Category: COVID

Battling COVID chaos and recruiting doctors

An excerpt from Our Hospital. Kush Kare Hospital in Columbia, New York, was the flagship of Kush Kare Private Equity Inc., a for-profit chain of hospitals across America. A for-profit that was listed on a lot of lucrative trading routes. Clearly its wo…

A heartbreaking COVID-19 case: the importance of trust in medical care

An excerpt from One Hundred Prayers: God’s answer to prayer in a COVID ICU. (August 30, 2021)  Susan was 44 years old and previously healthy; an ardent anti-masker. When she caught delta COVID, she took ivermectin, zinc and vitamin C. She arrived…

A memorable day during COVID: Staying true to my calling

COVID reminded me of why I became a doctor. Below is an unpublished account (in short story form) of my most memorable day during the height of COVID. It is a reminder that we can remain true to our intrinsic motivators rather than victims of extrinsic…

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…

It’s time to stop stigmatizing long COVID patients with mental health conditions

Mental health conditions are common among individuals with long COVID due to various factors. These include the direct effects of COVID-19 on the body, such as neuroinflammation, as well as the circumstances often associated with the condition, such as…

Our institutions have given up on the COVID-19 pandemic. We should not.

The COVID-19 pandemic is over. On May 5, The World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency. The U.S. followed suit on May 11, allowing the public health emergency declaration to expire. The pandemic did not e…

COVID-19 vaccine neglect: a tale of regret and debilitating symptoms

As an allergist-immunologist who trained at Mayo Clinic, one might assume that I’m up to date on my COVID-19 booster vaccinations. However, I realized months ago that I was overdue for a booster; it’s been over a year since my third vaccina…

The heartbreaking reality of a nurse’s struggle: a father’s tale

I love two nurses. One of them is my son, and the other is someone very close to me. She’ll have her own article. My son has just finished his seventh 12-hour ICU shift. He’s wiped out, devastated, and shell-shocked. Let me introduce him to…

The unsung heroes of disease detectives: Controlling outbreaks and pandemics to save lives

An excerpt from Outbreaks and Pandemics: The Life of a Disease Detective. The importance of disease detectives in solving and controlling outbreaks and pandemics must be recognized. We are the backbone of our public health system. We are scientifically…

Unveiling the truth: How headlines shape our world and the urgent need for reliable news

This is a story of headlines and the power they wield for good and evil (apologies for the melodrama). Words matter, and I, for one, am frustrated with the words in headlines often doing more harm than good. I am a family doctor whose passion in life i…