I ask this question because as a medical professional I believe this is a significant question for all of my patients to consider. Whether you are currently healthy or sick, young or old, this is the key question. All too often, I see patients who don’t have an answer to this question. Perhaps... Read more →

In the medical world, certain events that happen in the care of a patient are called sentinel events. These are unexpected events that cause serious physical or psychological injury or harm to a patient. These are usually procedure-based events such as operating on the wrong extremity or inadvertently... Read more →

I’ve written before about medical malpractice and the rising costs for physicians of all specialties. One of the things we as physicians really fear is malpractice lawsuits by patients. We are taught in medical school and in training that the number one way to prevent a lawsuit is to talk to the... Read more →

In this era of declining reimbursements, I’ve been thinking a lot about socialized medicine and how physicians can stop the bleeding. It’s clear that reimbursements cannot go lower for many physicians. If they go lower lots of docs simply won’t be able to run their offices anymore. While... Read more →

I recently read an interesting editorial from the NY Times regarding the professions of law and medicine and how they continue to lack the luster that they used to have. It’s sad but true. Medicine just is not what it used to be. Although the profession is not hurting for aspiring young physicians,... Read more →

For those of you who don’t know. The 80 hour work week is a relatively new limitation for resident physicians in training. This rule was put into effect a few years ago to prevent sleep deprivation among physicians in training. The rule was meant to curtail medical errors such as incorrect prescriptions,... Read more →

As reimbursements continue to decrease every year, physicians must be extremely financial savvy in order to survive. Some areas of the United States can’t seem to find enough doctors (think middle of the country), whereas others have a glut of doctors (think West and East Coasts). Coupled with... Read more →

One of the inherent problems with the field of Surgery is that aside from emergency surgery, surgical indications can be somewhat nebulous. If you are a victim of trauma and in a life and death situation, a surgeon can do surgery on you in order to save your life if you are not able to make medical decisions.... Read more →

Some people have questioned why I blog as a physician and why I blog anonymously. For those of you who haven’t kept up with the medical news, there have been a handful of lawsuits recently where physicians blogged about their patients anonymously. In one case, a physician was being sued for malpractice... Read more →

I’ve been helping a friend look for health and dental insurance these past few weeks. As a physician employed by a hospital, I get insurance as a benefit of my employment. Essentially, it is a corporate type of insurance that is paid for by my employer. Anybody who works for my hospital gets the... Read more →

Recently I heard about a patient who was involved in a motor vehicle accident. He suffered a major pelvic injury and required surgery to fix his pelvis. His only other medical history was that he suffered from significant anxiety and panic disorder. A few days after his surgery he became very agitated... Read more →