FDA Reports on Association of Breast Implants and a Rare Form of Lymphoma

It’s a Pandora’s box, but one that needs be opened. The problem is that if we biopsy every abnor­mality – such as a minor thick­ening or fluid accu­mu­lation adjacent to a breast implant – we’ll hike up the costs and, more impor­tantly, the com­pli­ca­tions asso­ciated: With every needle stick there’s a risk of infection, addi­tional scar for­mation and more. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to overlook a treatable, early-stage lym­phoma. Women need to know of the risks of implants, which can only be deter­mined if doctors thor­oughly inves­tigate these sorts of complications.

Posted in Breast Cancer, cancer treatment, Medical News, Oncology (cancer), Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Women's HealthTagged , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on FDA Reports on Association of Breast Implants and a Rare Form of Lymphoma

Another Brooklyn (and how I feel when I look in the mirror)

The image of Brooklyn Decker, a real woman and model from Middletown OH, streamed through my Google news feed this morning. I have to admire any person named Brooklyn, the place where I was born. From a post on my BlogHer health RSS: The BlogHer subject is Decker’s diet and exercise secrets: “…no matter how […]

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Sad Stats for Science Knowledge in U.S. Schools

Today’s Times reports on our nation’s students’ poor science test results. The results are bleak: only 34% of fourth graders scored at a “proficient” level or higher; just 30% of eight graders scored at a proficient level or higher; 21% of twelfth graders scored at a proficient or higher level in science. The mega-analysis, prepared […]

Posted in Empowered Patient, Future of Medicine, Informed Consent, Medical Education, Patient Autonomy, Public Health, ScienceTagged , , , , , , Leave a Comment on Sad Stats for Science Knowledge in U.S. Schools

Why It’s a Good Idea to Get a Second Opinion, and Maybe a Third, But Rarely a Fourth

A few years ago I started writing a book on what it was like to be a cancer patient and an oncologist. This morning I came upon this section on second opinions: Is it OK to get a second opinion? Definitely. And there’s no need to be secretive about it, or to worry about hurting […]

Posted in cancer treatment, Communication, Empowered Patient, Life as a Doctor, Life as a Patient, Oncology (cancer), Patient-Doctor RelationshipTagged , , , , , , 1 Comment on Why It’s a Good Idea to Get a Second Opinion, and Maybe a Third, But Rarely a Fourth

Cautious Optimism for a New Melanoma Treatment

This morning’s news feed delivered some seemingly excellent news for some people with melanoma. At least until now, this form of skin cancer has been considered incurable when metastatic. In the last year, we heard details about the ups and downs of ongoing clinical trials of new drugs to treat the disease. The Times reports […]

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Regional Dialects on Twitter, and Other Things You Gotta Know

I was listening to All Things Considered yesterday while preparing dinner. A short, interesting story came on: You Have An Accent Even On Twitter. The NPR host, Robert Siegel, interviewed Jacob Eisenstein, a post-doc at Carnegie Mellon who has been examining regional variances in Twitter usage. Some highlighted examples of Twitter dialecticisms: In New York, […]

Posted in Communication, language, Life, Radio, Social MediaTagged , , , , , 1 Comment on Regional Dialects on Twitter, and Other Things You Gotta Know

Steve Jobs Takes a Medical Leave

The big health story of the week, headlining the business news, is that Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder and usual CEO, is taking another medical leave. This is hardly a surprising development, given that the 55 year old corporate leader has had a complex medical course since at least 2003. In August, 2004 he told Apple […]

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Honoring MLK by Advocating Gun Control

I wish that more physicians would speak out in favor of stricter gun control laws. Firearms present a public health issue in the U.S. According to the CDC, over 12,000 Americans die each year from homicide involving firearms. The number of non-fatal gunshot wounds requiring hospital care approximates 48,000 per year.

Posted in Medical News, Policy, Public HealthTagged , , , , , , , 1 Comment on Honoring MLK by Advocating Gun Control

Internet Surpasses TV as Prime News Source for Young Adults

I must have been reading a magazine when Mashable reported on new findings about the news from the Pew Research Center. A December 2010 survey confirmed that Americans are turning away from newspapers and logging onto the Web. Among young people, the Internet exceeds TV as a news source: In 2010, for the first time, […]

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Why the Term ‘Patient’ Is So Important in Health Care

roviding health care is or should be unlike other commercial transactions. The doctor, or other person who gives medical treatment, has a special professional and moral obligation to help the person who’s receiving his or her care. This responsibility – to heal, honestly and to the best of one’s ability – overrides any other commitments, or conflicts

Posted in Communication, Essential Lessons, language, Medical Ethics, Patient-Doctor RelationshipTagged , , , , , , 9 Comments on Why the Term ‘Patient’ Is So Important in Health Care

Lessons from the Wakefield Case

So many others have written on Wakefield’s fraud, and considered the role of the press in perpetuating the notion that vaccines cause autism, I wasn’t going to cover it here on ML. But I do think there are a few instructive points from this “lesson” about medical communication and news:

1. People aren’t always rational in their decisions about health care. (This is an understatement.)

Posted in Communication, Infectious Disease, Medical Education, Medical News, Public Health, ScienceTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on Lessons from the Wakefield Case

A Reversal on End-of-Life Planning

The Obama administration will cut a new Medicare provision to compensate providers for discussing end-of-life care, according to the New York Times. This is an unfortunate reversal. Too-often, doctors fail to have these discussions with their patients. This happens for many reasons including some physicians’ discomfort with the topic, their not wanting to diminish patients’ […]

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I Feel Your Pain (not)

A tweet hit me on Sunday evening, from a stranger: @Mibberz I’m saddened by how many ADULTS can’t get their #rheum 2 understand the level of severity of their pain.What hope is there for my daughter? I half-watched an on-line exchange about the issue, and then went about my family’s dinner preparations. The message came […]

Posted in Life, Life as a Doctor, Life as a Patient, Patient-Doctor RelationshipTagged , , , , , , , 1 Comment on I Feel Your Pain (not)

After Breast Cancer, Get a Gym Membership!

The findings show that it’s safe for women who’ve had breast cancer surgery to work out in a way that includes a careful, progressive upper body strengthening. Weight lifting is not only safe; it can reduce lymphedema in women at risk. But “old wives’ tales” still persist in some doctors’ minds and established medical resources. These need be dispelled.

Posted in Breast Cancer, cancer survival, Essential Lessons, Fitness, Medical News, Oncology (cancer), Women's HealthTagged , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on After Breast Cancer, Get a Gym Membership!

First Inspection of Google’s Anatomy

This morning I toured Google’s new Body Browser. The trip wasn’t as easy as I’d envisioned; I got sidetracked on my way, having to update my Web browser before entering. The site requires an advanced Web browser, like Chrome beta or Firefox 4.0, to accommodate 3-D graphics.

Update accomplished, I forged into Google-woman’s frame. (There is no man available, as yet.)

Posted in Anatomy, Communication, Empowered Patient, Future of Medicine, Health IT, Medical Education, Wednesday Web SightingTagged , , , , , Leave a Comment on First Inspection of Google’s Anatomy

The U-Shaped Curve of Happiness

This evening, after I finished cleaning up the kitchen after our family dinner, I glanced at the current issue of the Economist. The cover features this headline: the Joy of Growing Old (or why life begins at 46). It’s a light read, as this so-influential magazine goes, but nice to contemplate if you’re, say, 50 years old and are wondering about your future.

The article’s thesis is this: Although as people move towards old age they lose things they treasure—vitality, mental sharpness and looks – they also gain what people spend their lives pursuing…

Posted in Essential Lessons, Homemaking, Life, Magazine, Music, PsychiatryTagged , , , , , , 4 Comments on The U-Shaped Curve of Happiness

Science Takes a Double Hit in the Press, Maybe

In his latest New Yorker piece The Truth Wears Off, Jonah Lehrer directs our attention to the lack of reproducibility of results in scientific research. The problem is pervasive, he says: …now all sorts of well-established, multiply confirmed finding have started to look increasingly uncertain. It’s as if our facts were losing their truth: claims […]

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Watching the Happy Hospitalist’s Xtranormal Videos

Some weeks ago I discovered Happy’s hilarious Xtranormal videos on his anonymous blog. Yesterday I laughed watching the Hospitalist vs the ER: — I can’t tell you much about who the Happy Hospitalist is. His is one of the few anonymous blogs I read. Based on the apparent relevance of cars and parking lots in […]

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The Word of the Week is Cyberanarchist

The word of the week appears on the front page of today’s New York Times in an article on a crowd-sourced response to WikiLeaks: “the Internet assaults underlined the growing reach of self-described “cyberanarchists,” antigovernment and anticorporate activists who have made an icon of Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian.” You won’t find a cyberanarchist reference […]

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Twitter, The Notificator, and Old Social Media News

A series of clicks this morning brought me to an interesting web finding in a Wiki-like Dead Media Archive that links to NYU’s Steinhart School of Media, Culture, and Communication. And there rests the Notificator, said (by me) to be Twitter’s great-great-great grandfather, with details: On September 9, 1932, the London Times printed an article […]

Posted in Communication, Health IT, Life in NYC, Medical History, Social Media, Wednesday Web SightingTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on Twitter, The Notificator, and Old Social Media News
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