Dedicated to my friend and colleague Pat Irving to whom I first told the story. I’m 80 years old and I’ve been writing for over 60 years—first in systems engineering, later in advanced technology, and more recently in public health policy f…
Category: KevinMD
The hidden $935 billion problem in U.S. health care no one is talking about—and how to solve it
“Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly.” – Thomas Edison The escalating challenge of waste in U.S. medicine The U.S. health care system…
Health care reform requires better access and quality: dialysis as an example
Having spent two years in Oxford as a Marshall Scholar in the mid-1970s, I came back to medical school believing in a national health service—i.e., Medicare for all. But I learned firsthand that a monopoly can provide access without ensuring quality. W…
Why are hospitals cornering doctors with this legal trap? [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with Dennis Hursh, a health law attorney with decades of experience representing physicians in their interactions with hospitals. Dennis shares eye-opening sto…
The widow’s walk: a poignant tale of loss, love, and recovery
A widow’s walk, also known as a widow’s watch or roof walk, is a railed rooftop platform often having an inner cupola or turret, frequently found on 19th-century North American coastal houses. The name is said to come from the wives of mari…
To avoid unwanted medical treatment: Choose a bulldog surrogate to fight for you
“Health is a matter of choice, not a mystery of chance.” —Aristotle As an end-of-life (EOL) consultant, one aspect of my job is advance care planning, which involves helping people create an advance directive. An advance directive (AD) has …
The maternal and child health crisis in Sudan: a call to action
The war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has created one of the world’s largest displacement crises, forcing more than 10 million people to flee their homes. The warring sides, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, are infli…
Controversies surrounding transgender athletes and competitive fairness [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with William Lynes, a urologist, to discuss the complexities surrounding the inclusion of SGID athletes in female sports. William explores the impact of biolog…
How flawed legal reasoning can tilt medical malpractice cases
A quote by Sir Winston Churchill: “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” Actually, Churchill never said this. It may have been Ian Gilmour, a member of Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet, years after C…
As a doctor, what I learned from knocking on doors for the presidential election
When I’m not knocking on exam-room doors as a pediatrician in New York City, I’m knocking on voters’ doors in Northampton, Pennsylvania—a small county that could determine the outcome of this year’s nail-biting presidential elec…
