Linda Burke, MD

Linda Burke is an obstetrician-gynecologist.

If my mother gave birth to me today, she would probably would die

Physician

April 27, 2022

If my mother gave birth to me today instead of over 60 years ago, she would probably be dead based on her risk factors. She was Black, had gestational diabetes, and gave birth to a 9-pound 4-ounce baby girl via C-section. She would have been discharged from the hospital on post-op day four rather than post-op day seven. But, thank God, my mother, unlike her mother, lived. I never knew …

A physician not knowing her business: A cautionary tale

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

May 10, 2014

The future of our health care system, lies with you, dear medical students and residents. While medical school and residency training does a pretty good job giving you didactic and clinical training, they might do a better job teaching you how to avoid the potential mess you will encounter once you complete your training. Perhaps the most shocking thing I encountered after completing residency training was how non-clinical administrators placed …

Patient care suffers when nurses are overloaded with work

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

August 17, 2012

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An article, “Burned Out Nurses Linked to More Infections,” addresses an important issue that is often overlooked and ignored. Let’s be brutally honest: Without an appropriate nursing workforce, our entire health care system would collapse. As our health care system continues to shift to a business and profit model, both nurse and physician burnout will only increase.

Decisions to “cut corners” by not …

Being treated like a celebrity when giving birth

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

January 24, 2012

Celebrity is an interesting phenomenon.

On a hot summer night in 1990, my chief resident and I were on call at Harlem Hospital. We were informed that a “guest” was coming to interview us. Hot, sweaty and looking haggard rather than glamorous, we wanted to choke our director when Spike Lee walked through the door with film crew in tow. Lee was there to film the infamous movie, Mo’ Better Blues. …

Running a marathon when pregnant

Linda Burke, MD

Conditions and Diseases

November 18, 2011

The fact that Amber Miller did not fall or faint or develop complications while running in the Chicago Marathon is nothing short of a miracle. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. What on earth was her physician thinking when she was given the green light to half-run half-walk a 26.2 mile marathon? Miller was not your usual runner; she was approximately 39 weeks pregnant.

Although pregnant women …

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Running a marathon when pregnant

When doctors have to be reminded how to act like human beings

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

November 5, 2011

It’s a sad commentary when human beings have to be reminded how to act like human beings, especially when they’re in the helping profession.

Loni Hildebrandt was a 29-year old certified nursing assistant who was pregnant with her first baby. Make that two babies because she was pregnant with twins. Hildebrandt considered her pregnancy miraculous because she had infertility and was a diabetic since the age of one. Together, she and …

Physicians who cash in on a woman’s desire to be beautiful

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

October 24, 2011

Three young mothers under the age of 40 are dead because they wanted to be beautiful. Kellee Lee-Howard wanted a slimmer body. Ditto Maria Shortall and Rohie Kah-Orukatan. Shortall worked as a housekeeper; Lee-Howard was the mother of six kids and Kah-Orukotan died at the same place where she received manicures. What do these women have in common besides being minorities? They had liposuction procedures performed by men who offered …

How managed care is bad news for pregnant women

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

August 31, 2011

I read an article in my local newspaper the other day that gave me reason to pause. The State of Florida intends to hand over 3 million Medicaid patients to managed care companies who will reduce payments to physicians and hospitals. In exchange for accepting these low payments for professional services, doctors are guaranteed through pending legislation that no matter what egregious errors they make, the patient will only receive …

Budget cuts to NICU admissions will have a ripple effect

Linda Burke, MD

Physician

June 8, 2011

What is wrong with the state of Texas? Have they no heart? Why is it that at the time of fiscal crisis, it’s always the “little” people whose services are eliminated first?

The “little” people in this case would be babies who are either born sick or premature. The New York Times article, In Search of Cuts, Health Officials Question NICU Overuse, was shocking. The Texas state officials have …

Patient volume and money instead of quality patient care

Linda Burke, MD

Patient

March 24, 2011

To everything there is a season and mine comes to an end today. For 720 weeks I attempted to give quality care to my patients. The task was not always easy especially when most of my patients held the unenviable position of having a high risk pregnancy and receiving Medicaid or being uninsured. Babies have a right to be born healthy …

Linda Burke, MD

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