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I'm Taking a Knee on Journalism

Thanks to NFL players, our national anthem is getting more attention than ever.  Keep in mind that many of us could not recite its words without error, and fewer of us have the range to sing it.  Even fewer can cite the historical event being described.  This is the latest, but not the last, example of a solvable issue that is being exploited to divide us.  I lament that so many of controversial issues ricocheting in the public square are similarly solvable, and yet remain combustible. The media stokes these conflicts, in my view.  Listen critically to how CNN and other networks package and deliver the news.   Not only is the reportage suffused with editorial content and slant, but it sows overt division and partisanship by design.   Consider the following two hypothetical questions from a TV reporter.  Which one would the network be likely to air? “Senator, what is your plan for tax reform?” “Senator, the leader of the opposing party attacked your tax policy as a cruel

Why Are You Seeing A Gastroenterologist?

I write to you now from the west side of Cleveland in a coffee shop with my legs perched upon a chair.  Just finished the last Op-Ed of interest in today’s New York Times.  Do I sound relaxed? I rounded this morning at both of the community hospitals that we serve.  There is not a day that goes by that doesn’t have blogworthy moments.  If I had the time and the talent, I would post daily instead of weekly.   Read on for yet another true medical insider’s disclosure. Gastroenterologists, as specialists, are called upon by other doctors to address digestive issues in their patients.  For example, our daily office schedule is filled with patients sent by primary care physicians who want our advice or our technical testing skills to evaluate individuals with abdominal pain, bowel issues, heartburn, rectal bleeding and various other symptoms.  The same process occurs when we are called to see hospital patients.   If a hospital admitting physician, who is usually a hospitalist, want

Does Secretary Tom Price Deserve Forgiveness?

What is the explanation for Tom Price, a physician and current Secretary of Health and Human Services, taking private charter flights costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars?  Keep in mind that when Price was a conservative congressman from Georgia, he would have railed against such fiscal profligacy.  Is it hubris?  Entitlement?  Or, do folks who ascend to positions of power simply rationalize that such excesses are absolute necessities for getting the job done? By the time this piece is posted, Dr. Price, an orthopedic surgeon, may have been surgically excised from the government without anesthesia.  While his behavior is not quite Watergate, it was wrong.  And, if it was not wrong, it demonstrated impaired judgment.  And, if was not simply a repeated exercise of misjudgments, then it exhibited bad optics.  And, if it somehow passed the optics test, it was just dumb.  Would Price have been able to explain these expensive charter flights to average folks, half

Why Graham-Cassidy Bill to Replace Obamacare Should Fail

The Graham-Cassidy bill – the latest Repeal and Replace iteration - still has a pulse, but its prognosis is grave.   While we physicians generally avoid predicting outcomes, my sense is that this bill will be buried in the coming days.  I presume that once its passage becomes mathematically impossible, that the bill will be pulled. Of course, failure to Repeal and Replace is a horrendous embarrassment and exposure of the Republicans who have been campaigning and crusading against Obamacare with religious zeal these past 7 years.   These patriots knew they could safely rail against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – throwing red meat to their base – knowing that the bills would never pass while a Democratic president occupied the White House.   How ironic it is that now that the GOP have congressional majorities that they couldn’t get it done.  Not only could they not run the ball into the end zone, but they repeatedly fumbled at every opportunity into the hands of waiting Democrats. 

Why Are Drug Prices So High? Explanations Welcome

Most of us do not know the basics of economics, although we should.  It impacts every one of us every day that we are alive.  Yet, for most of us, once we get beyond the law of supply and demand, our knowledge of the subject starts to vaporize.  I can't explain fiscal or monetary policy.  While I regard economics as a science, it seems that experts routinely interpret data differently, which confuses beginners like me.  What are novices to think when one expert hails our continued job gains while another laments our anemic recovery? The Puppeteers I have a general feel for market forces.  If consumer demand for an item rises, then I will expect to pay more.  If I want to make a purchase at an independent appliance store, then I will expect to pay more in return for superior customer service.  If the item is manufactured in China, it will likely cost me less as this factory is not burdened with worker protections, environmental regulation and union wages. The above

Hospital Acquired Infections and C. diff. Is My Hospital Safe?

If any reader has heard of C. difficile, affectionately known as C. diff, than I presume you have had closer contact with this germ than you would have liked.  It’s an infection of the colon that can be serious, or even fatal.  There isn’t a hospital in the country that isn’t battling against the infection.   We are not winning the war against this crafty and cunning adversary.  We Need Better Weapons Against C. diff While the infection is not new, the strength and seriousness of current strains of the germ have tilted the odds against doctors and our patients.  The infection usually is a ‘side-effect’ of antibiotic treatment, but it can also be contracted from infected surfaces and people that reside in hospitals and extended care facilities and nursing homes.  For example, nowadays a patient can be admitted to a hospital and pick up the germ from hospital personnel who are contaminated from contact with an actual C. diff patient.  For this reason, C diff patients are k

Labor Day 2017

Couldn't cover every tool or trade here, but a shout out to all.   All work is honorable. Warm wishes from the Whistelblower.