“Doctors undergo mandatory training sessions in medical school to prepare for unexpected medical emergencies. Health care workers are mandated reporters who have to undergo specific training for the purpose of identifying child and elder abuse or…
Category: Public Health & Policy
Diagnosis: malformation of a health care system
In recent years, we have seen a magnificent increase in the accuracy of medical diagnoses. As the most compelling example, l propose the diagnosis provided by our country’s top clinicians with regard to what ails our health care system. Seasoned vetera…
A physician shares images of humanity
An excerpt from The Bonds We Share: Images of Humanity, 40 Years Around the Globe. A young girl decorated for the Jaisalmer camel festival. The Jaisalmer Desert Festival is an annual event that takes place in February in the beautiful city of Jaisalmer…
Is health care a right or privilege? The economic consequences of that answer. [PODCAST]
“American medicine is facing an identity crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to socioeconomic health disparities and turned up the heat on the question of whether health care is a right or a privilege. The financial strain on …
We’ve had a single-payer health system all along
It’s one of the largest integrated health care systems in the United States. It takes care of over nine million patients in 170 hospitals within nearly every state. Its patients are on average, older, sicker, and more disadvantaged than the rest of the…
The unfair blame on primary care physicians
When plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Pearl published his Los Angeles Times op-ed, “How Doctor Culture Sinks U.S. Healthcare,” a polemic essay critical of primary care physicians like me, he set off a firestorm. While he made some valid points, Dr. Pearl als…
Behavioral health providers face challenges in value-based care
Value-based care (VBC) continues to be a popular expression across the health care landscape, but the challenges and opportunities it offers are quite different across specialties. Behavioral health (BH) providers are an important case in point. The op…
People with addiction belong in clinics — not jails
“Doc, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m here right now.” Though in his mid-60s, my patient had the wide-eyed bewilderment more familiar of a child. He was late for our first visit together — but he was there and agai…
Cannabis is ground zero in the fight for racial justice in America
The American Medical Association (AMA) has become unmoored in history, seemingly unaware that both racism and the war on drugs are no longer tolerated by society. A confluence of recent activities and events having to do with their stance on medical ca…
How to avoid treatment you don’t need
An excerpt from Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win. The American epidemic of unnecessary medical treatment is one of the reasons your health care costs keep going up. Experts estimate it’s wasting hun…
