Like most parents, my children are my world. I would do anything to protect them and keep them healthy. It is Darwinian. Instinctual. Most of us get by with a combination of sage advice from generations past interspersed with a “know better do be…
Category: Conditions
Why I’m furious over observation status
A 37-year-old man was diagnosed with Lyme carditis after presenting to the emergency department (ED) with fever, weakness, history of tick bite, and prolonged PR interval of 394 ms (a type of heart block) and positive Lyme testing. In the ED, second-de…
The status quo is failing people with opioid use disorder
As we anticipated the release of new CDC data on overdose deaths, those of us who specialize in substance use disorders braced for grim statistics, but this milestone was still shocking: over 100,000 lives lost to overdoses in one year, the great major…
From the prison of my job to freedom
It became a prison to me — impending doom. I knew I had only three months left before I could retire. Three months isn’t long, but it is a lifetime away. That long drive to work in that heavy highway traffic where there was always a collision. Th…
Eating disorders thrive in secrecy, so let’s talk about it. Starting with BMI.
Thank you, Dr. Kara Pepper, for your recent article “Why you should not use BMI for your New Year’s resolution.” Our weight-obsessed, BMI-focused culture has been a thorn in my side for much of my life. And since eating disorders thrive in secrecy, let…
Is home hospital care the way forward?
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort,” says James Austen. So, instead of traveling and waiting for hours by standing in a queue, what if health care is provided to you at home? That’s why home hospital care (HHC) is…
The pandemic has me angry, infuriated, demoralized, and scared
I would love to say 2021 outshone 2020. But I think sometime around mid-fall of last year, we realized the joke was, sadly, on humanity, and that was not going to happen. Yes, we finally had vaccines (thank God and bless those involved forever), but th…
COVID vaccination: If not for yourself, then for the rest of us
“It’s my right not to be vaccinated. It’s my body.” So goes the argument for the COVID anti-vaxxers, emphasizing personal freedom taking precedence over everything else. Unfortunately, and perhaps unfairly, we health care provid…
The painful anniversary of Dr. Susan Moore
“You have to show proof that you have something wrong with you in order for you to get the medicine. I put forth, and I maintain that if I was white, I wouldn’t have to go through that.” – Dr. Susan Moore. In a 7-minute-and-22-second …
My father and a gallon of wine: an executive and alcoholic
An executive father. Alcoholism. And that gallon of wine. As I walked through the wine section at the grocery store, I spotted one of those gallon jugs of wine. I was searching for Christmas presents for my friends. But that brand glared at me. Daddy —…
