Natasha Deonarain, MD, MBA
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Latest articles
Physician voices
It's been two and a half years post-pandemic, and I still don't feel normal. There's a dark veil hanging over my life. I feel oppressed, unable to practice the way I want, unable to live and think in ways other…
It’s been two and a half years post-pandemic, and I still don’t feel normal.
There’s a dark veil hanging over my life. I feel oppressed, unable to practice the way I want, unable to live and think in ways other than this abnormal new biological pseudoscience I’m not expected to question so that I’m more inclusive.
There’s a sense of lost purpose like I no longer work to feel fulfilled. Instead, I …
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Why doctors should write poetry
Physician voices
My mother-in-law died last week. She’d single-handedly raised two sons on a social worker’s salary after the love of her life, her husband, died with metastatic melanoma. After her sons left home, she stayed alone on the farm in the…
My mother-in-law died last week.
She’d single-handedly raised two sons on a social worker’s salary after the love of her life, her husband, died with metastatic melanoma. After her sons left home, she stayed alone on the farm in the middle of nowhere. When she turned 73 and felt the swell of grandmotherly love in her chest, she moved to the city to help raise her first set of grandkids, now …
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The inhumanity of medical residency programs
Physician voices
"Z" and "S" were both hesitant skeptics from the start. Earlier this year, they’d signed up for an entrepreneurial class I taught. Z was a first-year medical student with a dream of having millions. S was his blonde-haired, model-type wife;…
“Z” and “S” were both hesitant skeptics from the start.
Earlier this year, they’d signed up for an entrepreneurial class I taught. Z was a first-year medical student with a dream of having millions. S was his blonde-haired, model-type wife; ex-ballerina-come-cancer-survivor who wanted to help people with similar experiences.
Before the course, she’d contemplated taking out even more debt in student loans so she could go into physical therapy. After the course, …
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Young doctors can set themselves up to be financially free
Physician voices
There’s stress written all over their faces. Poised in that precarious time of life, transitioning between the teenage freedom years and the responsibilities of adulthood, those six first-year medical students look anguished. Their collective eyebrows knit together. I’ve given them…
There’s stress written all over their faces.
Poised in that precarious time of life, transitioning between the teenage freedom years and the responsibilities of adulthood, those six first-year medical students look anguished. Their collective eyebrows knit together.
I’ve given them a challenging homework assignment: “Write a 500 to 1,000 word essay and read it to the class next week.”
“I’ve got a question,” J says. “You told us to write an essay about …
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Doctors should define who they are
Physician voices
I find myself standing in front of six first-year medical students. They’re waiting for me to tell them something about how to become a physician entrepreneur. These students are now elite amongst their peers. They’re the ones who’ve had the…
I find myself standing in front of six first-year medical students. They’re waiting for me to tell them something about how to become a physician entrepreneur.
These students are now elite amongst their peers. They’re the ones who’ve had the courage to sign up for my course. And, perhaps unbeknownst to themselves, they’re also among the 1 percent of early adopters to lead the way for health care change.
How do I …
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10 ways to become a physician entrepreneur
Medical education
“So this is Christmas, and what have you done?” John Lennon sang from my nightstand, waking me out of a deep slumber. Bleary-eyed, I pondered his question: What have I been doing all year? A decade ago, my conversations with…
“So this is Christmas, and what have you done?” John Lennon sang from my nightstand, waking me out of a deep slumber.
Bleary-eyed, I pondered his question: What have I been doing all year?
A decade ago, my conversations with my younger brother, went something like this: “Do anything but medicine for God’s sake, save your soul, man!”
He’s now an emergency room doc. …
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What I learned from the next generation of doctors
Health policy
One of the most subtle deceptions hidden inside the cracks of our sick care system is the lie told to doctors: that health is our primary goal for our patients. I began to understand this paradox clearly when I listened…
One of the most subtle deceptions hidden inside the cracks of our sick care system is the lie told to doctors: that health is our primary goal for our patients.
I began to understand this paradox clearly when I listened to my friend’s anguish.
She’s been working as a full-time medical assistant in a busy nephrology practice, supporting two sometimes three full-time sub-specialty doctors. The practice is located in a small town …
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Medicare’s perverse incentive to keep patients on dialysis
Health policy
Next year will be a landmark year for America. Since our Great Recession and its far-reaching effects on the economy, housing markets, jobs, relationships, personal savings, spreading wealth, increasing poverty, divided politics and collapsing health care system, America seems to…
Next year will be a landmark year for America. Since our Great Recession and its far-reaching effects on the economy, housing markets, jobs, relationships, personal savings, spreading wealth, increasing poverty, divided politics and collapsing health care system, America seems to be purging a lot of karma.
Doctors play a huge role, allowing themselves to become puppets pulled by the purse strings of politicians, conglomerates and a divided country gone wild.
As we …
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3 questions doctors should ask themselves in 2014
Physician voices
It’s no secret that America is suffering from a huge crisis in healthcare. As we watch the sun rise on Obamacare, doctors, patients, insurance executives, hospitals, small businesses and legislators alike stand agape. No one seems to have found a…
It’s no secret that America is suffering from a huge crisis in healthcare. As we watch the sun rise on Obamacare, doctors, patients, insurance executives, hospitals, small businesses and legislators alike stand agape. No one seems to have found a simple, logical solution.
The solution is in fact very simple. It’s so ridiculously simple, it might make one laugh. And, believe it or not, it’s also amazingly cheap.
But because of its …
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The difference between health care and disease management
Physician voices
A few years ago, I sat in a coding lecture for urgent care providers given by a very entrepreneurial physician assistant. An emergency room doctor, who had recently established his own private clinic, put up his hand to ask a…
A few years ago, I sat in a coding lecture for urgent care providers given by a very entrepreneurial physician assistant. An emergency room doctor, who had recently established his own private clinic, put up his hand to ask a question. He seemed puzzled.
“I can see your point about coding at a higher level for a sore throat when I was younger,” he said. “I used to take longer to …
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3 ways for doctors to reclaim their value
Physician voices
A few years ago my best friend ran the Boston Marathon. She came back glowing, proud that she’d qualified, amazed by the crowds and energized by the feeling of community. Never once did she think that she could have died…
A few years ago my best friend ran the Boston Marathon. She came back glowing, proud that she’d qualified, amazed by the crowds and energized by the feeling of community. Never once did she think that she could have died from a bomb exploding at the finish line.
America seems to be facing tragedy after tragedy. From the Aurora shootings, to Sandy Hook Elementary, to the Boston Marathon bombings, each time …
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After the Boston Marathon, we are just like the rest of the world
Physician voices
Politicians, financial experts, pundits and main street America would love to predict what’s going to happen to America in the next five years. But we don’t have to dust off the Dow Jones or the S&P, or even wonder what…
Politicians, financial experts, pundits and main street America would love to predict what’s going to happen to America in the next five years. But we don’t have to dust off the Dow Jones or the S&P, or even wonder what the Feds are going to do about Medicare, taxes, the debt ceiling or Afghanistan.
All we have to is understand the five stages of grief first developed by Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
Elizabeth …
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America is experiencing a crisis of grief
Physician voices
A few years ago, I was sued. Yes indeed, I can now shout it from the rooftops. I know what it feels like to sit in the fire and burn into ashes of self-doubt, regret and emptiness; staring into the…
A few years ago, I was sued. Yes indeed, I can now shout it from the rooftops. I know what it feels like to sit in the fire and burn into ashes of self-doubt, regret and emptiness; staring into the soulless, Cyclopean eye of a deposition camera, recounting my sins, defending my pride. I know what it’s like to live with fear, up close and personal. And I know what …
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I was sued and lived to tell the tale
Physician voices
-Nelson Mandela Amidst the chaos of our noisy world, it’s hard to know where to begin a new career as a healthcare professional who’s about to inherit an American disaster called healthcare. And it’s likely that in a few years,…
“There’s no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
-Nelson Mandela
Amidst the chaos of our noisy world, it’s hard to know where to begin a new career as a healthcare professional who’s about to inherit an American disaster called healthcare. And it’s likely that in a few …
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My advice to a new generation of doctors
Physician voices
There’s a lake in Northern Arizona where I jog. I call it “my” lake. It used to be filled to the brim, a playground for ducks, geese, Monarch butterflies, rabbits, and squirrels. Over the years when I’d jog in the…
There’s a lake in Northern Arizona where I jog. I call it “my” lake. It used to be filled to the brim, a playground for ducks, geese, Monarch butterflies, rabbits, and squirrels. Over the years when I’d jog in the cold mornings, my lake dried away from drought, measured by bathtub rings on the boulders that surrounded it. Today, rust-colored grass …
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Why I decided to opt out of Medicare as a provider
Physician voices
Have you ever worried about how you’re going to get healthy these days? Has your doctor recommended diet and exercise? Well, if you’re like millions who are struggling to find health, you’re going to need a lot more than just…
Have you ever worried about how you’re going to get healthy these days? Has your doctor recommended diet and exercise? Well, if you’re like millions who are struggling to find health, you’re going to need a lot more than just diet and exercise. You’re going to have to fight like crazy against a mind-set of disease that’s paradoxically disguised as health care.
America’s healthcare system – health insurance companies, government health …
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How America’s healthcare system will keep you sick
Health policy
Most of us want to know how to fix this healthcare mess these days. We’re scared about the future and how we’re going to afford costs that never, ever seem to stop skyrocketing. We’re scared about the world our kids…
Most of us want to know how to fix this healthcare mess these days. We’re scared about the future and how we’re going to afford costs that never, ever seem to stop skyrocketing. We’re scared about the world our kids are going to inherit and the phenomenal debt they’ll be haunted by throughout their lives. We’re scared about living in a country that’s cowering under the hefty weight of fear …
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Health care change will have to come from the public
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