Category: KevinMD

Does that patient really need antibiotics?

For those of you who have been following my story since this summer of 2018, you will remember that I quit my nine-to-five job to pursue a career in public speaking on a more semi-permanent basis. I started working essentially full-time with a national…

Silence isn’t golden when it comes to health

When I was a preemie — all two-and-a-half pounds of me — my mom was understandably worried. She said her doctor wheeled her down the hall to the newborn nursery, and my mom could hear me screaming all the way down the hall. She said, “I’ve got to hand …

Gender-diverse youth need pediatrician advocates

For many pediatricians, the thought of providing care to children who live outside of gender norms is daunting. But it is time for the pediatric community to awaken to the realities of our world. We need to stand behind our gender-expansive and transge…

Make sure you pay attention to your medical interpreter

During my flight from Denver to Japan, I watched a movie called Un Traductor. It is a true story directed by the children of the couple who are the main characters in the movie. The reason why I chose this movie was that there was a Brazilian actor in …

A bad outcome changed this physician’s life

I’m struggling — truly struggling. This year has been beyond hard. I honestly never thought this time last year that I would be in this predicament. Things were good, I had a great job, and I was working on our fixing up our dream retirement home. We h…

Our role as parents in the opioid epidemic

A few months ago, I was having lunch with a friend. He mentioned a recent outpatient surgery that he had and indicated that upon being discharged, he was given a prescription for 30 pain pills. Although the recovery was uncomfortable, the pain was not …

The doctor is in, but please check your bias at the door

“What’s the deal with your people?” As a baffled second-year resident, I looked up through my scrub mask at the Caucasian female attending with whom I was operating. I had an idea about what she was referring to as I overheard her complain about a labo…

Why medical students should not let medicine define them

Sanjay Gupta. John Locke. Jill Stein. Charles Krauthammer. What do they all have in common? If you guessed that they are all physicians, then you’re right. Less salient, however, is the fact that all of them pursued passions outside of medicine. (Dr. G…

You shouldn’t worry about public service loan forgiveness

Anger. Jealousy. Envy. Frustration. I was feeling all the emotions when NYU announced in August that their incoming and subsequent classes would be tuition-free into perpetuity. One consolation: at least I wasn’t one of the chronologically unfortunate …

A story about the Patient and the Big Man

The nights from that time run together in my memory: The cuffs of my scrub pants getting caught on the heels of my clogs because my pants were sagging; stuffing dry graham crackers I stole from the nursing stations into my mouth at 4 a.m. to stay awake…