A colleague announces he is retiring.
Unknown at the time is the fact that there were a series of fires and suicides committed by patients at the psychiatric facility where he was chief medical officer during the year prior to his departure. State investigators condemned the incidents and found an array of policy failures and procedural errors compounded by staffing shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Another colleague announces his retirement. Unknown …
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I recently had an email exchange with a friend and psychiatric colleague, Dr. Michael Myers, on the topic of professional courtesy. It’s a topic I’ve written about before. However, one of my essays stirred considerable controversy, so much so that readers’ comments turned ugly and unprofessional, and the commenting section on the host website was closed. It seems my op-ed struck a raw nerve primarily among millennials, many of whom …
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I tend to size people up pretty quickly. Adult ADHD? I can diagnose it in about two minutes. Borderline personality disorder? About one minute. Bad actors on the Dr. Phil show? About 30 seconds (with the benefit of Dr. Phil’s preamble). I can’t help it. I attribute my habit of analyzing people to my training and practice in psychiatry. After a 40-year career in medicine, I can no longer delineate …
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When I decided to leave practice and explore non-clinical career options, I found no shortage of opportunities, ranging from the pharmaceutical industry to the health insurance industry and many points in between. I chose to work in the health insurance industry because jobs were plentiful, and the focus of work remained on the patient.
A typical entry-level job in the health insurance industry is that of utilization …
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Anniversaries are usually joyous occasions to celebrate – a wedding date or a date of independence, for example. Other anniversaries invoke solemn occasions, such as the end of a war or 9/11 after the bombing of New York. But there is another type of anniversary some of us in the medical profession commemorate because each year it reminds us of a traumatic experience we endured earlier in our career, often …
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When the greatest-of-all-time gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the Olympics to focus on her mental wellbeing, most observers applauded her decision, viewing it as an act of courage and bravery, an eye-opener for breaking the stigma around mental health. Many felt it was a positive step (no pun intended) because it reignited conversations about elite athletes and other high-stress professionals and their ability to perform under psychological adversity. However, does the …
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