“Disrupting weight stigma and bias in health care starts with calling it out. The power of stories and shared experiences highlights the collective voice. I’m coaching TikTok Followers to own their health power and start speaking up during clinic…
Category: Pediatrics
A story of medicine’s stolen children
It was a Monday two years ago. I was still fresh from coming back from having been out of school from a COVID break. I was no older than 22, and I was in my pediatrics clerkship. I was greener than a freshly watered lawn, and I felt every bit of it. It…
Why you should vaccinate your kids
I am definitely getting my daughter vaccinated, and I acknowledge a minimal risk. Here is my reasoning, and perhaps this can help your family decide to get the vaccine for the kids in your family, too. Coronavirus is going to be with us for a long time…
Physicians have gone from being heroes to villains [PODCAST]
“I am exhausted and sad and disappointed and discouraged. I am losing faith in humanity. Where is the ‘love your neighbor as yourself’? Where is the willingness to help each other? Where is the solidarity of those first days? Physicia…
The success of Australian firearms regulation: What it could mean for children
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018 noted the sad milestone that firearms were causing 15% of all deaths in children and adolescents. Somewhat encouraging, a later study showed states with stricter firearm laws correlated with low…
The pediatricians are not alright
In the past week alone, I have heard the following comments from pediatricians on the front lines: “I’ve been practicing for 21 years, and I’ve never seen things this bad”; “I have been called uncaring because my patient had to wait an hour. But I coul…
A shift from the medical perspective of disability to a mother’s perspective
An excerpt from Catastrophic Rupture: A Memoir of Healing. The spark just scarcely lit in Jo had vanished; I had seen no sign of awareness since the spasms began the night before. Having just edged over the threshold into what I considered a reasonable…
Why pediatricians think about COVID differently
Earlier this summer, the American Academy of Pediatrics made recommendations that contrasted with those from the CDC, emphasizing the need to do everything possible to prevent COVID infection in children. Specifically, they recommended that even vaccin…
Self-harm and eating disorders in teens
An excerpt from The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse. How do you know if your teen has a substance problem? The inability to control substance use despite negative consequences is a classic definition of a severe sub…
Treating formula as medicine may increase breastfeeding rates
Currently, there is an outcry against the pressures of breastfeeding, with an underlying backlash against the stigma of bottle feeding. Commercials from formula companies, such as Bobbie, are playing at the hearts of struggling breastfeeding mothers. T…
