The American Academy of Pediatrics’ recent decision to move away from the “wait and see” philosophy to a more proactive intervention when dealing with childhood obesity got me reflecting on how “wait and see” is still used…
Category: Conditions
How dementia and COVID-19 robbed the baby doll of love
When I started visiting patients in nursing homes, a good many of them had some degree of dementia. In its earliest form, a person with dementia could recall what they were doing when they found out about 9/11, or when Kennedy was shot, or when Pearl H…
Patients aging with HIV: What role can doctors play?
As a member of the Washington D.C. Center for AIDS Research, I’ve been deeply grateful to see how medications such as PrEP are significantly reducing the toll of HIV. Additionally, we have made great strides with limiting the transmission of HIV. A ple…
Inside the world of family medicine: a patient’s eye-opening account
Today’s health care system is in a state of drastic flux. Gone are the days of private practice family doctors, the “Marcus Welby, MDs,” who stood ever-ready to heal the sick and comfort the disillusioned. They were the sole decision-…
How a teenager with seizures became the face of trauma-informed care
A teenage girl was found alone, having a seizure on a bench outside our clinic’s front door. She had never been inside our clinic, but it was our fault she was seizing. The office manager from the dentist’s office upstairs found the girl as…
Transgender health risks in hormone therapy
Reportedly, there are at least 1.6 million people who identify as transgendered in the United States. Approximately one-third of them are transgendered male-to-females, referred to as “T-girls.” These individuals have a strong desire to be …
Transgender health risks in hormone therapy
Reportedly, there are at least 1.6 million people who identify as transgendered in the United States. Approximately one-third of them are transgendered male-to-females, referred to as “T-girls.” These individuals have a strong desire to be …
The ketogenic diet: a historical perspective and survival consequences
As someone who had an early life in rural Nigeria, I strongly believe that the diet debates are out-of-touch elite pastimes born out of food glut in Western societies. For survival, all living things evolved and adapted to scarcity, and humans have bee…
Optimize your knee injury recovery without surgery
Recently, growing attention has been given to the fact that some types of surgery may be overrated. This article succinctly summarizes the situation, citing dozens of studies showing that some orthopedic surgeries popular in past decades had no better …
How trauma, health care, and kindness are the keys to contagious change
I spent years researching and writing about the health care crisis. It was depressing and isolating — traumatizing. When I met someone with more reach, it was a relief to be able to stop. Early on, it was obvious to me that our medical health care cris…
