At age 80, I am an old man. I am also an experienced writer and voracious reader. I’ve been active in internet bulletin boards and social media interest groups since the 1980s—in what we used to call “users net” (USENET)—before the em…
Category: Conditions
Why a football legend’s prostate cancer advice sparked controversy
I didn’t know who Emmitt Smith was. I didn’t know September was Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. I didn’t know what was going on in the weekend football game my husband was watching next to me on the couch. I was typing a clinic note …
A missing tracheostomy tube fragment in an asymptomatic 26-year-old
When a 26-year-old male with a history of tracheostomy arrived in our emergency department, the case appeared routine—until we uncovered an unusual detail. The patient’s sister had recently changed his tracheostomy tube at home but noticed someth…
More than just the flu: Helping families and doctors prepare for pan-respiratory viruses
In previous flu seasons, only about half of all Americans got the flu shot. Now we face pan-respiratory season, when we must worry about RSV, COVID, and the flu. The good news is these vaccines are lifesaving. The bad news is that if people don’t…
Lessons from Forward Health: How direct primary care is the future of health care
In the rapidly evolving landscape of health care, startups promising disruption often make headlines. But not all disruption leads to success. Forward Health, once hailed as a pioneer with its ultramodern clinics and AI-driven “doctor-in-a-box…
From ER overload to genetic breakthrough: How allergies transformed my life and career
I went to the emergency room 16 times for allergies and asthma as a college freshman. Each time I was given a prescription for an EpiPen, an auto-injector pen that administers a dose of epinephrine, used for the emergency care of an acute allergic reac…
The urgent need for better early intervention programs
As someone working in the health care field, I have become all too familiar with the need for early intervention and how important it can be for a child’s overall progress. There are parents who travel to larger states in search of better medical…
Top-down hierarchies in health care harm patients and health care workers alike
As I lay abandoned on a stretcher in the hallway of my university hospital’s emergency room, I felt powerless in my ability to improve the quality of my care. Nurses bustled back and forth between patient rooms, too busy to give me the attention …
Why your doctor wants you to talk about poop — and it could save your life
A patient came to see me recently (all my stories start like this: “A patient walked into the room…,” akin to “A guy walked into a bar…”), and she was so embarrassed to be there. That’s not uncommon for me. What was unusua…
How we can safeguard patients without restricting telehealth access
The state of mental health care in the U.S. is dire, and with the telehealth prescription waivers projected to expire at the end of the year, it’s only going to get worse. If a temporary extension is granted, we can leverage technology and presen…
