Category: Conditions

A gastroenterologist’s COVID musings from behind the mask

I was recently asked to see an 89-year-old woman who was gravely ill in the intensive care unit. She was admitted with cholangitis due to bile duct stones causing complete obstruction leading to septic shock. It is a life-threatening situation, especia…

The mental health jeopardy of our youngest healers

I was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation and stabilization just after my third year of medical school. Leading up to my episode, I thought I was fine – stressed, sure, overworked, definitely, but I thought that was normal for som…

Should professional athletes get priority in COVID testing?

As COVID-19 continues to surge across the country, with an anticipated death toll reaching 300,000 by the end of the year, the NFL season has just kicked off. Multiple professional and college sports programs have also returned to play. To prevent outb…

Assisted reproductive technology helps good things happen to good people

It is hard to imagine an age in which assisted reproductive technology (ART) did not exist. The CDC reported that 1.7 percent of U.S. births in 2017 were attributable to ART, with approximately 285,000 ART cycles reported that year. In reality, the pro…

What to consider when choosing an online mental health provider

The stresses of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are taking a significant toll on not only physical health but also mental health and wellbeing. A recent study published on JAMA Network Open found that symptoms of depression were three times more prevalen…

Trained immunity in the fight against COVID

It is probably a very good friend right now. COVID-19 vaccine trials are underway in an unprecedented fashion.  But lately, questions about the integrity of Operation Warp Speed have started to linger.  A vaccine availability deadline prior to phase 3 …

Sunscreens: The balancing act between safety and cancer prevention

That’s the question that will be on the minds of many as the Food and Drug Administration releases a second study on the absorption of sunscreens. The reality is that answering the “safe” question is becoming more complicated—and more important as well…

5 ways COVID-19 threatens sports as we know it

Americans are in a sprint to return to the sports they love. Players want to play, coaches want to coach, and teams want to see fans in the stands sooner than later. But what if a return to sports (as they once were) winds up being more of a marathon t…

The failure of the U.S. government’s physicians to do good, avoid harm, and tell the truth

Medicine is a moral pursuit. Physicians inherit the tools of medicine not only through their training, but also by taking an oath to do good, avoid harm, and tell the truth. Hippocrates, the father of medical ethics, realized that the tools he possesse…

What is an informed decision in the context of an addiction?

Ironically, his fingers looked like cigarette butts. They were black and chalky at the tips and then tan through his knuckles to his hands. A couple was capped by long yellow fingernails, shooting out like stalks of hay, bending in different directions…