A friend recently send me a link to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Norman Gleicher titled 'Expert Panels' Won't Improve Health Care. Here is part of my response: a) insurance companies all have panels now, but they are secretive, inconsistent, and dedicated to protecting their companies from meeting their contractual obligations b) government panels
Read More…
A patient recently asked me about an article on People Magazine’s website about Deepak Chopra's belief that Michael Jackson had lupus and that this disease was connected to Jackson's childhood abuse. Dr. Chopra cited ‘recent research’ in support of this contention. Here is some of what I wrote my patient: The article from the Mailman School
Read More…
It is a terrific idea to compare effectiveness of treatments for the same illness—if “effectiveness” and “same illness” mean the same to the doctors, the patients, and the payers and patients who will benefit or lose according to the rules that follow. It is a terrific idea if the comparison meets the needs of each
Read More…
Dr. Barron Lerner in the New York Times ("A life-changing case for doctors in training," March 3, 2009) misinterprets the history of Libby Zion and the Bell Commission, and draws the wrong lessons. The concern about medical resident fatigue dates not from the 1984 case but at least as far back as a 1971 study
Read More…
Publication date – January 8, 2009 Dancing at the River's Edge: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness by Alida Brill and Michael D. Lockshin, MD What others have to say about the book: "A deeply personal exploration on both sides of the medical scene—the patient who suffers and strives to retain
Read More…
Atul Gawande, the surgeon-writer, is outraged (A Lifesaving Checklist 12/30/07.) Apparently an ongoing medical study, that he endorsed, was stopped because of a bureaucratic rule. The study was trying to this question: Are there fewer hospital infections if doctors follow a checklist, as do airline pilots on take-off (sample: Have you washed your hands? Have
Read More…
The New York Times today had an article written by Stephanie Saul entitled THE COVERAGE GAP Avoiding Medicare’s Big Hole. The last three paragraphs discuss the ‘fact’ that many patients are reluctant to discuss the cost of their prescriptions with their doctors. The claim that patients and their doctors do not want to discuss cost
Read More…
A patient with APS recently emailed me with a question about vaccinations for her two small children. Her concern was that her children may be genetically susceptible to having a reaction or could develop an autoimmune condition from their vaccinations. She like the rest of the general public has gotten conflicting information about vaccinations, not
Read More…
Health Care Reform Bill
A patient recently sent me the following question: As a doctor who has been working in the system even before Medicare Medicaid, are you for this final draft of the health care bill? Here is part of my answer: To answer your question, yes, I very strongly favor this bill — because I believe that
Read More…