Fessing up to tobacco use
It’s a question many of us are routinely asked during a visit to the doctor: Do you smoke or use tobacco? Ideally, nothing less than the truth should suffice – but according to a newly released poll,...
View ArticleIs the doctor too old?
Here’s a dilemma: The doctor is 83 years old and still seeing patients. There’ve been no complaints – so far – about the quality of his care, yet hospital leaders sense it’s only a matter of time...
View ArticleDoctor, heal thyself
Do doctors who are carrying a few extra pounds shy away from advising overweight patients to lose weight? Are they less likely to counsel patients about making lifestyle changes – eating broccoli,...
View ArticlePatient privacy vs. the urge to snoop
When nearly a dozen teens and young adults were hospitalized last year after overdosing on a designer drug at a party in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine, some hospital employees apparently couldn’t...
View ArticleWhat price for peace of mind?
The patient is eight years out from treatment for breast cancer and is doing well, but four times a year she insists on a blood test to check her inflammation levels. The test is pointless and has...
View ArticleFire all the fat patients
Ida Davidson, of Shrewsbury, Mass., started seeing a new primary care doctor but on the second visit, she was told by Dr. Helen Carter that she needed to find another doctor. The reason? Davidson...
View ArticleLessons in Professionalism 101
A couple of years ago there was an online flap over a MedPage Today blog post about a group of medical students and a vending machine that dispensed beer. Writer Charles Bankhead was attending a...
View ArticleGoing public with disease: How much is too much?
I’m rooting for Robin Roberts. As if breast cancer in her 40s wasn’t enough, the warm, sparkly co-anchor of Good Morning America is now dealing with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare bone marrow...
View ArticleA cancer hero, fallen from grace
Two days after the news of Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace, I’m still not sure what my reaction should be. Disappointment? Disgust? Outrage? Probably all three. Not because he cheated his way to the...
View ArticleMovember: just another gimmick?
Take a look at the guys around you this month and count how many of them are displaying more facial hair than usual. Chalk it up to Movember, a global charity event that invites men to grow mustaches...
View ArticleThe ethics of medical job shadowing: Who benefits?
The patient was about to undergo surgery when the surgeon came into the hospital room with “a clan of about six ‘student doctors’.” It was uncomfortable and embarrassing: As the young students craned...
View Article5 health messages from Angelina Jolie
It’s been more than two weeks since actress Angelina Jolie revealed the bombshell story of her preventive double mastectomy, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the implications. This was a...
View ArticleShowing skin: When medical photos get provocative
Picture, if you will, a magazine cover photo of a (presumably) unconscious and mostly nude female patient, one leg raised and the other sprawled sideways, being positioned for surgery by three men in...
View Article5 things to think about before you pink
October is upon us, and the pink reminders that this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month seem more prolific than the autumn leaves scattering from the trees. Here’s another reminder: Consumer beware. Just...
View ArticleCompeting our way to better health
Reactions to the finale of the latest season of “The Biggest Loser” seem to fall into two general categories: 1) Rachel Frederickson, who shed more than half of her body weight to win the competition...
View ArticleLearning to give bad news: the patient’s perspective
After Suzanne Leigh’s daughter, Natasha, died from a brain tumor, her mother wrote an essay about “What I wish I’d said to my child’s doctor.” One of her pieces of advice was to ban junior doctors from...
View ArticleWhat price for peace of mind?
The patient is eight years out from treatment for breast cancer and is doing well, but four times a year she insists on a blood test to check her inflammation levels. The test is pointless and has...
View ArticleWhen the patient becomes the doctor’s caretaker
In a video interview, the anonymous doctor’s frustration comes through loud and clear. She takes care of complex patients with many health needs, often working 11 or 12 hours a day, sacrificing time...
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