Infectious Disease

Does your reaction to COVID reveal your political leaning?

Conditions
April 27, 2021

COVID-19 is the first-ever “politicized pandemic” in human history. COVID-19 happened in an era of widespread social media which helped the general population to understand the disease better and faster. However, the public also formulated an opinion about it. The problem was that their opinions were distilled by the information they were exposed to. And a large chunk of the information available was not scrutinized or scientifically proven.

This is a …

Read more…

Research and censorship in an uncertain time

Conditions
April 26, 2021

Joseph B. Fraiman is an emergency medicine physician currently practicing at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center and three other regional hospitals in Louisiana. This interview, conducted by journalist Martha Rosenberg, has been edited for clarity and length.

Rosenberg: Working at ERs in Louisiana hospitals that serve bayou communities, how seriously were you affected by COVID-19?

Fraiman: When COVID-19 began, as the only physician overnight, I was pronouncing or intubating patients two or three …

Read more…

How to stop the anti-science charlatans

Physician
April 23, 2021

A couple of weeks ago, I received a text from my aunt that included a link to a physician-created YouTube video about the COVID vaccine. The creator has built her fame and fortune as an anti-vaccination proponent. Knowing that her videos are rubbish, I ignored the text.

A couple of days ago, I received the same text message, this time with my aunt imploring me to “PLEASE READ!” I went back …

Read more…

3 lessons I’ve learned as a doctor during the pandemic

Conditions
April 20, 2021

COVID-19 has changed nearly every aspect of society as we know it, and doctors in hospitals across America are at the forefront of those changes. As a pediatric infectious diseases doctor who also writes curriculum to help the next generation of doctors prepare for their medical exams, I’ve seen firsthand how this current pandemic is changing our roles with patients, shifting what families and communities expect from us, and expediting …

Read more…

Doctors can’t cope with the anguish of COVID-19 casualties

Physician
April 19, 2021

In the “before times,” most Americans went about their lives relatively unpreoccupied with death. In fact, one CBS News poll found only 14 percent of Americans spent “a lot of time” thinking about their own mortality.

What a difference a pandemic makes. With every masked trip to the grocery store, every passerby who coughs too close and every “doom scroll” through …

Read more…

How one doctor’s medical fraud launched today’s deadly anti-vax movement

Conditions
April 17, 2021

An excerpt from The Big Lie: How One Doctor’s Medical Fraud Launched Today’s Deadly Anti-Vax Movement.

Inside the Royal Free Hospital in London, scores of reporters, physicians, and hangers-on packed the Atrium conference room, waiting for a press briefing to begin for five medical specialists who would deliver what would prove to be a historic—and dangerous—announcement.

It was February …

Read more…

The J&J COVID vaccine pause: What the experts are saying

Conditions
April 14, 2021

Four months into the largest U.S. vaccine rollout in decades, it’s become clear that the messaging surrounding COVID-19 vaccination efforts is as important as the science behind them.

That was true when the first COVID vaccines were introduced in December at hospitals and nursing homes and even more so after the federal government on Tuesday paused the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reports of extremely rare but very serious — in …

Read more…

COVID-vaccine induced thrombosis as explained by a hematologist

Conditions
April 11, 2021

VIPIT is the medical term given to the phenomenon of developing clots in various parts of the body after certain (not all) COVID-19 vaccines. VIPIT stands for vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia, a complicated term explained simply as clotting of the thrombocytes or platelet cells in the blood vessels after receiving the COVID vaccine.

Clearly, understanding this newly evolving condition is very limited, but what we know so far is extremely concerning. …

Read more…

The coronavirus vaccine is not a political or social issue

Physician
March 24, 2021

It has been over a year now since shelter-in-place orders struck fear into many, forced millions into unemployment, and taught us all the meaning of the term “supply chain.” It didn’t take long before the chants of “flatten the curve” and “support our health care heroes” dissipated. Once more was known, many industries figured out to cope safely while others just decided to cope unsafely. The government stepped …

Read more…

Not throwing away my shot: Health care workers show confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine

Video
March 23, 2021

This version of “My Shot” was written and recorded by an anesthesiologist, Bryan Tischenkel, MD, to raise awareness for the COVID-19 vaccine. He wanted to show the public the confidence with which many health care workers are receiving their vaccinations daily.

We all believe in the science behind vaccination. Each patient should speak to their physician about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Health care workers get the applause, but our families are essential, too

Physician
March 21, 2021

Leanne, a nurse, sits next to me in the ICU. She says into the phone, “Now, Johnny, you be good for Nana.” We’re only halfway through another 12-hour shift, and she won’t be home until after her 5-year-old son is ready for bed.

Such calls to palliate separation have long been part of the fabric of health care families’ lives. But the pandemic has magnified the frequency and pain of these absences.

Much …

Read more…

A physician faces criminal charges for going above and beyond #WeAreDrGokal

Physician
March 20, 2021

Imagine that you’re a physician in the middle of the global pandemic. The life-saving vaccine has just come out, and your job includes administration of the vaccine. At the end of your day, you have 10 extra vaccine doses in an opened vial that will need to be discarded if not used. You know there are not enough vaccines available yet to vaccinate everyone who needs this vaccine as soon …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

Life in a rural emergency department during COVID [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 17, 2021
YouTube video

“I am grateful that I work in a small rural hospital that is like a family. I am grateful that my organization has done everything in its power to protect us… but I hope we can do better. I hope medical workers have enough left within them to give their all …

Read more…

Reflections on a year of COVID

Conditions
March 16, 2021

One year ago, on March 14, I worked my first of many COVID shifts as a hospitalist at a large academic teaching institution in Chicago.  In the beginning, I think most of us on the front lines felt a strange combination of duty, fear, and exhilaration. There was this novel virus, the world was shutting down because of it, and while the rest of society was stocking up on toilet …

Read more…

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions
March 15, 2021

“Come to triage right now, and wear your N95. A patient going straight to OR and she’s having fever and chills.”

I was summoned to the triage area of labor and delivery for a patient brought in from the ultrasound clinic and found to have absent fetal heart tones. One of my colleagues started an IV, and I ran to the OR to set up for emergency general anesthesia. The patient …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

My Shot! A COVID vaccine adaptation

Video
March 13, 2021

Vax’n 8, a group of physicians from Northern California working in a variety of specialties in medicine, are proud to present “My Shot!”, a song adapted from the hit Broadway show Hamilton.

“My Shot” addresses the social, scientific, and political issues currently affecting the decision to receive the vaccine against the virus SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19.

While we completely respect everyone’s freedom of choice, we as a group of physicians support …

Read more…

Could a glass of wine diagnose long COVID?

Conditions
March 12, 2021

Acute COVID-19 infection ranges from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to life-threatening.  What about long COVID (the symptoms occurring more than three weeks after infection, also known as post-acute COVID syndrome)?  Could there be thousands of people with “mild” long COVID who don’t know it? Could there be legions of people with new low-energy levels being misdiagnosed as depressed, stressed, having a sleep disorder, or being labeled “lazy”?  The inability to tolerate …

Read more…

ADVERTISEMENT

A physician questions the COVID vaccine data from Israel

Conditions
March 6, 2021

Bloodletting may be the best-known example of a once widely used, faulty medical treatment, but there are many more. Hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women, famously touted by experts, turned out to be complicated and sometimes harmful.

The list of medical reversals is long, and one cause is common. When observational studies compare people in the community who receive treatment with those who don’t, the treatment …

Read more…

24
pages