The Patient Experience That Made Me a Better Doctor
Round One
In my thirty-two years of practicing medicine I have only taken care of one celebrity who ninety-nine percent of the population has never heard of. But Cleveland Williams was a celebrity to me, because I was a savant when it came to boxing. It started in fourth grade when I squared off with the playground bully, Chuckie Thurman on the four-square court. Chuckie was built like a house with wide shoulders, a thick neck, and biceps that he could flex. He had coke bottle eyeglasses and small, sneering eyes. After running through our four-square court multiple times and grabbing the ball and disrupting the game I demanded he stop.
March is #ColorectalCancerAwarenessMonth
The article below outlines a real story with a positive outcome and is a reminder that a simple colonoscopy serves as early detection for a preventable disease.
ReachMD Podcast
ReachMD Podcast - An 11 minute interview I recently had with Andrew Wilner, MD, FAAN, FACP. Together we provide insight into the role of hospitalists: doctors who take care of sick patients admitted to a hospital.
Physicians Practice
As a practicing gastroenterologist, so deeply affected by the implementation of the Hospitalist system that I wrote a novel satirizing medical care in the 21st century titled "The Hospitalist," I feel compelled to respond to the perspectives offered by Drs. Wachter, Goldman, and Gunderman in the Sept. 15th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. I respect the statistics showing the advantages of Hospitalists quoted by Wachter and Goldman, but as Mark Twain said — "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." I think far more important than statistics are the opinions of doctors like myself who have been forced to work in the Hospitalist system and even more importantly, the opinions of the people most affected by this change in healthcare that none of us were told about or asked our opinion about, our patients. Continue to read more ...
Letters from Readers
I always enjoy hearing from those who attend my book discussions. Here’s an excerpt from a recent letter.
FRIDAY THE 13th
Here's a short story 'Friday, The 13th' which I originally wrote when I was in college working a summer job as an orderly in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida. Years later, I edited it further and won 1st prize - short story category in a contest at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas - 2011
