Cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the USA; each year about 700,000 people sustain a stroke across the country. Based on the location and size of the lesion, there may be severe and permanent loss of function. The most significant residual... Read more →

Most people know the “typical” eating disorder patient: adolescent girl, over-achiever, perfectionist. This is an accurate description, since most patients with diagnosed eating disorders and patterns of disordered eating are females between the ages of 10 and 20. Currently, it is estimated... Read more →

The compilation and selling of physician prescribing habits has been a common practice since the 1990’s. Many physicians were unaware that the issue was occurring. Pharmaceutical companies argue that the mining of prescribing data has beneficial uses, such as providing information about drug interactions... Read more →

I read with interest my fellow Brain Blogger’s article on pharmacists and their essential value to the medical team. While pharmacists do not have prescribing power and often get a bad rap as being “pill counters,” it is clear to me that their position in the medical team food chain... Read more →

I frequently find myself having to explain the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) to the public, and sadly to a lot of healthcare professionals as well. If a cardiologist is a “heart doctor,” a pulmonologist is a “lung doctor,” and an orthopedic surgeon... Read more →

A lady (let’s call her Carla) is driving down a street — it’s 10:00 pm on a Friday night. She thinks about her kids in bed, makes a mental note to check in on them before she goes to bed. She wonders what her boss has in store for her at the 8:00 a.m. meeting that was scheduled a week... Read more →

In medicine a lot of physicians categorize their patients as “good” patients or “bad” patients. Good patients are patients whose care is relatively easy for the physician to handle. The patient is compliant with recommendations, is motivated to get better, and is thankful for... Read more →

Try and grasp this statistic: the number of people who commit suicide in the EU is larger than the number of people who die in road collisions. And so you can put it in perspective: 50,000 people die from road collisions in the EU. This has caused the EU to take notice. On June 13th, the European pact... Read more →

I now cringe when I see a health insurance statement. This was not always the case. Each time I receive my insurance statements they say something to the extent of: Your doctor charged $400 and your insurance company only allows $200. This is not a bill. I used to flinch when I’d receive these... Read more →

Welcome to the ninth edition of Drugs and Pharmacology. Today, we discuss a variety of topics from how California is fighting the battle against prescription drug abuse to the link between Parkinson’s drugs and gambling behavior. Remember, we review the latest blogs related to drugs — medicinal,... Read more →

A new report by Policy Exchange reveals over a third of spending on mental health services in prison is wasted and calls for a drastic overhaul in treating mental health in prisons, including mandatory training for prison officers. Mental healthcare in prisons is widely overlooked as being a problem... Read more →