Though the news at first stayed local in Philadelphia and the northeast, it’s gaining traction nationwide. ZDoggMD is on it. Bernie Sanders held a rally. What happened? The venerable Hahnemann University Hospital, the main teaching hospital for Drexel …
Category: Public Health & Policy
What health care can learn from the Boeing 737 Max tragedies
The recent Boeing 737 airline crashes have left a scar on the American (and worldwide) psyche regarding air travel. Boeing, an iconic brand, prestigious in history and talent, neglected to update and formally educate pilots regarding an essential softw…
Scope of practice expansion: Patient safety is sacrificed for greater access
When a patient seeks the care of a professional, they expect that person to be well trained, experienced, and constantly continuing their education. As an ophthalmologist, I completed a 4-year undergraduate program at Virginia Commonwealth University, …
Street medicine: You don’t know about it, but you don’t care to
Street medicine is a small niche, but it’s not new. Dr. Jim Withers and Dr. James O’Connell began the pioneering in the United States in the 1980s, and it’s not just a local practice; the Street Medicine Institute is a global organization made up of fi…
Remembering the lives lost — and lives saved — in Normandy 75 years ago
Nothing quite prepares you for the American cemetery in Normandy, the final resting place for 9,380 lives cut short in World War II. Even if you’ve seen “Saving Private Ryan,” you can’t help feeling an emotional gut punch, a com…
Reduce health care’s carbon footprint to save our patients
I would like to explore a typical American health care experience through a different lens: energy. Upon entering a hospital, I would see bright lighting and hear the gentle hum from ventilation. If I were to get an MRI, this requires significant energ…
What Ocasio-Cortez and Cruz get right about birth control
I think we can all agree that women have a lot more hoops to jump through when it comes to contraception. If a woman wants to go on the pill, she has to go through the bureaucratic process of seeing a doctor and getting a prescription. This is why I am…
Should physicians stay in their lane on abortion?
Now more than ever, it seems that medicine, politics, social justice, and societal mores have become intertwined. There are so many “lanes” that the 405 to the 10 freeway splits seem like country roads in comparison. Perhaps we have social …
How technology ruined, and can save, the doctor-patient relationship
Each year, Medical Economics surveys physician readers to find out what irks them most. Topping the latest list: insurance paperwork, followed closely by electronic health records (EHRs). The reason is the same for both. Insurers and EHRs get between d…
Does medical school train students to become managers or leaders?
I worked with someone (not a physician, but that doesn’t really matter here) whose title was “assistant director.” He and I quickly recognized that we worked well together: His head brimmed with big visions and ideas, whereas my head brimmed with plans…
