Why AI in health care needs the same scrutiny as chemotherapy

Tech
August 25, 2025

We’ve all seen the hype.

AI will revolutionize health care. It will cut documentation time. Improve diagnoses. Save lives. Maybe even replace doctors.

But here’s what I know after 11 years as a hospitalist: Hype without evidence is dangerous. And AI—especially in medicine—isn’t just software. It’s treatment.

If we’re going to let AI influence life-or-death decisions, it needs to meet the same standard as any clinical intervention. That means rigorous trials, transparent design, …

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The truth about fat in whole milk and your health

Conditions
August 25, 2025

For decades, you were told that whole milk was the devil in a glass. Doctors (including me), dietitians, and public health agencies told you to toss the red cap and grab the blue — skim, 1 percent, or 2 percent milk. Why? Because whole milk had fat. And fat, particularly saturated fat, was supposed to clog your arteries like grease in a kitchen drain.

Except we were wrong.

The fat in whole …

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How pain clinics contribute to societal safety

Physician
August 25, 2025

In today’s interconnected society, individual health shapes the well-being of communities. This is evident in the role of pain clinics, which have evolved beyond their traditional mandate of managing chronic pain. A recent peer-reviewed research publication in the SVOA Medical Research journal highlights how pain clinics are contributing to societal safety by addressing risks that extend beyond the clinical setting; promoting safer roads, stronger families, and healthier workplaces.

The clinical …

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Why primary care needs better dermatology training

Conditions
August 25, 2025

About a month ago, I developed a very sudden and alarming skin condition—clusters of painful, itchy bumps that quickly spread across my arms, legs, and chest. At first, I was not overly worried. I made an appointment with my primary care physician, expecting answers. But the exam was brief—she took a cursory glance and speculated it was an allergic reaction. To her credit, she didn’t jump to conclusions. She snapped …

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Beyond the surgery: the human side of transplant care [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 24, 2025
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Physician and public health advocate Judith Eguzoikpe discusses her article, “Hope is the lifeline: a deeper look into transplant care.” She pulls back the curtain on the kidney transplant process, revealing that …

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Why health care must adopt a harm reduction model

Education
August 24, 2025

Many health care providers are still coming to terms with the opioid epidemic. The development of drugs such as Oxy opened a door for widespread opioid use, and the aftermath of this failure has led to rampant addiction in our country’s most vulnerable. As the system gradually regulated legal opioids, dangerous alternatives like heroin and fentanyl increased in prevalence. Other nonopiate medications like amphetamines have also become common in communities. …

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Why frivolous malpractice lawsuits are costing Americans billions

Physician
August 24, 2025

Frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits are endemic and infect everyone whether they realize it or not. The greed of plaintiffs, attorneys, medical experts, and malpractice carriers, coupled with the ineptitude of the tort system, causes hopelessness in physicians. Everyone else pays the price.

Plaintiffs sue for malpractice even when a claim has no attributable merit. Plaintiff attorneys, who are looking for business, advertise “if we don’t win, you don’t pay.” Once …

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Protecting what matters most: Guarding our NP licenses with integrity

Conditions
August 24, 2025

As nurse practitioners, our professional licenses are more than credentials. They are symbols of trust, responsibility, and commitment. It is vital we never take them for granted, because when they are compromised, not only do we suffer, but our entire profession pays the price.

We must be vigilant: Safeguarding our licenses is on us alone

No one cares about our NP licenses as much as we do. They grant us the privilege …

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How AI helped a veteran feel seen in the U.S. health care system

Physician
August 24, 2025

A veteran came into my clinic with quiet frustration in his eyes. He was 100 percent service-connected and medically retired, struggling to survive in San Diego. He handed me a DMV disability form—something that could save him hundreds of dollars in car registration fees. But another VA doctor had already refused to sign it.

The form asked whether his disability caused “an impaired gait.” It was vague. He had chronic back …

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Why physician strikes are a form of hospice

Physician
August 24, 2025

I have only recently started thinking about strikes. They seemed like something other people did: railway workers, bus drivers, teachers, dockworkers. People with contracts. People who clocked in and out. Not doctors. Not surgeons. Certainly not me.

You and I were supposed to absorb and adapt. To advocate from within. And we did, for a long time. We bent ourselves into shapes that did not fit. Worked around all the broken …

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How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

Physician
August 24, 2025

It begins with thunder. Not just the kind that splits the sky, but the kind that settles into the chest — low, rolling, remembered. It’s been years since the hurricane, but each crack of lightning still pulls my body into defense. I never used to be afraid of storms. Now, my body remembers before my mind does.

That night, I was post-call. Exhausted, planning to ride out the storm the way …

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Civil discourse as a survival skill in health care [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 23, 2025
YouTube video

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Critical care physician Jess Bunin, co-founder of All Levels Leadership, discusses the article, “Civil discourse as a leadership competency: the case for curiosity in medicine.” They challenge a core tenet …

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Focusing on well-being versus wellness: What it means for physicians (and their patients)

Physician
August 23, 2025

Words matter.

In a recent conversation with a physical therapist friend who lives with chronic illness, she shared that the term “wellness” doesn’t resonate with her—it feels like an impossible state to attain. She prefers “well-being,” explaining that it more accurately reflects how she feels and functions in daily life.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken and written about physician wellness and well-being, often using the terms interchangeably. But that …

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Why hiring physician intrapreneurs is the future of health care leadership

Physician
August 23, 2025

Surthriving in the brave new world of sick care requires not just a new playbook, but players with new skill sets to execute the plans. Knowledge technicians are as obsolete as an NFL team with a running game but without a passing and special teams plan. Unfortunately, HR managers are getting it wrong. The biggest risk to future success and becoming a disruptor is a company’s existing …

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How the One Big Beautiful Bill could reshape your medical career

Policy
August 23, 2025

The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” was passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president on July 4, 2025. This bill will have a sweeping impact on the already declining health care landscape in America.

If you’ve been feeling a mix of confusion and frustration, you’re not alone. This isn’t just policy. This is your career, your practice, and your patients.

This bill brings the largest cuts …

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A new telehealth model for adolescent obesity [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 22, 2025
YouTube video

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Pediatrician and certified life and weight coach Karla Lester discusses her article, “An effective treatment using an effective care delivery model: Using telehealth to treat adolescents with obesity with GLP-1 medications.” She …

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Love, birds, and fries: a story of innocence and connection

Physician
August 22, 2025

I like quails. They resemble sparrows but are slightly larger. Quails are relatively quiet and easy to keep since they cannot fly much, unlike sparrows. They have a good lifespan as well. Since childhood, I have raised many quails, and I currently have two that I bought in 2023.

The quails have aged significantly, and the male has plucked many feathers from the female’s body. As a result, there are bald …

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Why the future of cancer prevention starts from within

Conditions
August 22, 2025

An excerpt from Crave: The Hidden Biology of Addiction and Cancer.

Prevention, as commonly understood, has struggled to match the evolving reality of cancer. The traditional model rests on two main ideas: Reducing exposure to known carcinogens and detecting abnormalities as early as possible. Avoid tobacco, wear sunscreen, and get screened. These recommendations remain useful, yet they are incomplete. They overlook the terrain in which disease develops. They address threats …

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A new approach to South Asian heart health [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 21, 2025
YouTube video

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Cardiologist Monzur Morshed discusses the article, “Why South Asians in the U.S. face a silent heart disease crisis.” Drawing from his direct experience treating the Bangladeshi-American community in New York City, Monzur …

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Private practice employment agreements: What happens if private equity swoops in?

Conditions
August 21, 2025

Physicians joining private practices have a relatively new issue they should be aware of. As more practices are taken over by private equity, the traditional concerns of a physician joining a practice as an employee with the hope of becoming an owner are heightened.

Traditionally, the physician would join the practice as an employee, work for a few years, and get the “golden ring” of ownership after a few years. Often …

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