Pediatricians and the clinicians who care for children writing on KevinMD about child health: childhood illness, development, vaccines and the parents who refuse them, breastfeeding and the pressure around it, childhood obesity, prevention, and the realities of caring for young patients and their families. Most contributors are pediatricians. For a maintained record of what pediatricians have said about children's health since 2004, from fever and sleep through obesity, abuse, teenagers, and Medicaid, see Children's health: what pediatricians say, in their own words. For what physicians have said about vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, from the autism claim through measles, exemptions, and federal policy, see Vaccines: what physicians say, in their own words. For what child psychiatrists and pediatricians have said about children's and teens' mental health, see Mental health: what psychiatrists and physicians say, in their own words. For what pediatricians have said about breastfeeding and postpartum care, see Women's health: what physicians say, in their own words.
There’s no doubt that technology is changing the face of medicine. Today, surgeons can perform minimally-invasive procedures with the assistance of a robot or replace missing limbs with bionic ones. Radiologists can read imaging studies from halfway around the world. There are specialists providing remote services to patients with strokes, women with high-risk pregnancies, and critically ill neonates. Mental health professionals are now able to offer life-changing care to patients …
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Don’t replace your pediatrician with a smartphone
“She is not yours to grieve.”
That statement, from another physician, hours after Ava died and as pent up tears rolled down my face, left me embarrassed and ashamed.
The message: She was my patient, not my child.
Never mind the amount of time and tenderness I had poured into her care during the month she spent in the pediatric ICU. I had no right to mourn her death. I am a doctor.
As …
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Doctors grieve too: A lesson I did not learn in medical school
While I recognize that I have a better chance of contracting dengue fever in my suburban city than there is of you actually reading this, I will try anyways. Here it goes.
My name is Megan. I am a family medicine doctor practicing in Northern California, and I love my job. I’m nothing fancy. I don’t spend my day in the OR. I don’t spend my day in the emergency room …
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An open letter to Justin Timberlake
There has been on average one mass shooting (involving at least 4 people) for every day this year. In the wake of the San Bernardino shooting — the most recent widely-covered mass shooting, America has reopened the debate over gun control, pitting a bereaved public beckoning for gun reform against strict Constitutionalists. Yet, in this polarizing debate filled with a seemingly binomial future, there are other options: Namely those that …
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Repeal the federal ban on gun research and physician gag laws
Dead babies aren’t something anybody likes to talk about. But while it may be an uncomfortable topic, it’s also an important one — because there are things we can do to make it happen less frequently. The loss of an infant is something parents never really get over, and something that no parent should have to experience. Here’s a look at the most common causes of infant mortality and some things you …
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Prevent your baby from dying: 9 tips every parent should know
I love being a pediatrician; there’s nothing I would rather do. But sometimes I get frustrated by things that parents do — or don’t do.
I’m not talking about things like being late (hey, I run late, it would be unfair to complain), or getting upset with the staff about waiting (hey, I’m going as fast as I can and what if it were your kid who needed more time?), or …
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4 mistakes parents make in the pediatrician’s office
Walter was far older than his chronological age. A mere thirteen years, he kept company with a much older crew. Doctors, nurses, and CNAs were his constant companions. The other kids on his floor were either too sick to interact, or came and left within a matter of days. But not Walter. His heart was too weak to allow his departure, but too strong to be first in line for …
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What physicians experience today is feigned intimacy
Recently, during a typical day as a developmental pediatrician, I walked down the hall to schedule an ophthalmology appointment for a toddler. As I spoke with the secretary, I saw a thin “new patient” chart on her desk for another patient. I recognized the name at once and was immediately transported back 25 years ago, to when I was a fellow in training at the center and learned a very …
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Pediatricians should listen to parents. Here’s why.
I walk into the exam room on a Friday afternoon to find a 16-year-old female who is coming in to see me for a sport physical. On paper, everything looks great: Her vital signs are on point, she’s a straight A student, vaccines are up to date, she eats healthy and exercises regularly, Mom and Dad are still happily married and she’s not dating an abusive senior who is pressuring her into …
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A straightforward office visit with a teenager turns into something much more
Spend spend spend — that’s the push by marketers and websites this time of year. Except from me. Here are three holiday gift things nobody needs. Save your money, or buy something else if you must, but stay away from today’s featured items:
1. Crib bumpers. The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for banning these things since 2007, but they’re still sold. And they’re still killing babies. A Read more…
Don’t buy these 3 gifts for babies this holiday season
As a pediatrician and future mother of black children, I am worried. I am worried about my patients who face possible death if they appear threatening to the wrong police officer, like Tamir Rice. I am worried about my patients who might be sleeping peacefully in their families’ home when law enforcement officials burst in with grenades like the ones that killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones. I am worried about my teenage …
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Let’s demand accountability for the safety and well-being of our children
I’m struck, sometimes, by the vehement tone of some of the antivaccine comments you see out there. People who hate or distrust vaccines proudly proclaim that their Googling and life experiences have taught them that vaccines are bad. They don’t care what the science or the evidence shows. They know what they know.
Me? I’m not so much into vehemence and dogmatism. I’ll follow the evidence. Show me solid science that …
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When thinking about vaccines, remove the gut feelings
Dear Mr. Timberlake,
I was not expecting to see you and I together. As a long-time fan, our names sharing space in the celebrity gossip column of In Touch Weekly was truly a surprise.
Now, JT. Can I call you, JT? I know that you remember me from a few months back. We shared some time in a darkened auditorium with a few thousand of my friends …
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Dear Justin Timberlake: An open letter from a pediatrician
The other day, the mother of a nine-week-old baby girl called my office in a panic. Her daughter was having terrible breathing trouble, with coughing and wheezing. She asked to been seen that day, and of course I said yes. I asked mom how the baby had been doing overall, and she said that she’d had some noisy breathing as a newborn, but all was well until the past few …
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Others can be harmed when patients lie
As a pediatrician practicing in the Bay Area in the wake of the measles outbreak and the upcoming elimination of personal belief exemptions in California with the passing of SB 277, I have an important message that I want to share with all of my parents who have chosen not to vaccinate, one that I don’t want to get lost in the conversation: I think you are good parents.
You look …
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From a pediatrician to parents who refuse vaccines: We want the same thing
Every weekday during lunch time, I scurry out of my clinic and head towards the doctor’s lounge because the food is free. (Even though most of the time I am not sure what it is!) But more appealing than the costless lunch are the conversations that I have in that lounge with other physicians from the hospital. Being a pediatrician, I am more inclined to pay closer attention to stories …
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What a pediatrician learned from having ranch dressing on his stethoscope
Tackling: in so many ways, it’s what football is all about.
Now, of course running, passing and scoring (and strategy) are important parts of football too. But it’s tackling that stops the opponent. Without tackling, you can’t play football.
Or can you?
A policy statement just released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggests that we need to do some thinking about tackling and its impact — literally — on …
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Should tackling be removed from youth football?
An August, 2015 study in Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine is being touted as evidence that homeopathy is as effective as antibiotics for respiratory infections in children. It doesn’t show that at all — in fact, it doesn’t show anything, except that crappy studies in crappy journals can nonetheless be used to manipulate opinion. Beware.
First, the study itself. Researchers in Italy looked at about 90 children with ordinary …
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Beware of predatory journals when it comes to homeopathy studies
