An excerpt from Medical Myths: A Sceptic’s Journey. Most people have heard the joke about rabbits and vitamin A: “Are carrots good for your eyesight?” Well, I never saw a rabbit wearing glasses! Vitamin A, one of the essential groups …
Category: Conditions
Why COVID PCR tests aren’t as accurate as you think
Recently, I started suspecting that RT-PCR testing was not foolproof at ruling out COVID disease after seeing a fair number of patients with typical signs and symptoms but a negative PCR. I have encountered some patients hospitalized with typical COVID…
I feel more alone than ever before
I am an internist in private practice in a community west of Milwaukee, and my commitment as a physician is to keep my patients and community safe and healthy. Throughout the pandemic, I have worked hard to learn everything I can about COVID-19, have …
The failure of COVID-19 vaccine distribution confirms government incompetence
The COVID-19 vaccine has failed. I don’t mean that the vaccine itself doesn’t work—far from it. I mean the ineffective way such an important lifesaving, pandemic-ending vaccine is being rolled out. The slovenly effort is putting the lives of millions o…
The vaccines brought a feeling of hope, but the distribution reality is quickly shattering that
I am angry and frustrated, and these feelings mixed with exasperation have led me to write this. In the U.S., we failed to contain the virus like New Zealand; we failed to mitigate it like Singapore; we failed to test for it like South Korea. We maybe …
Another stab in the back for primary care during pandemic
I am on the primary care front lines in this pandemic. I help to do COVID testing for our community of patients 5 days a week. I don and sweat in my PPE during these appointments and during preventative and sick visit appointments. And up til now, t…
Correctional facilities are not prioritized for COVID vaccines
Given the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing course, it is important to prioritize offering our still limited vaccine supply to individuals with the highest risk of exposure to, and negative outcomes from infection with the virus. While each state is al…
#ThisIsOurShot to end the pandemic
If 2020 was the year of the coronavirus pandemic, 2021 has got to be the year of vaccinations. The miracle of modern science, generous funding, and expedited research have led to us having at least three available vaccines to fight against the COVID-19…
The blunt truth on why stopping COVID is impossible
COVID-19 has turned the world on its head. A major problem we have faced since the beginning is that it had already been spreading like wildfire for a few months since the end of 2019 — before most of the world realized that it was time to take action …
Is there hope for COVID with home visits?
Health care has been hanging by a thread for some time — in our community and across the nation. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses inherent in an underfunded public health system, a monopolized hospital, and a fractured medical supply chain. At …
