On a recent vacation, I went out to eat at a small, out-of-the-way restaurant we always visit on our trips to the Outer Banks. There, I spotted a poster on the wall explaining why the cafe no longer uses plastic bags or plastic straws: to keep the mate…
As the health care landscape evolves, health care provider roles continue to shift. Industries recognize the power of collaboration and the strength of communication between different providers; among those, the pharmacist and the physician. Unfortunat…
In observing trends among my patient encounters, to me, there appears to be a distinct difference in clinical encounters between more “holistically-minded” patients and more “traditionally-minded” patients, for lack of better te…
I am considered a “xennial” physician. Not quite a millennial — but also not fitting into the generation of the respected preceptors I had in medical school and residency. I took my MCAT via paper and pencil. My mini boards during my clinical rotations…
“Alice Woods” is dying of metastatic breast cancer, but she cares little for awareness efforts like pink ribbons and catchy hashtags like #stage4needsmore. You see, Alice has akathisia due to an adverse effect from discontinuing Klonopin — a condition …
An excerpt from Wrongful Deaths. “We will name Memorial Hospital, Dr. Julie Stone, Dr. Vijay Gupta, and ICU nurse Tracy Miller in a malpractice suit involving the wrongful death of Ivy Jackson.” Venjer appeared apologetic. “But Dr. Torrins is correct. …
I never considered any specialty other than family medicine. I always saw the other specialties as necessary but supportive adjuncts. I always thought that the other specialties were all fascinating in their own way but saw them more as a part of a lib…
Health care providers and even consumers who order their own genetic testing should really get to know GINA. Who or what is GINA? Is it some new virtual voice-activated personal assistant? Is she a new Italian superstar? Neither choice is correct. GINA…
She had everything she needed. Her husband had died long ago. But the fortune he left her would suffice. She had given up on mansions long ago. There were no children, so who needed the space? She was happy as can be in her little condo in the cit…
Two weeks ago, while I was helping with an emergency medicine course that I’m a teaching assistant for, I started feeling extremely light-headed, and the chest tightness that I had dismissed as heartburn earlier that morning got worse. I was tended to …
