A week’s worth of New York Times newspapers contains more information and knowledge than the average person in medieval times saw in their entire life. In our current golden age of technology, we as human beings have come to embrace the notion of computers, and the idea that information is a commodity that must be available immediately. Products on the market in the technology sector are increasingly complex in scope and connectivity, and give us unprecedented access to an enormous yet speedily growing body of information. Nowhere is this trend more glaringly apparent than the recent developments in mobile phone technology. Read more →

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 →

Huntington’s Disease (HD) affects approximately 30,000 people in the United States. Less than 10% of these people are under 20 years old at the time of diagnosis. These patients with juvenile, or early-onset, HD and their family members face significant and unique challenges as they battle a fatal, degenerative disease.

Symptoms of HD typically present in the third to fifth decade of life, but symptoms may appear as early as the first, or as late as the ninth, decade. Read more →

I write this article in honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month. Most of us know someone within our close social circle who has been through this terrible ordeal. This is not surprising, as the National Cancer Institute estimates that there were about 2.4 million women breast cancer survivors in 2004, with a 3.5% increase annually in the incidence of breast cancer. Unfortunately, this means more deaths in 2008 and 2009, unless women respond to the pleas for regular screening so that the disease may be detected early. Read more →

Medical miscommunication is a very real problem in healthcare today. Miscommunication is essentially the failure to convey relevant medical information to key players in the medical team; resulting in minor errors or even malpractice. Ineffective communication may occur between patient and doctor or between physicians and experts.

In large hospital systems, medical notes are supposed to be transferred internally from department to department. But this often reaches the healthcare professional only after they have seen the patient. The transfer of medical records between two different hospital systems is almost non-existent, unless patients proactively demand it. Even then, there are numerous delays — a potentially dangerous and frustrating situation for the patient. Read more →

One of the difficult things about having a career in medicine is that reputation is paramount. It is quite precious and is easily shattered. There are not many industries where interpersonal interaction is more important. From interactions between a provider and his patients, nurses, ancillary staff, and other providers, the professional reputation of a doctor is made. Sometimes it is fair, sometimes it is not. It’s an industry where subjective opinions of others dictates the volume and quality of referrals a doctor can get. Read more →