The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever. Crunchy numbers The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2010. If […]
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Costs of Care
December 12, 2010 
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“What am I going to do now Doc?” asked Mike, a down on his luck, 29 year–old recently unemployed truck driver, as he handed me his hospital bill. Mike was seen at our local emergency department on a Friday evening with complaints of indigestion. Earlier that day he and his wife Susan celebrated their second […]
Continue readingOn This Eve of Giving Thanks
November 24, 2010 0 Comments
We’re living in thoughtful times. Everyday in healthcare I am humbled by the care, compassion and thoughtfulness exhibited by the staff at our hospitals and clinics. They don’t show this because it’s prescribed in a handbook, or policy and procedure. They’re not after a high rating on the next patient care survey. They don’t need […]
Continue readingRash Decision
November 3, 2010 0 Comments
“Didn’t it hurt?” That’s the first thing I asked the 81 year-old female patient of mine, as she was trying to look up at me through a swollen eyelid. “I noticed tingling on my forehead,” she explained, “But I wasn’t aware there was a rash until someone pointed it out to me. It never was […]
Continue readingPatient Heal Thyself
October 27, 2010 1 Comment
It must be Kismet. A patient, who I hadn’t seen for over a year, returned for evaluation after developing a medical complication. Three weeks before, he entered a private specialty hospital for a total knee replacement. After suffering with arthritis in his knee for over five years he stated that, “Enough was enough.” He went […]
Continue readingBlocking Bad Memories
October 17, 2010 0 Comments
The last thing Jim (not his real name) remembered was the growing lights in his rear view mirror. When the garbage truck actually struck his car, spinning him 360 degrees and slamming him into a bridge abutment he had (thankfully) lost consciousness. He spent several days in the ICU recovering from a head […]
Continue readingThe Gift*
October 14, 2010 0 Comments
We can still remember that first anatomy class in medical school. Everything up to that point was abstract—on paper, or PowerPoint, or plastic laminate “mnemonic” cards—all intended to plug gaps in our medical knowledge. Professors stood in front and tried to help us connect the dots of Krebs’s cycles, Korotkoff’s sounds, or how to classify […]
Continue readingClearing the Throat
October 6, 2010 0 Comments
The woman sitting on the exam table before me just had her 65th birthday. She came to the office as a new patient for her “Welcome to Medicare” physical; the one time that Medicare allowed some flexibility in allowing physicians’ to do preventative tests, rather than fixing existing health problems. She was extremely pleasant and […]
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