Martin C. Young, MD

Martin C. Young is a pediatric endocrinologist.

Is there a place for audiovisual recording in medicine?

Physician

March 4, 2024

Some years ago, I came across a very useful little device – a thumb (flash) drive that also had the ability to record sound. It powered up simply by being slotted into a USB port. Inserting the drive did not raise any suspicion that I was recording.

Sometimes I used this overtly, such as when obtaining informed consent or giving instructions that were vital to be followed.

Rarely I would use it …

My battle with atrial fibrillation

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

December 31, 2023

A while ago, I wrote about my experience during an attack of atrial fibrillation (afib), lamenting the fact that my management never included a proper physical exam. Nevertheless, chemical cardioversion was successful, and my hospital stay was brief.

The episode was precipitated by a small pulmonary embolus acquired during sinus surgery the day before. I had experienced an episode of afib some 15 years previously and had remained free, I think …

Read more…

My battle with atrial fibrillation

A surprising acne rosacea remedy

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

November 6, 2023

I have typically managed my mild case of acne rosacea (AR) with affordable over-the-counter (OTC) medications, but there has always been a residual redness that bothered me.

Recently, while reading about Demodex, microscopic mites that live on the faces of many of us in our hair follicles and sebaceous glands, I became interested in their potential connection to AR. I wondered if a topical mitocidal treatment might be helpful. Some research …

Read more…

A surprising acne rosacea remedy

What happened to the chemical pathologist?

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

October 1, 2023

During my early years as a pediatric hospitalist in the U.K. during the ’80s, a figure that loomed large was the chemical pathologist (CP).
The CP was the guardian of the laboratory, and every hospital had one. This fearsome beast was approached with trepidation, as the outcome was likely to be a unique but bruising “educational experience.”

Interaction was common because almost every lab test apart from the CBC, ESR, chem 20, …

Support your local plasmapheresis center

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

September 8, 2023

Every day, thousands of people lie on a couch and have their arm stabbed with a large needle. Blood from the venipuncture snakes down into a container. In some individuals, this continues until the volume is about a pint – 500 mL; for this, they get a cookie and a glass of juice. In others, the collection is larger – around 2,500 mL; for this, they get between $50 to …

Embracing the Asclepion: a call for authenticity in medical symbolism

Martin C. Young, MD

Physician

August 4, 2023

At the heart of the City of London sits an imposing building with massive brass front doors. Emblazoned and embossed on both doors is a symbol – the Caduceus, which in the U.S. is associated with medicine and health care. But why is it on the doors of the Bank of England, the second-largest repository of gold in the world?

Historically, the Caduceus was the staff of Hermes/Mercury, the patron of …

The hidden consequences of fraudulent and poor-quality medical research

Martin C. Young, MD

Physician

July 8, 2023

Recent years have seen an increasing recognition of fraud, deceit, and other maleficence in scientific research, including medical research. The extent of this is truly frightening and has led to increasing international efforts to detect and address it. As of September 2020, the site Retraction Watch listed over 24,000 papers in its database, many of which were retracted due to deliberate fraud. It is unknown how many individuals, who received …

Unveiling the true origin of “first, do no harm” in medicine: Discover the father of clinical medicine

Martin C. Young, MD

Physician

June 15, 2023

A recent essay on this blog, “Navigating the complexity of ‘first do no harm’ in modern medicine,” provided an excellent review of this principle. However, as is so often the case, it misattributed the statement to the Hippocratic Oath.

Certainly, this does contain elements of this sentiment, more fully expressed in another work of Hippocrates called “Of the Epidemics.” But the term does not originate with this Greek physician.

Scholars have …

Uncovering the controversial debate surrounding climate change

Martin C. Young, MD

Physician

April 10, 2023

In a recent posting, “The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools,” the author concluded that climate change is “here and undeniable” and, based on her experience of wildfires, that the cataclysmic consequences are already upon us.

Many would disagree, including Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Ivar Giaever who, on resigning from the American Physical Society (APS) in protest, wrote: “In the APS it is OK to discuss whether …

Breaking the cycle of childhood obesity

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

March 14, 2023

Every specialty has its burden, and pediatric endocrinology’s is obesity. Primary care providers refer because they or the child’s parents suspect the cause is hormonal. It almost never is. The overly adipose child invariably has, using older terminology, exogenous obesity.

Traditionally, this has implied excessive calorie intake and inadequate expenditure (the “overactive fork and underactive foot”), arising from sloth and gluttony. I don’t share this belief. Over the years, I have …

Read more…

Breaking the cycle of childhood obesity

Don’t neglect the power of clinical examinations in modern medicine

Martin C. Young, MD

Physician

February 17, 2023

I intended to write an essay endorsing the clinical examination (CE), but recent personal events have made me reconsider. I had outpatient sinus surgery and developed chest pain the next day, leading me to my local rural hospital’s emergency department (ED). The ED physician diagnosed atrial fibrillation, and a CT scan revealed a small pulmonary embolus. I was then transferred to a city hospital and eventually cardioverted to sinus rhythm.

Despite …

Where have all the pediatric beds gone? The consequence of strict admission criteria.

Martin C. Young, MD

Physician

January 21, 2023

In the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the piper tunefully leads the children astray and to their doom.

Well, the piper has returned. Actually, he has been back for several years, but few noticed. This time he is not making off with the children but rather the beds they lie in, specifically pediatric hospital beds. This was not really obvious except to pediatricians until the recent calamitous “triple epidemic” …

Measles: a preventable disease that is making a comeback

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

December 30, 2022

I see there has been yet another measles outbreak; at the time of writing, the count is 59 in central Ohio. All are either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. No doubt local pediatricians are being flooded with worried parents proffering their offspring for viewing with the statement, “Could this rash be measles, doctor?”

This certainly happened to me in 2019 when doing some primary care practice. That year experienced a massive …

With RSV, it’s time for primary care to step up to the plate

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

December 7, 2022

Every pediatrician is familiar with this endemic seasonal virus, expecting to see several cases in their office during the winter months and maybe even admit the occasional one for inpatient care. Even amongst the latter, most do well and recover without incident, though the stay can be prolonged.

However, the respiratory syncytial virus — when it causes pneumonia and bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways — can result in serious illness …

Protecting children from bad medical care

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

November 24, 2022

Unfortunately, at least from where I sit, suboptimal medical care seems to abound. And every encounter of my family members with the health care behemoth is an opportunity for them to become a recipient of it.

When it comes to shielding them, I have had some failures in the past — it took a minor stroke in my father, who lived in England, for me to realize that he had never …

Martin C. Young, MD

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts