Author's posts
Struggles of navigating prestigious medical systems
I tried to get a personal appointment at a large prestigious academic outpatient service. The website had a “contact us” link, which directed me to a very prolonged questionnaire wanting to know details (mainly financial) that practically i…
Don’t wait until you’re old: Diseases hitting younger generations now
The news is rife with articles about younger people getting cancer, heart attacks, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, and arthritis. We used to think of these as diseases of aging, but now we are finding high blood pressure and atherosclerosis i…
Doctors speak out against toxic work conditions
I’m in a global private physician Facebook group, and I learn a great deal about health care, both good and bad, from other doctors. Because it is private, doctors share a lot of personal practice issues as well as challenging cases from which we…
We need to step up for Black mothers
I started my day today (ironically, Martin Luther King Day) reading another tragic story about a young Black mother who hemorrhaged to death after giving birth in a large public hospital in Brooklyn. Statistics tell a shocking story. The maternal death…
7 ways to help your doctor help you: a guide to improving your health care experience
Surveys show that people are pretty unhappy with the state of health care in the United States these days. Insurance is way too expensive, and co-pays and cost-sharing are out of control, with patients paying the bulk of office visits out of their own …
The dark side of celebrity medicine
Sharon Stone has publicly said that medical professionals missed a large fibroid tumor. This followed a prior incident where she reported that she was given larger breast implants without her knowledge while undergoing reconstruction surgery. We all kn…
Women doctors face challenges globally
As I looked around the hot, humid room at the male doctors in their white coats, I couldn’t believe I was actually participating in a medical training mission in Rwanda. After months of planning and securing equipment, I was actually in Africa. I…
