For the winner of any election, the moment of victory brings joy, applause, laughter, relief, and often champagne. Losing the presidency, however, is felt like a crushing defeat. The hours of travel, giving speeches, campaigning, fundraising, stress, a…
When I was twelve years old, I was at a friend’s house with a couple of classmates. The four of us were roaming the rural property, which belonged to my friend’s grandfather. We climbed through cars in an abandoned junkyard, tested our balance on some …
I am a veteran. My father and all three of my brothers are veterans. I have been to war, separated from my family, with the danger real, living in the desert, in a tent with the sand blowing through the walls, sleeping on a cot with cardboard boxes for…
There is something special about being a “first.” First to go to college; first to start a business; first write a book, etc. Becoming the first person to achieve something is remarkable because it sets a precedent for what is possible. What once seeme…
Presuming the North Carolina and Alaska Senate seats remain in Republican hands, the Senate will come out no better for Democrats than a 50-50 tie with Vice President-elect Harris being the tiebreaker. If Republicans win at least one of the two Georgi…
Primum non nocere, or “first, do no harm,” is a fundamental principle in the practice of medicine. Physicians vow to do as much when taking the Hippocratic Oath on their first day of medical school. But where does the buck stop? I posit that we in the…
During the final presidential debate, Joe Biden said that “no one should be going to jail for a drug problem, they should be going to rehabilitation,” effectively suggesting that substance use be decriminalized in the US. The war on drugs Since Preside…
“The duty of physician officials in the government exceeds that of other officials. As physicians, they have a unique moral obligation to do more than protect the constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic. They have a duty to be unambiguous…
“The daily email update on COVID-19 affecting our hospital system is a glaring reflection of the health disparities amongst those in marginalized groups. The farther south you go, generally in San Diego, the higher the number of socioeconomically…
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is w…
