Alex, a third-year medical student, is in the middle of his surgery rotation. He frequently finds himself rather shocked by some of the unseemly remarks that his attending, Dr. Tate, makes during surgery and between seeing patients on rounds. A highly respected surgeon, Dr. Tate is personable with patients and well liked by them, but…
Watch this segment from HuffPo Live on two children denied transplants because they were not deemed mentally capable enough to benefit. Two angry moms are fighting back. Love to hear your thoughts.
I felt a woman’s uterus without her permission. How this happened, and why I thought I had done the right thing at the time, tells us something important about medical education and shows us why doctor/patient interactions often play out like conversations between earthlings and aliens… (Read the rest and view comments at Critical Decisions)
Interesting to see a Catholic scholar’s take on a recent issue of a pediatric journal which discussed the ethics of caring for seventy disabled newborns. I contributed an essay, and the Catholic blogger somehow concluded that most of the contributors were atheists or agnostics.
Here is the link to the post.
There is a good debate starting up on a website called Prepared Patient Forum, about how much information patients should get when facing important medical decisions. You might want to click on this link and join in.
WHYY in Philadelphia has a report out on a new study I participated in, led by my good friend Scott Halpern. The study revealed the strange lengths to which physicians will go to help their patients, even if it hurts other patients. To see what Scott and I have to say, click on this link.
Ever had a doctor present you with a contract, laying out what you need to do or else? Well, this is an increasingly common practice in medicine.
Michael Volk led a group of us who wrote about this topic recently in The Lancet. Click on this link to check it out.
Here is a new post I’ve got up at the Health Care Cost Monitor, in which I try to convince folks that even Republicans should be in favor of federalizing Medicaid. I’d love your feedback, as I’m still developing this idea.
Not looking my best…but here is a blog post I wrote for the Hastings Center, in which I try to get to the root, so to speak, of an often overlooked issue: cutting dental coverage when trying to lower the cost of health care.
Here is a link to a Marketplace report that discusses the Obama administration’s efforts to keep states from trimming their Medicaid budgets by cutting doctor payments, to the point where patients have insurance but no doctors would be willing to care for them. I am quoted early on, the first broadcast in which I have been able to spout the phrase “dirty, naughty.”