Keith Pochick is an emergency physician.

Escaping the time warp: my journey after leaving clinical medicine

Physician
January 28, 2024

It’s been almost two years since I left clinical medicine. In the midst of our country’s health care attrition crisis, stories of early retirement, burnout, and career transitions aren’t hard to find. While each of those accounts brings a deeper understanding of the problem, as well as potential strategies to remedy it, this is not a story about why I left medicine. Instead, it is an observation of how medicine …

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Escaping the time warp: my journey after leaving clinical medicine

A Veterans Day tribute

Physician
October 21, 2017

This is a letter I wrote to my wife’s grandfather for Veterans Day back when he was still alive.  He was pretty proud of it, and that made me smile because I knew that if nothing else, he deserved to be proud of what he did for America.  When he died a few months ago, I was able to muster up the fortitude to read it at his funeral.  Here …

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A Veterans Day tribute

Obamacare cost Hillary the presidency

Health Policy
March 9, 2017

A month into Donald Trump’s presidency, it is clear we are in for a wild and dizzying ride.  As is typical in matters of opinion, post-mortem analyses on how we got here are frequent and varied.

However, I believe the Affordable Care Act was the iceberg which sunk Hillary Clinton’s ship.  Sure, there were both real and fabricated scandals which dampened enthusiasm among potential Clinton voters.  There were the emails.  There …

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Obamacare cost Hillary the presidency

America needs more Michelle Obamas

Physician
January 10, 2017

As a presidency draws to a close, it is natural to consider the legacy it etches upon the pages of history.  For the most part, a first lady’s legacy is a sidenote.  There are a few exceptions, of course.  Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, and Nancy Reagan come to mind.  I believe that Michelle Obama’s legacy will be one of the more notable of the modern era.

For better or worse, race …

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America needs more Michelle Obamas

An open letter to America’s white working class

Physician
December 2, 2016

What an upset, right?  Your voices were heard, loud and clear.  The current system wasn’t working for you, and you won a major paradigm shift.  The insulting irony of the word “progress” hidden in “progressive agenda” wasn’t lost on you.  You looked around your respective communities and what you saw sure didn’t seem like progress.  Employment opportunities were scarce, your health insurance costs had risen, and your infrastructure had eroded.  …

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An open letter to America’s white working class

Handheld electronic devices are the thieves of our meaningful moments

Physician
November 22, 2016

A few weeks ago, my employer sent me to a three-day out of town conference. I had mixed emotions. It would put a burden on me to work more than usual both before and after it, but I couldn’t help but look forward to the blissful, uninterrupted sleep I would get in a cozy, quiet hotel room. There was guilt when I realized that my wife would shoulder the full …

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Handheld electronic devices are the thieves of our meaningful moments

Exciting implications of the neuro-immune link no one is talking about

Conditions and Diseases
August 13, 2016

A recent research paper from the University of Virginia may pound the final nail into the coffin of the long-standing medical dogma which rigidly labels diseases as “organic” or “psychiatric.”  UVA researchers have discovered a complex network of lymphatic vessels which service the brain, prompting a serious update of the concept of a highly selective “blood-brain barrier.”

When asked about methods to study the immune response of the brain and …

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Exciting implications of the neuro-immune link no one is talking about

I’m a better doctor than any computer

Physician
June 3, 2016

“I love you,” she said as I was leaving the room.

Although I was stunned for a second or two, I wasn’t really surprised.  She and I had gotten along famously from the beginning of our 15 minutes together.  She didn’t “love me” in the way a patient with borderline personality disorder “loves” her enabling prescriber.  She loved me because I was there, I was experienced, I was kind, and I …

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I’m a better doctor than any computer

An ounce of influenza vaccine is worth at least a few tons of Tamiflu

Conditions and Diseases
March 6, 2016

It’s still flu season, although the flu gods have shown a bit more mercy than in years past.  So many variables determine whether each winter brings a relatively mild flu season, a “flunami,” or something in between.  I’m a country boy doing primary care in the city, and I have only a modest understanding of which influenza strain is circulating, the concepts of antigenic drift and shift, and how the …

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An ounce of influenza vaccine is worth at least a few tons of Tamiflu

We should radically change the way we play football

Physician
December 12, 2015

As the awareness and recognition of concussion in sports continue to increase and the frightening long-term outcomes for frequently and severely concussed athletes are realized, as a physician I cannot help but advocate drastic changes in football.  Of the major sports, it sees the highest rates of concussion, and for every highly publicized Greek tragedy of a broken NFL star (Jim McMahon, Junior Seau, Dave …

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We should radically change the way we play football