Steve Burgess is a hospitalist.

13.1 million missing Americans since 1980. Where’s the outrage?

Medications
September 20, 2023

Americans die younger than people living in other wealthy nations. A lot younger. That’s been the case since the early 1980s, and it’s getting worse. A lot worse. Since 1980, 13.1 million American lives have been lost relative to other wealthy nations.

Did we even see this in the news? The entire population of the Los Angeles metropolitan statistical area lost in a little over 40 years. Over 2 million were …

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13.1 million missing Americans since 1980. Where’s the outrage?

CME budgets expire soon: Use it or lose it

Physician
December 20, 2021

Most physicians receive a budget for CME expenses, and many of those expire on December 31. It’s important to take action now – if you have funds left, there’s a good chance they will be disappear when 2021 ends, and you will then be spending your 2022 CME allowance.

It’s unfortunate that CME budgets typically expire on December 31. This is an incredibly busy time of year, and most of us …

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CME budgets expire soon: Use it or lose it

Dying after leaving AMA

Conditions and Diseases
August 7, 2021

The nurse called: “The patient wants to leave AMA.”

These calls come, fortunately not often. Typically the patient is not terribly ill, but they really miss their cigarettes or alcohol. Spending another day or two in the hospital would be wise, but leaving against medical advice is not actually jeopardizing their life.

This was different. This patient was very ill, but competent to make his own …

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Dying after leaving AMA