Women’s health

869 articles · Since 2011

Articles, page 40

Surrogate parents must discuss abortion with their surrogate

April 30, 2013Apr 30, 20138

The story of the surrogate offered $10,000 to have an abortion by the couple who were paying her to carry their pregnancy has been making the rounds. If you don’t know the details, let me catch you up Woman hired…

Woman hired to be a surrogate for the fee of $22,000
Couple who are paying have 3 children, but had a lot of pregnancy complications. Two children spend months in the hospital

…

Physician voices

So your partner wants to remove your pubic hair

Jennifer Gunter, MD

April 16, 2013Apr 16, 201331

A divorced friend of mine who recently started dating was shocked to find that the complete absence of female pubic hair seemed to be an expectation among her potential partners. I’m not surprised, when I was in the dating pool a couple of years back there were men who actually listed full clamscaping required among the personal attributes they were seeking in a girlfriend (and here I was looking for …

Physician voices

The male gynecologist: Tips to connect with female patients

Suzanne Hall, MD

April 12, 2013Apr 12, 2013125

With all due respect to the many caring, compassionate, and skilled male OB/GYN physicians out there, we’d be amiss in ignoring the research showing a near majority of younger women preferring a female gynecologist. Some call this reverse discrimination in gynecology. I’d more simply call it patient preference. The bigger question is, “Where does this leave the male gynecologist?”, especially in a current marketing climate promoting the “female only” OB/GYN …

Real physician voices, twice a week

Free, and one click to unsubscribe.

Conditions and diseases

The elective induction of labor is no longer sustainable

Vivian E. von Gruenigen, MD

April 10, 2013Apr 10, 20134

Why do some obstetricians, midwives and family physicians electively induce labor? The answer is long and politically infused. Nevertheless, it includes patient desires, physician convenience and the acceptance of induction as a form of labor. The induction of labor is…

The induction of labor is the use of medicine or other methods to initiate uterine contractions. If performed for nonmedical indications, the gestational age should be at least 39 weeks or more and the cervix ought …

Physician voices

Why OB/GYNs are not primary care physicians

Lucy Hornstein, MD

March 21, 2013Mar 21, 201391

You may have heard of the “Dean’s Lie“, the artificial padding of numbers allowing medical schools to claim ever-increasing percentages of their graduates are going into primary care medicine. This is accomplished by counting everyone going into internal medicine, pediatrics,…

It makes their schools sound more attractive by seeming more progressive, but it does nothing to enhance the supply …

Conditions and diseases

An OB/GYN perspective on Choosing Wisely

Margaret Polaneczky, MD

March 18, 2013Mar 18, 201310

From ACOG comes five new cautions, part of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign, to eliminate wasteful and unnecessary medical interventions that can actually cause harm. All the recommendations are evidence-based and have broad consensus. 1.…

1. Don’t schedule elective, non-medically indicated inductions of labor or cesarean deliveries before 39 weeks 0 days gestational age. Delivery prior to 39 weeks 0 days has been shown to be associated with an increased risk …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 54-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination

mksap

March 9, 2013Mar 9, 20132

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 54-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination. She is very concerned by her lack of interest in sexual intercourse. The patient feels…

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 54-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination. She is very concerned by her lack of interest in sexual intercourse. The patient feels like she “just doesn’t want to be touched.” She used to enjoy intercourse and does not know why she feels this way now, but she acknowledges that it is causing …

Medical education

Is physician shadowing harmful for patients?

Elizabeth Kitsis, MD

March 6, 2013Mar 6, 201342

I was startled to learn, when interviewing medical school applicants, that tagging along with a physician, or “shadowing,” is a common practice among high school and college students these days. Yes, I did say students as young as high schoolers.…

Shadowing provides a way for students to observe at first hand what it is like to be a physician, and helps them decide whether the career will suit them. Medical school …

Physician voices

The ethical breach surrounding the first test tube baby

Peter Ubel, MD

February 22, 2013Feb 22, 20133

The first test tube baby was born July 25th, 1978 in the north of England. Louise Brown was called the “baby of the century” by some and a “moral abomination” by others. It wasn’t Brown who critics accused of being immoral, of course. She was just a blameless infant. Instead, it was her doctors who came under fire for their new fertility treatment—in vitro fertilization (or IVF). Roman Catholic theologians …

Physician voices

Downton Abbey: Medicine then and now

Suzanne Koven, MD

February 20, 2013Feb 20, 20138

If you have not yet seen the fourth episode of the third season of Downton Abbey and wish to be surprised by it, read no further. And if you aren't watching PBS's addictive costume drama currently set in 1920--and, seriously,…

If you have not yet seen the fourth episode of the third season of Downton Abbey and wish to be surprised by it, read no further. And if you aren’t watching PBS’s addictive costume drama currently set in 1920–and, seriously, why aren’t you?–read on anyway.

This is about medicine, then vs. now.

First, to recap the medically relevant aspects of the story: Lady …

Read more…

Downton Abbey: Medicine then and now

Physician voices

I wonder what Lance Armstrong tells his kids

Jennifer Gunter, MD

February 7, 2013Feb 7, 2013

My membranes ruptured at 22 weeks during my pregnancy. It was the evening of July 5th, 2003. Two days later my first son was born and died. The task before me was bed rest and squeeze as many more days (hopefully weeks) out of the pregnancy as possible to save my other two sons. It was, to put it mildly, a very low time.

To pass the hours I read, slept, …

Physician voices

Do doctors take advantage of desperate couples with infertility loans?

Peter Ubel, MD

January 30, 2013Jan 30, 20134

Somewhere near where you live, a couple will discover this week that they are infertile and that if they want biological children of their own, they are going to need in vitro fertilization (or IVF). According to treatment protocol, the woman will need to take powerful medicines to ramp up her production of fertilizable eggs. One monthly cycle of this treatment will run …

Health policy

The Affordable Care Act still has hurdles before full implementation

Brad Wright, PhD

January 15, 2013Jan 15, 20136

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cleared two major hurdles in 2012: the Supreme Court ruling on constitutionality and the reelection of President Barack Obama. However, in 2013 there is a very good chance that Courts will see much more of the health care reform law due to objections regarding the contraception mandate. Despite the bills legal successes in the past, there are (at publication) more than …

Conditions and diseases

2 ways to help your patients get better sleep

Julia Schlam Edelman, MD

January 5, 2013Jan 5, 20133

Are you or your patients sleeping well? Mine are not, and I wasn’t either. Do you ask them how they sleep? I never used to ask, and no one asked me. When I was in medical school, we had rigorous…

Are you or your patients sleeping well? Mine are not, and I wasn’t either. Do you ask them how they sleep? I never used to ask, and no one asked me. When I was in medical school, we had rigorous instruction in taking detailed medical histories. Sleep quantity and quality were not included.

What changed? Is it the digital age we live …

Health technology

Will doctors recommend health apps to patients?

Jeff Livingston, MD

January 4, 2013Jan 4, 20139

There has been an explosion in health apps. Patients are using them for weight loss, calorie counting, exercise monitoring, ovulation calculation and for many other health needs. But to truly integrate the concept of health apps in the health care system healthcare providers will need to get involved. There is discussion in the health IT world lately regarding physician adoption of …

Physician voices

Mothers who deliver prematurely face serious health risks

Jennifer Gunter, MD

December 11, 2012Dec 11, 2012

Mothers who deliver prematurely face serious health risks that are often neglected when we talk about prematurity. Today, in honor of Savita Halappanavar’s death from sepsis that was a direct result of her previable premature delivery, I would like to…

Many of us have infections. We rupture our membranes prematurely, and for 40% of …

Drugs and prescribing

10 advances that have changed medicine forever

Deep Ramachandran, MD

December 4, 2012Dec 4, 20123

I’ve been thinking lately about all the great advances in medicine over the years. There have been lots of them. And despite everything you’ve heard about looming cuts in healthcare, I have no doubt that the hits will keep on coming. Since I seem to be on this Top 5 thing lately, I figured I would continue this ride and rank my top 10 medical advances over the years. There …

Conditions and diseases

Debunking 8 persistent health myths

Leana Wen, MD

December 3, 2012Dec 3, 20127

I recently a session at the Asian American Women Leadership Conference to high school and college students about taking care of our bodies. One the topics is common health myths. Despite our best efforts at debunking them, here are 8…

1. You can catch a cold from being too cold. Growing up, how many of us have heard this from well-meaning parents and grandparents? It’s easy to see how …

Read more…

Debunking 8 persistent health myths

Physician voices

Why are we still failing patients despite open communication?

Linda Brodsky, MD

November 20, 2012Nov 20, 20122

Did you know that urine pregnancy tests are routinely performed on all females before every surgery? No exceptions. The Children’s Hospital in Buffalo tests 9 years and above. Don’t know if a parent or a patient has a right to refuse the test, but I do know that the anesthesiologist will refuse to give anesthesia, except for a life-threatening emergency.

I have never paid much attention to these tests. The nurses …

Physician voices

Physicians need to be more cost aware

Lauren Demosthenes, MD

November 15, 2012Nov 15, 201215

I had lunch with my old college roommate last week. She’s a new grandmother and was telling me about her daughter who lives in another state. Her daughter is self pay because she and her husband own a restaurant and have opted out of insurance due to the cost. She received her hospital bill in the mail and she was surprised at the cost of some of the items. As …

Read more…

Physicians need to be more cost aware

Women’s health

Articles, page 40

Real physician voices, twice a week

The Podcast

Latest episodes

Most popular

The Podcast

Latest episodes

Most popular