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Medicine and the Law – Part 2: Medical Malpractice

April 17, 2008 | By JC, MD | 5 Comments

Continuing on in my series of posts about Medicine and the Law, we've established that there are two elements necessary for a patient-physician relationship to be established -- contract and consent. There must be a written or implied contract in place, and there must be agreement to it on both sides (either written, verbal, or implied through actions). Now we get to the juicy part of the equation -- Medical Malpractice.

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Medicine and the Law – Part 1: Contract and Consent

April 13, 2008 | By JC, MD | 5 Comments

I've decided to go ahead and post a series on Medicine and the Law. One of the things I hear about so often from both sides of the patient-physician relationship is the fear and threat of legal action. Typically physicians are paranoid of being sued. They practice defensive medicine and go out of their way to write copious notes, dictate exhaustive patient summaries and operative reports. For the practicing physician, all the documentation, paperwork, and reporting is simply exhausting. Sometimes all of the documentation takes up way more time and energy than the actual exam or procedure. It is a sad state of affairs when 90% of the time allocated to a patient is dedicated to documentation rather than with actual time with the patient.

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Presidential Politics and Physicians

March 21, 2008 | By JC, MD | 2 Comments

When it comes to politics, it's difficult to be a physician these days. There are many strong candidates in the presidential primaries this year. From the Republican side you've got a very ethical leader in John McCain. For the Democrats you've got a very charismatic and young Barack Obama and a very smart and battle-tested Hillary Clinton. All of them have very interesting ideas about the healthcare system and improving access to medical care. Physicians as a voter demographic are a tough nut to crack.

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Make Money for Charity Debating Fundamentalists, Part III: More Ideas

March 14, 2008 | By Robert A. Yourell, MA | No Comments

In part one, I gave an example of a book that you could have someone read, when that someone preferred a Biblical version of the age of the earth. The book was Mysteries of Terra Firma: The Age and Evolution of the Earth. The reason I'm suggesting this book as an example is that it takes you through the history of the discoveries. Stories engage minds that are vulnerable to fundamentalist thought. They need the story in order to get more of a gestalt, rather than having facts thrown at them. Facts are like an attack, while a story involves the reader and gains mental real estate in an attractive way. Stories create images and interest in actual people and their struggles. Don't create a push-pull and arouse knee-jerk defenses.

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