One of the most important things we do as physicians is to empower our patients with the knowledge we have so that they can make informed decisions about their care. In oncology, patients also benefit from educating themselves about ways they can try t…
Category: Oncology/Hematology
Artificial intelligence in medicine raises legal and ethical concerns
The use of artificial intelligence in medicine is generating great excitement and hope for treatment advances. AI generally refers to computers’ ability to mimic human intelligence and to learn. For example, by using machine learning, scientists are wo…
When patients die, physicians mourn as well
I was driving to work one morning, and as part of my new routine, I listen to The Moth podcast. If you do not know it, it’s a wonderful community of storytellers — compelling stories, told by people from every walk of life. I often find myself dr…
It’s time for AI-enabled solutions in health care to live up to their buzz
Artificial intelligence is incredibly buzzy in health care right now, and for a good reason. Other industries are already experiencing AI-enabled radical transformations, like real-time fraud monitoring and detection in banking and finance and instanta…
The unexpected people who’s listening to your conference speech
Do you ever wonder what the staff in hotel conference rooms think about what we talk about in presentations and lectures? I talk about sensitive stuff — sexuality, fertility, etc. — and I use words that many people have not said out loud in…
The randomness of cancer: bad luck or something else?
Randomness in life is inevitable because the universe is a pretty random place, although the extent to which you believe that depends upon your own value system. This notion comes into play almost every day of my practice in the PICU because many of th…
It’s time we get the technology working for the patients, and not make their lives more difficult
In a world where, in a moment, I can order from thousands of items and have them delivered to my doorstep the same or next day at the press of a button without having to re-enter my name, address, and billing information each time, it would seem that f…
A dermatologist mourns alone
Some may think that being a dermatologist means taking care of the “superficial.” I beg to defer. We spend a great deal of time performing procedures and talking to patients. During our visits, patients share their truth, and open up their hearts to us…
Clinical practice guidelines have problems, but they’re not broken
A Health Affairs blog post titled “Fixing Clinical Practice Guidelines” echoed several concerns I’ve discussed previously: practice guidelines are being produced in abundance but often have variable methodological quality, financial c…
After a spouse’s death, a physician is showered with gratitude
I saw Kaitlin (identifying information changed) and her husband Brandon seven days before she died. Kaitlin’s cancer had been in remission at our last visit, but this day she looked awful. I estimated she had less than three months to live. As I …
