Category: Policy

Simplicity is the cure for our complex health system

In country after country, I witness the same sad situation: caring, often-brilliant men and women toil in the health care industry to care for others, but to do so they must battle the system itself. That system has lost sight of what matters, which is humans caring for other human beings. To simplify things a […]

Why do we think obesity is caused by lack of exercise and not junk food?

There are now more than 700 million obese people worldwide, 108 million of them children, reported the New York Times in 2017. In Brazil, food giant Nestle sends vendors door-to-door hawking its high-calorie junk food and giving customers a full month to pay for their purchases. Nestle calls the junk food hawkers, who are themselves […]

Patient autonomy in times of shortage

Being self-aware sometimes to the point of turning self-critical — I, as a constituent of an anesthesiologist’s society, am writing this freestanding letter to bring forth our ethical questions and concerns regarding a shortage of not only medications but also skills, funds and time. Scenario 1: Patient requests for spinal anesthesia for cesarean section, but […]

Health care has too many moving parts

So many moving parts. Just last week, a patient I’ve cared for over 20 years came to see me, and she was despondent over a number of issues. First and foremost was that her partner of over 60 years has had progressive dementia, and finally things got so bad that he had to be transferred […]

Medicine has jumped the shark

As I explained to my medical student this morning that I was ordering an ultrasound on a patient first because the insurance company wouldn’t authorize a CT scan without it, it occurred to me that medicine derailed from its true purpose. Shortly later, I found myself again pointing out why I was prescribing a certain […]

Our health system is a sick system

Unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, overeating, or lack of exercise lead to chronic health conditions, and many patients wanting to make positive changes to their health may seek the advice of their doctor to do so. But our insurance payment system works against supporting people when they want to act in a healthy way, and […]

Challenging gender bias in the house of medicine

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Since the 1970s, women have been carving out an increasingly large role in medicine, and the profession is becoming more representative of our society. September is Women in Medicine Month, a great time to acknowledge the changing face of medicine, but also to note that female […]

What do cement trucks and health care have in common?

Well, cement trucks and health care used to have a lot in common. Now all of that has changed. Cement plants have a market that is determined by the time it takes for special trucks to transport wet cement and get it in place before it sets. We see those cement trucks out on the […]

Who is caring for the care workers?

Many of us have moms and dads or older friends and relatives in nursing home facilities and care very much about their well-being and the supports they receive. But who’s caring for the care aides who do the bulk of the frontline work in nursing homes? Their welfare is almost entirely overlooked in the health […]

3 ways we’ve failed woman who breastfeed

I have two hours until I’m due to breastfeed my seventh-month-old baby again, so I’ll make this quick: Breastfeeding is really hard for many and our environment and current policy context makes it even harder. The month of August has been declared “National Breastfeeding Month” by the United States Breastfeeding Committee — an organization committed […]