A young football player is running the ball downfield when he gets blindsided by two tacklers. They upend the player, who haplessly inverts in the air and lands on his neck. In an instant, his whole body goes limp, and the player has difficulty breathing. Paramedics are rushed to the field, and the player is speedily taken to the hospital, where a CT scan delivers the unthinkable news: complete spinal cord injury.

The player is stabilized medically, and a team of neurosurgeons are brought onto the case. They attach electrodes to the boy’s head, and begin mapping brain activity as they have him imagine using his limbs to carry out a series of specific tasks. Read more →

Unquestionably, child abuse is one of the most devastating and horrendous issues faced by health practitioners. Not only because of the vulnerability of the victim and the implications for their future health but also because of the senselessness of this violence.

In a BMJ editorial, Naomi Sugar explains current research and makes a case for putting money towards the research needed to refine the medical field’s understanding of child abuse. 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 is a “bone doctor,” then what do you call a physiatrist? I would call us “function doctors.” While that title is not as flashy as the other ones, it is equally important. The old adage is that nobody knows what a physiatrist does until they need one. 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 ago. Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light; a deafening crash, and her world goes black. Sound like a scene from a movie? I wish it were. According to the CDC, 1.4 million people in the USA sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) annually; 20% of these are caused by motor vehicle accidents (MVA). Fifty thousand of these traumatic brain injuries result in death each year. Carla might never be able to communicate with her children meaningfully. She certainly will not be able to get back to her work any time soon (if ever). Her social network will be disrupted; her schedule will be a series of medical appointments and consultations. Read more →

President Bush stated that federal funds would be awarded for research in the filed of stem cell research in 2001. Seven years later, this issue still raises multiple questions and is a highly debated topic. These questions range from the “What” to the “How” and most importantly to the “Why” of stem cell cultivation and development. The first two types of questions are easily answered with theories and facts, but the third sets the stage for strong ethical and moral debates. A country of more than 300 million people is bound to have strong and diverse opinions on this matter. Read more →

Our series on Medicine and the Law continues. Previously, I wrote about what is necessary for a physician-patient relationship to exist — contract and consent. Then I went on to discuss medical malpractice and that a legitimate grievance from a patient must show that the physician has a duty to the patient, violated that duty by departing from the standard of care, and that the violation caused harm to the patient. Causation is not a simple cut and dry thing to show. Read more →