MD Whistleblower

Editor’s Note: For 16 years, I've published weekly essays here on Blogspot, which will continue. I’ve now begun publishing my work on a new blogging platform, Substack, and I hope you’ll join me there. Please enter your email address  at this link  to receive my posts directly to your inbox. When a medical misadventure or new symptoms develop, physicians will often consider if the event is a side effect of a medication.  This can be very difficult to establish.  For example, if a patient is given medication to treat colitis and the diarrhea worsens, is this a side effect of the medicine or a worsening of the colitis?   Physicians face these dilemmas all the time.   If a patient develops a symptom, and a side effect is being considered as an explanation, the doctor either knows or researches if there is medical evidence supporting a side effect event in this specific circumstance.   If a patient develops headaches after a new medicine is prescrib...

Editor’s Note: For 16 years, I've published weekly essays here on Blogspot, which will continue. I’ve now begun publishing my work on a new blogging platform, Substack, and I hope you’ll join me there. Please enter your email address  at this link  to receive my posts directly to your inbox. I believe that health care is a human right.  This does not mean that every person must have precisely the same level of health care coverage.  This is not how our society works.  Wealthy individuals can afford higher-level medical care, just as they enjoy higher-level housing, vacations, legal and financial advice, education, automobiles, and clothing.  This list could be longer, of course.  But every American, in my view, is entitled to decent medical care to prevent and treat disease. We have millions of individuals in the country who are not citizens, many of whom have no medical insurance.  In a perfect world, I would like them to have access to medical c...

Editor’s Note: For 16 years, I've published weekly essays here on Blogspot, which will continue. I’ve now begun publishing my work on a new blogging platform, Substack, and I hope you’ll join me there. Please enter your email address  at this link  to receive my posts directly to your inbox. The medical profession in this country delivers excellent care in this country, although the quality is uneven.  Sadly and unfairly, the quality of medical care often depends upon one’s zip code.  Many Americans are underinsured and there are still many folks – including working people – who do not have medical insurance.   As I feel that health care is a right, employment should not be a prerequisite for insurance eligibility.  One should not be forced to remain at a job from fear of losing medical benefits. Racial disparities in medicine have been well documented.  And while medical professionals are plentiful in urban areas, residents who liv...