A psychiatrist in Seattle had picked out the bridge. At 3 a.m. he would swerve across his lane and plunge into the water. Everyone would assume he fell asleep.
A surgeon in Oregon was lying on the floor of her office with a scalpel. Nobody would find her until it was too late.
An internal medicine resident in Atlanta heard an anesthesiologist joking about …
What I’ve learned from saving physicians from suicide
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
Phoning isn’t an option. Nor is e-mail. So I write a letter to the head elder, asking that the Amish community meet with me. He agrees.
Today is the day. I accompany Steve, the hospital CEO, to an Upper Midwest town so tiny that the post office is inside the grocery store. On the third floor of a local bank, we …
The first meeting with a group of Amish patients
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
My dad is eighty-eight years old. He finally retired from medicine at eighty-six. I call to check on him. “What are you up to, Dad?”
“I just returned from synagogue a few hours ago. Right now I’m catching up on my reading. I’m finishing up the fiftieth anniversary issue of Medical Economics.
That’s Dad living it up on a Saturday night.
“It …
The solo family doc isn’t extinct: I’m proof of that
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
After two decades of formal education, today I’m finally set loose with real patients. It’the actual moment I’ve been waiting for my entire life.
We’re each assigned to a family doc for the month. I scroll down the list of third-year medical students, place my right index finger beside my name, slide …
Learning about human relationships and the art of medical practice
I pick up a Glock semiautomatic, the model used in the Virginia Tech massacre. I need to hold it, to feel it, to rub my finger across the trigger.
I don’t fear death. Raised in a morgue, I worked with my dad, the city medical examiner. As a kid, I watched autopsies and talked to dead people and made up heroic stories …
It’s easier to get an assault weapon than a doctor
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
I’ve been practicing medicine nearly twenty years, but I’m still a doctor-in-training. Every patient who passes through my life teaches me something. Now doctors-in-training follow me around, but I think I learn more from my students than they do from me.
Today Brooke is here. She is two years away from applying to medical school. She has a degree in natural …
Patients don’t care what you know until they know that you care
I live in Eugene — a sweet little community with snow-capped mountains, farmers’ markets and the friendliest people around.
But a few weeks ago, one of our beloved pediatricians shot himself in the head in a public park. Earlier this year, one of our surgeons was found dead in his car from carbon monoxide poisoning.
And just before him, a urologist shot himself in the head in his backyard. Before him, a …
Why aren’t more people talking about physician suicide?
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
Both my parents are physicians. They are never home much because they work all the time. With no reliable child care, Dad takes me to work. The morgue is my favorite spot. It’s like our secret clubhouse. Nobody ever bothers us there.
Entering the morgue, Dad opens the stainless-steel doors to the cooler and says, “Good morning! Is anyone home?” Then …
Dad took me to work: The morgue was my favorite spot
An excerpt from Pet Goats and Pap Smears.
Joy is a vibrant twenty-six-year-old woman who comes in for a physical. On her exam, she shows me a worrisome mole on her left shoulder. I recommend she return for removal. After the excision, I call her back to my office for results.
“You have a melanoma. We got it just in time, but I’m sending you to a dermatologist who …
When Dr. Timothy Malia of Fairport, New York, runs behind schedule, he passes out five-dollar bills to everyone in the waiting room. And when Dr. Cyrus Peikari of Dallas, Texas canceled his appointments for a family emergency, he gave each patient 50 bucks for the inconvenience.
Most doctors apologize. Few offer cash. Others get creative: Dr. Gwen Hanson of Bellevue, Washington gives out Starbucks cards; Dr. Sharon McCoy George of Irvine, …
Doctors who give cash to patients for running late
Could a complete stranger receive your echocardiogram results in the mail?
Could a homeless guy in Boston end up with your labs in his shopping cart?
Is it possible that your medical records were sold on eBay?
Yes. Yes. And yes.
On February 24, 2011, Massachusetts General Hospital was fined $1 million dollars by the federal government when an employee inadvertently left a stack of papers on the subway. These documents contained the …
Properly delete electronic medical records, or face fines
Meet Elaine.
We lost touch for a while, but caught up with each other recently.
Like most girlfriends, we shared adventures of love, travel, and work. I told Elaine that I left assembly-line medicine. Now I host town hall meetings-inspiring citizens nationwide to design ideal clinics and hospitals.
Elaine shared: “If I’m kept waiting, I bill the doctor. At the twenty-minute mark, I politely tell …
Patients who bill their doctor for being late
Enjoy year-round sunshine with a month paid vacation. Earn 300k plus production bonus. No state tax! No call! Daily I’m bombarded with glossy postcards promising the good life.
With so many options, why are physicians fleeing medicine? Some leave for teaching, waitressing, even homemaking. Others escape into administration, insurance or pharmaceutical positions. Many simply retire in despair.
Robert Centor, MD, writes about our quiet rebellion: “This rebellion has no Glenn …
Medicine needs a social revolution led by America’s doctors
Americans typically rely on elected officials to uphold the will of the people. Now physicians—traditionally confined to exam rooms—are taking direct action to fulfill community needs.
In 2004 I decided to meet face to face with citizens in my hometown. I thought, “Why wait for legislation? I’m a board-certified physician. What’s stopping me from serving the public?”
So I led town hall meetings and invited ordinary citizens to create the clinic of …
Doctors should ask the people what they want for health care
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