I’ve heard this question asked in interviews, and I’ve been asked it myself. Over the past year and a half, I’ve become involved with several organizations that are working hard and taking positive action in this regard. I’m a p…
Category: primary care
The heartbreaking lesson about life, love, and the “doctor hustle”
“Bring me flowers now while I’m living. I don’t need your love when I’m gone. Don’t spend time, tears, and money on my old breathless body. If your heart is them flowers, bring ’em on.” These are the words of t…
The untold truths behind overdiagnosis and why it matters to your health
An interview with Jerome Hoffman, MD, professor emeritus at UCLA. Martha Rosenberg: As professor emeritus at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), you engaged in what is laughingly called in academics the “triple threat” of research…
A doctor’s life-saving instinct reveals the hidden danger in a patient’s crisis
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir. There are patients you can help. You can see them through a crisis, give them a magic medicine that makes everything better. There are others where there is little you can do. Their distress is…
You don’t need to be a doctor to save lives and make a difference
If you ask aspiring doctors, “Why do you want to become a doctor?” they often reply, “I want to help people” or “I want to save people.” The intention to help is commendable, but many careers work toward protecting a…
Why Americans are failing to keep up with essential knowledge
At age 80, I am an old man. I am also an experienced writer and voracious reader. I’ve been active in internet bulletin boards and social media interest groups since the 1980s—in what we used to call “users net” (USENET)—before the em…
How Pixar’s Soul teaches us to live in the moment
It is not every day that a children’s movie can touch and challenge the soul of an adult. This is how I felt recently during one part of Pixar’s movie Soul. Whether you’ve seen this movie or not, I want to write about one particular s…
Unexpected lessons in self-care from my backyard garden
Here’s something you may already know. I didn’t until recently, but I sure do now, and it’s a lesson I won’t forget—something I wish I’d known three weeks ago. Rabbits love cone flowers. We recently downsized to a cute hou…
How a setback fueled a lifelong dedication to patients [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with family medicine physician Jennifer Tillman to explore the transformative journey from early academic struggles to a fulfilling medical career. Jennifer sh…
Belief in God: Medicine’s guiding light through every challenge
In medicine, there’s a rhythm we grow accustomed to—diagnose, treat, move on to the next patient. But for me, beneath that rhythm, there’s always been a quiet hum: belief. Not the kind that seeks to explain every event or outcome, but the kind th…
