U.S. Healthcare: When Is Enough Enough?
A new survey in the journal Health Affairs synthesizes nearly everything I believe is wrong with the U.S. healthcare system. The survey found that patients believe that more care is better, that the...
View ArticleAvastin For Breast Cancer: Will The FDA Revoke It?
Time to get back up on my soap box. Next month the FDA is supposed to consider taking the unique, first-time-ever step of revoking a drug’s indication not because it’s dangerous, but because it doesn’t...
View ArticleThere’s Nothing More Important Than Your Health
I don’t do well with pain. I learned that lesson all too well during the birth of my first son when, after 10 hours of labor jump-started by a pitocin drip, I finally got an epidural. Nothing — and I...
View ArticleIs Looking At “Long Term” Impossible In Our Healthcare System?
I spent last week in Gothenburg, Sweden covering the European Committee for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) meeting. Lots of good science, lots of excitement over the new oral and...
View ArticleAvastin: The FDA’s “Disappointing Decision”
“With this disappointing decision, the FDA has chosen to place itself between patients and their doctors by rationing access to a life-extending drug. . . We can’t allow this government takeover of...
View ArticleDeath: Why Are We So Afraid Of It?
My cousin’s mother-in-law is in her late 90s. She had horrible osteoporosis and can barely move. She has little cognitive function left. She requires nearly 24-hour care and no one would even attempt...
View ArticleEnd-Of-Life Care: When Medicine Prolongs Dying, Not Living
The recent Washington Post article entitled, “Who decides when medicine prolongs dying, not living?” perfectly captures my earlier blog on why we’re afraid of death. An excerpt from the Post piece:...
View ArticleAdvice From The EMR Trenches
The latest from moi: “Implementing Electronic Medical Records: Advice from the Trenches” in the March/April 2011 issue of HIT Exchange magazine. An excerpt: The news released in late December from the...
View ArticleCounter Point: Happy Birthday Health Reform
Who would have thought when we first looked upon you a year ago, barely formed, still somewhat embryonic, that you would have grown so much in just a year, and created so much, well, trouble? Yes, I’m...
View ArticleHoliday Airline Troubles Are Reminiscent Of Health Care Experiences
One of the hot phrases in health care these days is “patient-centered,” as in “patient-centered hospitals,” “patient-centered practices,” and “patient-centered medicine.” For all of you out there...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....