Kayla was referred to our addiction clinic after a visit to the emergency department for a skin infection, common in people who use drugs intravenously. Recognizing her fentanyl use was escalating out of her control, she made an appointment to discuss …
I was on the phone with my sister when I thought I heard a knock at the door. Then another. My dogs barked, and I told her, “Don’t hang up.” My chest tightened. Nightmares of someone coming for me flashed through my mind—a stranger lu…
Can you imagine waking up drunk, or getting drunk in the middle of your workday without having touched a drop of alcohol?! When I first saw my husband Joe having these drunken episodes, I thought he must be secretly drinking or at least sleepwalking to…
I have spent nearly half a century in the world of health care leadership, first in management and later as a consultant. Throughout my career, one of my most consistent observations has been that most health care organizations do not treat physicians …
Suicide is the act of an individual ending their life. It is generally caused by the convergence of multiple factors, the most significant of which is untreated or end-stage psychiatric illness. As a practicing psychiatrist who has been involved in the…
Before her diagnosis, my mom was extremely active and healthy. She loved bird watching, walking, and volunteering at her church and its school. So in 2013, when she began experiencing symptoms like incontinence and difficulties with walking, we knew th…
Before her diagnosis, my mom was extremely active and healthy. She loved bird watching, walking, and volunteering at her church and its school. So in 2013, when she began experiencing symptoms like incontinence and difficulties with walking, we knew th…
KevinMD has been publishing multiple reports about the current widespread, deeply worrisome physician burnout and suicide phenomena. As a card-carrying epidemiologist, I have sought to categorize these reports into the three overarching factors we migh…
Long COVID is real. For millions of people who contracted COVID-19, recovery has been a long and uncertain road. While many regained their health in weeks, others continue to face persistent symptoms and health problems for months or even years after t…
The recently growing attention to the burnout crisis in health care has begun a much-overdue conversation. However, the discussion has thus far been focused primarily on physicians and nurses and has not yet considered the larger health care team endur…
