I first met her at the bedside of her newly born son Tyler. Barely hours after her caesarian section, this mother mustered enough strength to get on a wheelchair to visit her little human at the NICU. That was just the beginning of our journey together…
In evaluating delayed or missed health care that has occurred during the pandemic, it is tempting to speak of “COVID care” vs. “non-COVID care.” However, the pandemic has disrupted health care so thoroughly that in some sense, COVID-19 has affected all…
So you’ve been vaccinated, and some of your close friends have been vaccinated, the weather is getting warmer, and you are beginning to feel like it might be safe to see a few folks in an outdoor, controlled setting. In-person. For the first time…
May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month. Physicians and others in the medical community need to be more aware of celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease triggered by the ingestion of gluten that affects approximately 1 percent of the U.S…
Imagine this scenario: a busy mom struggles to balance work and parenting during the pandemic when suddenly her teenage son begins to anger. He gets out of control, screams threats, and kicks a hole in the wall. Neighbors call the police, who recommend…
As the pandemic grew in Southern California, intubating COVID patients became increasingly dangerous. Initially, any patient with signs of respiratory distress was intubated, then sent to the ICU immediately. My physician colleagues and I all thought w…
The rates of depression in the U.S. have tripled over the last year, with over 25 percent of adults expressing symptoms of depression. While depression was always a leading cause of mental illness and disability, it has become a worsening problem durin…
I am guessing you have felt it. Maybe you have participated or contributed to it. Exuberant hope Unmasked optimism Guiltless travel After a year of living in fear and isolation, bound and gagged, there is a loosening of the bonds. We struggle and wrigg…
Motherhood can be joyous, frustrating, terrifying, miraculous, exhausting, and messy. It is all these things at once in normal times. But these, as we know, are not normal times. Among the many aspects of life that COVID-19 has upended, maternal mental…
The current COVID-19 vaccines have been developed with unprecedented efficiency and speed. Years of research, development, production, and regulatory approvals have been compressed into months. But accelerating the science is only half the puzzle. If w…
