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The unspoken contract between doctors and patients explained

Physician

August 18, 2025

We often sign extensive contracts when entering long-term commitments — think of the fine print in a mortgage, a car loan, or a new job offer.

While there are privacy forms and acknowledgments of office policies, the expectations of the physician-patient relationship are often assumed rather than explicitly stated. Some providers do outline expectations, and in today’s medicolegal environment, HIPAA notices are always signed — but that’s not the same as …

AI isn’t hallucinating, it’s fabricating—and that’s a problem [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 17, 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, “In medicine and law, professions that society relies upon for accuracy.” He argues that labeling AI errors as “hallucinations” is …

Brooklyn hepatitis C cluster reveals hidden dangers in outpatient clinics

Don Weiss, MD, MPH

Policy

August 17, 2025

An excerpt from Disease Detectives: True Stories of NYC Outbreaks.

Dr. Westyn Branch-Elliman contributed to this chapter.

There exist within NYC, communities that feel more like a small town than a perspiring slab of metropolis. People know and speak to their neighbors, greet each other warmly on the street, and watch over each other’s children. Single- and two-family brick homes with small, manicured lawns line quiet streets. There is usually one …

The truth in medicine: Why connection matters most

Ryan Nadelson, MD

Physician

August 17, 2025

Being a doctor is about more than diagnosing illnesses or prescribing medications. It is about more than knowing the latest research, the right drug dose, or the most effective treatment plan. Those things matter (of course they do), but they are just part of the job description.

The reality is more human, more vulnerable, and more complex.

Imagine what it is like to sit in the waiting room before your appointment. You …

New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine

Tom Phan, MD

Physician

August 17, 2025

I got into the car outside the bus station in Lowell, Massachusetts, where my father was waiting to pick me up. He looked nervous when he handed me an envelope. Inside was my medical school decision letter. I was accepted. We let out a cheer.

Along with the acceptance letter was the projected cost of attendance: around $70,000 for the first year, climbing to nearly $90,000 by the fourth. I would …

Why trust and simplicity matter more than buzzwords in hospital AI

Rafael Rolon Rivera, MD

Tech

August 17, 2025

Everyone wants the best model. The flashiest algorithm. The one with the highest AUC and the sexiest machine learning buzzword attached.

But here’s the problem: In hospital care, especially at midsize institutions, the “best” model on paper might be the worst fit for your people, your patients, and your workflow.

As a hospitalist and data-minded clinician, I’ve been exploring how we can use AI to reduce 30-day readmissions—an outcome tied not just …

Putting food allergy safety on the menu [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 16, 2025

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

Leading food allergy advocate Lianne Mandelbaum discusses her article, “What one diagnosis can change: the movement to make dining safer.” She explains how for millions of people living with food allergies, dining …

Why transgender health care needs urgent reform and inclusive practices

Angela Rodriguez, MD

Conditions

August 16, 2025

Everyone deserves informed, compassionate and respectful health care. As medical professionals, we have the profound privilege and responsibility to make a difference in the lives of others.

As a practicing Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in San Francisco, CA, I have dedicated my practice to serving trans women, trans men, non-binary and gender-diverse individuals. Through this practice, I have viewed discrimination at the most basic levels. Patients struggle to find primary care …

Why “the best physicians” risk burnout and isolation

Scott Abramson, MD

Physician

August 16, 2025

This is a famous teaching in the Talmud, which in the Jewish faith is the commentary on the Hebrew Bible. Why would the holy book of the Jews make such a proclamation? It turns out this is about arrogance. It is about humility. The “best doctors” may also be the most prideful. Their arrogance may prevent them from realizing they need help. If they do realize it, their pridefulness may …

Why the Sean Combs trial is a wake-up call for HIV prevention

Catherine Diamond, MD

Conditions

August 16, 2025

We are now waiting for sentencing in the Sean (P. Diddy) Combs trial. Onlookers reading about the trial could have various thoughts. Thoughts about how power corrupts behavior. Thoughts about how men manipulate women through violence and sex. There could be schadenfreude. There could be prurience. Me, I think about HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

You heard correctly, PrEP. When I hear testimony about multiple partners and escorts, my concern is for …

Why real medicine is more than quick labels

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

August 16, 2025

An excerpt from Real Medicine, Unreal Stories, Volume 3.

The café was quiet, tucked between a shuttered bookstore and a yoga studio that only seemed to open during Mercury retrograde. It was the kind of place that didn’t advertise, which made it perfect for writers, wanderers, and today, two physicians who had long since discovered that stories, not stethoscopes, were the truest diagnostic tools.

Dr. Gary Handler stirred his coffee absentmindedly, …

New surge in misleading ads about diabetes on social media poses a serious health risk

Laura Syron

Conditions

August 16, 2025

A recent surge in misleading ads and AI-generated videos on social media and other online sites promoting bogus diabetes products, treatments and cures – often using fake endorsements, including from my organization Diabetes Canada – poses a serious health risk to people living with diabetes.

So far this year, Diabetes Canada has heard from at least 300 people who saw or bought fake products like smart watches claiming to non-invasively …

Stop medicalizing burnout and start healing the culture [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 15, 2025

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

Board-certified pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article, “Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem.” She argues that the health care industry’s current approach to physician burnout is failing because it …

mRNA post vaccination syndrome: Is it real?

Harry Oken, MD

Conditions

August 15, 2025

This past week, an unhinged man in Atlanta committed an atrocity. He went to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with five guns and killed a policeman. He blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, and it is reported that he had been reaching out for mental health assistance for weeks.

Since January 2022, I have been interacting with national experts on a clinical problem that has hit …

Limiting beliefs are holding your career back

Sanj Katyal, MD

Physician

August 15, 2025

As physicians, we are highly motivated, educated, hardworking and compassionate individuals. We deserve the best that life can offer. I do not mean the nicest houses or fanciest cars (although there is nothing wrong with luxuries). What I am referring to is having the type of career that brings out the best in us. A work environment that allows us to share our gifts easily and effortlessly ultimately contributing to …

Breaking the martyrdom trap in medicine

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

August 15, 2025

In medicine, self-sacrifice is praised. We call it dedication. We call it loyalty. However, sometimes it is just exhaustion wearing a badge of honor, and it keeps us complicit in systems that harm us and our patients.

Burnout does not kick the door in. It just shows up quietly. One day you notice you have not called a friend back in weeks. Lunch, if you can call it that, is an …

Read more…

Breaking the martyrdom trap in medicine

What a Nicaraguan village taught a U.S. doctor about true care

Prasanthi Reddy, MD

Physician

August 15, 2025

Each year, I leave behind the electronic health record, performance metrics, malpractice fears, and the ever-present hum of burnout—and lead a medical mission trip—this year to Nicaragua. Along with a team of fellow volunteers, I carry only what we can pack: a few stethoscopes, essential supplies, and the will to serve.

We set up clinics in makeshift church halls with tin roofs in …

ChatGPT in health care: risks, benefits, and safer options

Erica Dorn, FNP

Tech

August 15, 2025

As technology becomes increasingly embedded in clinical workflows, many health care clinicians are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help lighten the charting load. One of the most buzzed-about tools is ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that seems like it can do everything from planning your next vacation to California, analyzing the best applications for a job, to writing your History of Present Illness (HPI) for a diabetic patient.

Before …

The critical role of nurse practitioners in colorectal cancer screening

Elisabeth Evans, FNP

Conditions

August 15, 2025

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second-deadliest cancer in the U.S.; however, screening rates remain too low due to a combination of lack of awareness, patient fear, and health care system barriers. Many patients don’t realize they are at risk because early-stage CRC has no symptoms, making screening the only way to detect and prevent disease progression.

As frontline health care providers, nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician associates/assistants (PAs) are uniquely positioned …

How motherhood made me a better scientist [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 14, 2025

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

Physician coach and medical school professor Kathleen Muldoon discusses her article, “How motherhood reshaped my identity as a scientist and teacher.” She explores what it means to be a “mother scholar” in …

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