MD Whistleblower

This is the only Thanksgiving holiday in my memory that I was not on call for hospital work.   Physicians, like many other folks, are not automatically off on holidays and weekends.  I’m not complaining here, but there are times that I am envious of individuals who are home on every weekend and holiday.  Americans need health care, law enforcement, and various emergency services even on days of national leisure.  When I am driving to the hospital on one of those days, I remind myself that the sick person I am headed to see has a much worse deal than I have. I have been bestowed with many blessings, and I am grateful for all of them.  Some of them, I may have earned, while others just fell my way.   Similarly, life’s travails can result from a bad decision or just bad luck.  Life isn’t fair. Spread Sunlight I admire folks who always spy a rainbow through a storm, and I want to be like them. Appreciating one’s lot in life, e...

We’ve all heard or used the phrase, ‘leave it to the professionals’.  It certainly applies to me as the only tools that I can use with competence are the scopes that I pass through either end of the digestive tunnel.  Yeah, I have a ‘toolbox’ at home, but it is stocked similar to the first-aid kit in your new car, which contains a few BandAids, adhesive tape and, hopefully, the phone number of local doctor.  My home tool box has an item that can practically fix anything – the phone number of a local handyman. Nothing for Hemorrhoids Here.      Photo credit It is essential to know one’s limitations, regardless of one’s profession.  Politicians shouldn’t speak authoritatively as if they are climatologists. Gastroenterologists should not prescribe chemotherapy, even though we are permitted to do so. Bloviating blowhards on cable news shows are likely not military experts. The guy who fixed your toilet might not be a top flight kitchen ...

A few days before I wrote this, a patient had a complication in my office.  I have discussed on this blog the distinction between a complication , which is a blameless event, and a negligent act.  In my experience, most lawsuits are initiated against complications or adverse medical outcomes, neither of which are the result of medical negligence.   This is the basis for my strong belief that the current medical malpractice system is unfair.  It ensnares the innocent much more often that it targets the negligent. I performed a scope examination through one of the two orifices that gastroenterologists routinely probe.  In this instance, the scope was destined to travel inside a patient’s esophagus on route to her stomach and into the first portion of the small intestine.  Sedation was expertly administered by our nurse anesthetist (CRNA).   The procedure was quickly and successfully performed.  The patient’s breathing became very impa...

The Ebola hysteria continues.  True, we might have a greater chance of being struck twice by lightning, but the press would have us think we need to purchase Hazmat suits for our families just to be prepared.  I’m surprised that an entrepreneur hasn’t at least constructed prototypes for Hazmat suies for newborns, popular dog breeds, pet rodents and heirloom tomatoes. Tomatoes? Yes, tomatoes.   I have not heard any authoritative official from either the NIH, the CDC the WHO or Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) who have stated unequivocally that you cannot contract Ebola from an heirloom tomato.  To me, the hypothesis is entirely plausible as the sneaky virus  can hide in the heirloom’s surface crevices just waiting and hoping to gain access into an unsuspecting mucous membrane.  Smooth Skin Tomatoes Probably Safe As of this writing, there are 159 contacts in Ohio who have had contact with an Ebola infected nurse who f...