happiness is not automatic—especially for physicians navigating American health care while maintaining their sense of purpose.
The transition from practicing medicine in Nepal …
The 4 foundations that sustain physicians through burnout and balance
Before making the case for evolving formal fellowships for physician anesthesiologists to conscientiously and systematically object to unnecessary health care, particularly unnecessary procedures, it is worth first exploring what constitutes “necessary.” Only then can we begin to regulate what may be considered “unnecessary.” Can physician anesthesiologists lead such academic and practical regulatory efforts, even amid potential conflicts of interest inherent in their role as anesthesia care providers?
This raises several important …
Should anesthesiologists object to unnecessary procedures?
Recently, The Hill published an op-ed purporting to be a measured critique of gender-affirming care for youth. In reality, it was a dangerous and misinformed piece of ideological propaganda cloaked in the language of academic concern and propped up by debunked claims and bad faith arguments.
Riffer, who has studied censorship, gender regulation, and the legislative targeting of LGBTQIA+ communities across the U.S., will say …
Ideology, not evidence, fuels the anti-trans agenda
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Physician Daryna Bahriy discusses her article “How Ukrainian doctors kept diabetes care alive during the war,” sharing how medical teams in western Ukraine adapted to protect vulnerable patients amid the chaos of …
How Ukrainian doctors sustained diabetes care during the war [PODCAST]
A few weeks ago, I delivered a baby in the morning and sat with a grandmother near the end of life that afternoon. I adjusted insulin for a patient I first helped quit smoking ten years ago. I counseled a teenager about to leave home for college. This is the joy of family medicine: walking with people through every stage of life. But too often, that joy is overshadowed by …
The backbone of health care is breaking
“If you are reluctant to ask the way, you will be lost.”
– Malay proverb
When I was struggling with burnout during training, I did not seek help.
Even when called into the office of the revered, stately, totally intimidating chair of the department, because he had “heard I was having trouble coping.”
Nope. I saw that as a sign that I needed to do a better job of hiding my lack of coping.
When …
Why doctors must ask for help before burnout escalates
An excerpt from Born to Heal: Medical Narratives Set to the Soundtrack of Classic Rock.
Dr. Evelyn Moore had always believed medicine was more than a profession; it was a calling. Not in the dramatic, messianic sense that some doctors held onto (where they saw themselves as saviors) but in the quiet, steady way a lighthouse stands guard over stormy waters. She was not there to rescue …
Why medicine is like a jazz solo
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