Patients

How collaboration saved my life from a rare disease doctors couldn’t diagnose

Conditions
May 11, 2025

So what exactly does collaborative health care mean? When we break this down into categories, there are three main approaches, each with a different benefit but ideally sharing the same end goal: to better improve patient outcomes. First, doctor to alternative practitioner. Secondly, patient to doctor. Lastly, patient to patient.

Years ago, I went through one of the biggest health battles of my life after being diagnosed with granulomatous mastitis (GM). …

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Clinical research is evolving. Patient involvement is no longer optional.

Conditions
April 30, 2025

In January 2025, the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) formally adopted the updated E6(R3) Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines. Annex 1 and the revised 12 principles are already in effect. Annex 2 arrives in July. This is not just regulatory housekeeping. It is a clear message to the research world: Meaningful patient involvement is no longer aspirational. It is expected.

For decades, clinical research positioned patients as participants, …

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Not all patients are on disability

Conditions
February 11, 2024

A recent conversation with a relative inspired me to write this post. She is a physical therapist who often rants about how patients with chronic pain or chronic illness don’t work and are just on disability. I know she’s far from the only health care provider with the same belief. She and her coworkers spend time ranting and complaining about their patients who don’t work and use the therapy sessions …

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The endless waves of chronic illness

Conditions
March 27, 2023

Life keeps buffeting the patient diagnosed with several chronic conditions, like continuous incoming and outgoing mammoth ocean waves flooding over one’s body, raising you high up into the air and then sucking you downward, a struggle to keep your head above the water for survival. There is no rest, true calmness, or time to catch your breath.

My time is dictated by scheduling appointments with my doctor, who then lends me …

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A mundane ultrasound? The emotional weight of diagnostic tests.

Conditions
January 18, 2023

The word mundane is defined as an occurrence that is very ordinary and, therefore, not interesting. However, what may be mundane for one may be monumental for another, especially if one’s health is in question.

An ultrasound provides needed information to trained medical personnel for the evaluation of the health status of an individual. In many situations, it is a means to alert the physician to a potential problem situation for …

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Why have we let our diseased health care system go untreated?

Policy
December 31, 2022

“To serve the art of medicine as it should be served, one must love his fellow man.”
– William Osler

There is sadness in my heart and my mind. With so many advances in the treatment of illnesses of the mind and body, why have we let our diseased health care system go untreated?

Hospitals in rural areas are being closed down and deemed non-profitable, forcing their patients to seek alternatives; those alternatives …

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We are lost and forgotten in the immensity, waiting in the shadows

Conditions
October 17, 2022

We traverse parallel paths, you and I. Paths that intersect during times of stress, loss, and illness. Each of us searching for truth, understanding, and resolution.

Our stories need to be heard, but in these trying times, we are but mere specks in the immensity of the corporate orb of health care which rolls and overpowers all in its path. Its hunger seems not to be satiated, its grasp ever stretching.

The …

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Is our health care system based on untruths?

Conditions
September 28, 2022

As Americans, we live in one of the most affluent countries in the world. Outwardly, many of our citizens seem to possess the necessities of life: shelter, food, job employment, and world-class health care. But what happens when we take a closer look? Do we see cracks in the foundation?

If we are honest, the answer is a resounding yes. When one looks at the area of health care, there is …

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Shame not on us: Diagnoses and treatments need to be transparent

Conditions
September 21, 2022

In Australia recently, a woman successfully sued a hospital for $2.4 million for a series of misdiagnoses that left her quadriplegic. A London woman was recently misdiagnosed four times before doctors discovered she had cervical cancer.

A Canadian woman recently filed a $3.5 million lawsuit claiming she was misdiagnosed and ignored when relaying her symptoms to doctors; she could have died. A 26-year-old woman nearly died after a …

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A patient explains the reasons behind doctor hopping [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 14, 2022
YouTube video

“Oh no, it’s a doctor hopper. You know who I’m talking about: the patients with twenty previous doctors documented in their chart. The ones who took years to be diagnosed. The ones who still have not been diagnosed, but insist something is wrong. They’re just jumping around until they get their …

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4 things the chronically ill wish others understood

Patient
April 17, 2022

One of the difficulties faced by those of us who are chronically ill (which includes chronic pain) is that others don’t understand what we’re going through. Our culture does a poor job of educating people about health challenges even though they’re a natural part of the human condition.

We wish with all our hearts that others understood these four things.

1. When you’re chronically ill, you’re likely to look fine. When I …

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Support groups are life-changing for many patients

Conditions
February 27, 2022

“Gimme five,” the TV doctor said to his little patient as he entered the exam room. As I watched this scene in an evening TV program, I was reminded of one of my pediatric practice’s most gratifying stories, which happened over 20 years ago.

Before the days of cellphones, the internet, and social media, I had become the local expert on support groups. After realizing how what I learned from support …

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What it takes to be called a great doctor: a patient’s perspective

Potpourri
December 11, 2020

Let me begin by extending my gratitude to all physicians who have served our country during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. During this trying time, your dedication and service have given a sense of stability and confidence in our health care systems at a time filled with so much uncertainty and turmoil.

As a member of the “Baby Boomer” generation, I’ve seen my fair share of physicians over the years. …

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The healing power of art [PODCAST]

Podcast
June 16, 2020
YouTube video

“Each morning before the doctors came in for rounds; I’d paint feverishly whatever abstraction came to mind and what evolved from my situation. When I completed my pieces, I felt like I had not only gotten out my frustrations and worry, but also found a place of joy and gratitude. I would put each canvas outside my hospital room, and soon …

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What to do when chronic illness is a source of embarrassment

Conditions
November 26, 2019

Embarrassment is a feeling of awkward self-consciousness or shame. It manifests as a sense of discomfort or even foolishness around others. Feeling embarrassed is emotionally painful because it means you feel uncomfortable with yourself.

The problem with embarrassment is that it adds a layer of mental suffering to the difficulties you’re already facing with your health. Here are four reasons why those of us who are chronically ill feel embarrassed at …

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4 reasons why patients don’t take their medications

Physician
December 7, 2017

I often see patients for follow-up and learn they are not taking the medications either I or another health care provider prescribed. Sometimes the reason is obvious, and other times the patient is reluctant to give up the information. Patients have the right to take or not take medication that was prescribed. But, sometimes by not doing so, they are putting their health at risk.

As a doctor, I want my …

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Patients and doctors should give each other the benefit of the doubt

Physician
September 1, 2017

In my first year in the hospital, as a third-year medical student, there was one refrain I often heard from physicians and staff alike: This is a hospital, not a hotel. It was an expression of the frustration engendered by “needy patients,” those who were upset that their breakfast was late or that the room was too hot or that they couldn’t speak with the physician just this second. Often, …

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Death is not the enemy. More physicians need to realize that.

Physician
August 20, 2016

I knew it was bad when she couldn’t tell me her name. I watched her face fill with frustration as a word she had uttered countless times over eight decades somehow got lost between her brain and her lips.

It was 2 a.m. and I was on call as the surgical resident. I had been told that a patient with bladder cancer was being transferred from another hospital, and, as these …

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The enemy is not death. The enemy is needless suffering.

Physician
May 24, 2016

Among hospice staff, it is called “getting it.” One says, “He doesn’t get it,” “I think she gets it,” or, “They definitely get it.” It is a little hard to define, but as with pornography, you know it when you see it.   Nonetheless, given the importance of “getting” good end-of-life care, let us take a moment to try and explain.

The 92-year-old patient is bleeding into her head, but has blood …

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