Category: KevinMD

The opioid crisis: profits, lawsuits, and pharmaceutical influence

The absolute belief in a vast conspiracy is often associated with an unbalanced mind. People suffering from some forms of mental illness are prone to these beliefs, seeing the invisible hand of the CIA behind the music choices on their radio stations. …

Heart-stopping brain surgery: a surgeon’s harrowing dilemma

An excerpt from of Paint and Pancakes. The epicenter of Jane’s cancer occupied some very expensive real estate between Broca’s area and the motor strip. Her ability to speak and form coherent words resided in Broca’s. A little further…

How a simple chore transformed my perspective on medicine

My son was born in a small community hospital with breathing and heart issues requiring transfer to a children’s hospital several hundred miles away. I arrived at the children’s hospital, worried, exhausted, and overwhelmed many hours after…

Violence against health care workers [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join Harry Severance, an emergency physician, as we delve into the alarming rise in violence against health care workers. We’ll explore the root causes of this issue…

Surviving a 28-hour hospital shift: a resident’s struggle and passion

I recently worked a 28-hour shift in the hospital. I am on a rotation where I work these long shifts every four days, and my last 3 or 4 of these shifts have been the kind that really tries a person’s soul. I got called all night to see new patie…

Sham peer review epidemic: A doctor’s career destroyed

An excerpt from The Medical Matrix: One Physician’s Story Maneuvering the Minefields of Medicine. It was a routine Monday morning in the middle of May 2011. I had custody of my boys that day, so I dropped them off at school and headed to work. As…

Discover the physician who made a village his family

I finished my residency training on June 30th, 2000, in a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency program at Ohio State University and Columbus Children’s Hospital (before it was renamed Nationwide Children’s Hospital). One mont…

Beyond medical vs. N95: strategic masking for COVID protection

Do masks prevent COVID-19 infections? You might be thinking that it is a bit late to ponder these questions. But better late than never! As shown in the following graph provided by the CDC, COVID is here to stay with us, at least for the time being. Ev…

The untold truth of medical residency: a look at its grueling past and present

An excerpt from First Do No Harm: A Physician’s Burnout and Mental Health Guidebook from Medical School to Retirement. Residency requirements have changed drastically since my father completed medical school in the 1970s. Residents needed to be f…

Contract negotiations: When physicians ask for too much [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join Dennis Hursh, a health care attorney. Dennis sheds light on the often misunderstood world of physician contract negotiations, emphasizing the importance of understand…