Reading Toms River
The residents hadn’t a clue what was happening to their water. Fagin, an environmental journalist, wades through a half century of dumping, denial, Greenpeace efforts to expose the situation, local citizens’ mixed responses…
Dr. Edward Shortliffe, on the History and Future of Biomedical Informatics
The goal of biomedical informatics isn’t for computers to replace humans, he said, but for doctors to learn how to use it – as a tool – so that we (human doctors) can practice better medicine.
Finding Kindness and Introspection in ‘Half Empty,’ a Book of Essays by David Rakoff
the words we use matter enormously, not just in clinical outcomes, but in how people with cancer feel about the decisions they’ve made, years later.
Image Share Project (Finally) Enables People to Share and Access Radiology Results
Hard to fathom that in 2013 we’re exploring “pilot” sites where patients can enroll in a program that allows them to transmit their electronic health images to doctors in other cities.
News on Occupational Exposure to N-PropylBromide, a Neuro-toxin
If people lack education about chemistry and need employment, they may not choose or know what’s in their long-term best interests.
Reading and Hearing ‘Bang the Drum Slowly’
This slim 1956 novel by Mark Harris, oddly elegant in its tenderness and guyish language, resonates today.
Can Anyone Be a Patient Advocate?
Can a good doctor, or a nurse, or a physical therapist, or any other person employed by the health care system, serve as a patient advocate?
What Do We Need Doctors For?
… if doctors are just thinking, and not being the ones to call you back, or putting in intravenous catheters, or even just sitting and taking a thorough history – they’ll know you less well. And if they spend less time with you, a patient with a serious illness, they ….
Contemplating Breast Cancer, Beyond October 2012
I’m optimistic, because it looks as though, in my lifetime, BC treatment will be tailored to each patient. There’ll be less surgery and better drugs.
A Comedian Tells the Story of His Child’s Cancer
Yesterday a video came my way on Facebook. It’s a stand-up piece by Anthony Griffith, who tells what it was like working as a comedian when his 2-year old daughter had recurrent cancer and died….This 9 minute clip packs sadness and pain:
Don’t Blur the Message on Cancer Screening
I hope this week’s headlines and editorials don’t add to the blurriness of the public’s perception of cancer screening – that people might begin to think it’s a bad thing all around. The details matter….screening if it’s done right can save lives and dollars. That’s because for most tumor types, treating advanced, metastatic disease is costlier than treatment of early-stage, curable tumors.
Notes on the Social History of American Medicine, Self Reliance and Health Care, Today
…a bit on the history of health care in the United States. The Social Transformation of American Medicine, by Paul Starr, was first published in 1982. The author, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton, gives a fascinating, still-relevant account…
Breakfast Will Never Be the Same Again
The point is – it’s not all about the vacations in Thailand, birthdays and rock concerts. Or opera, if you’re into that. Rather, it’s the everyday stuff that fills our lives.
Talking About Physician Burnout, and Changing the System
With many difficult situations, the first step in solving a problem is in acknowledging it exists. After that, you can understand it and, hopefully, fix it. Our health care system now, as it functions in most academic medical centers and dollar-strapped hospitals, doesn’t give doctors much of a break, or slack, or “joy,” as…
Living Like It’s Shark Week, Take 3
It’s Shark Week, or at least that’s the situation over at Discovery Channel. The annual, virtual immersion into the world of cartilaginous fish has been adopted by your author as some sort of metaphor, but she’s not sure…
Another Take on Not Smoking, the Law and Tolerance
This vignette offers a 1930s perspective on what some call social health – that an individual’s behavior might be influenced by neighbors’ and coworkers’ attitudes.
A Closer Look at the Details on Mammography, in Between the Lines
A seemingly slight adjustment in a statistic, for teaching purposes, can significantly change a test’s calculated value….
What Does a Bikini Parade Have to Do with Breast Cancer?
A tanning salon – a business that causes melanoma and other skin cancers – is promoting a walk of bikini-wearing women in summer sun to break an amusing world’s record. This parade will …
Three Reasons to Celebrate the Supreme Court’s Decision on Obamacare
Like a good, smart doctor, morally grounded and, perhaps, influenced by compassion (hard to tell), the Chief Justice figured out a legally acceptable way for his court to do the right thing. Bravo!
Reading Between the Lines, and Learning from an Epidemiologist
She writes: “I believe that every educated person must at the very least understand how these interpreters of medical knowledge examine, or should examine, it to arrive at the conclusions.”