MD Whistleblower

I never took a psychology course in my life. Perhaps, I should have. How was I to know, or even suspect, that years beyond college, I would be the father of 5 kids? In retrospect, I should have been a psych major, so that I could have developed essential parenting skills in negotiating techniques, behavior modification, unflappable self control, brinkmanship, verbal dueling and mind reading. Without a solid psychological foundation, I have been fenced in and cornered by teenagers who know very well that I am shooting blanks. This has not been a fair fight. Two weeks ago, my daughter and I traveled to the east coast to visit 3 institutions of higher learning. This is the 3rd child that I have done college visits with. By now, I could give these ‘info sessions’ myself. They are verbal versions of Mad Libs, where the speaker simply plugs in terms specific to his institution. For example: “What really makes __________ University so unique, is our ( insert superlative adjective ) profes...

My patients have the confidence of knowing that I am a board certified gastroenterologist (GI). I haven’t disclosed this to them personally, but somehow resourceful and curious patients can now find out facts about me that heretofore would have required a government warrant. (In fact, for my entire medical career, I have never displayed a diploma or any professional certificate in my office, which annoys my mom.) Now, with a few keystrokes, patients can read about my suspension from the fifth grade after making an unwelcome comment about another student. Being from the northeast, my initial reaction to this transgression was, “Will this be on my college record?” Assuming that I successfully recertify in gastroenterology in the coming year, I will enjoy this prestigious designation for another decade. I hope I that I am still practicing then, since the health care reformists have promised us a medical nirvana in in the coming years. It would be a shame if I retired just before the nirva...

My friend, the Buckeye Surgeon , has resisted reforms in medical residency training programs, that have eased some of the inhumane exhaustion on young interns and residents. I have a different view on the subject. This issue generates spirited debate in the blogosphere and in teaching hospitals across the country. Not all medical education reforms, however, provoke controversy. I learned recently from an Ohio medical student that they are now being taught about the financial costs of medical tests and treatments. This makes so much sense that I am astonished it has taken so many decades to be incorporated into medical training. Indeed, even practicing physicians like me are often clueless about the costs of the tests we recommend. Perhaps, if we saw the price tags of the prescriptions and imaging tests we ordered, we might hesitate and reflect for a few nanoseconds A commentary in the current issue of The New England Journal of Medicine chastised medical educators and training p...

Does anyone out there know why President Obama underwent a virtual  ‘colonscopy’ (VC) instead of a conventional colonoscopy earlier this year? In my gastroenterology practice, we do not offer colon cancer screening to 48-year-old individuals, unless special risk factors are present. Of course, maintaining the president’s health is in the national interest, so I understand why professional screening guidelines might not apply to him. For similar reasons, airline pilots are subjected to routine cardiac testing, not to protect the pilots' health, but to protect the passengers.  Stricter scrutiny of the president's health is proper. So, if the national interest required that the First Colon be studied prematurely, then why didn’t the president choose the screening test that nearly every physician opts for when we turn 50?  I’m baffled. It is inarguable that a colonoscopy is more accurate than VC and can remove polyps and obtain biopies at the time of the examination....

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law earlier this week by President Obama. The ceremony was notable for the president’s use of 20 pens to sign the bill, and for a vice-presidential expletive that has gone viral. Biden’s presumed private verbal ‘high five’ to the president was heard and widely circulated. Don’t these guys know that when they’re in public that they are never off mic? Our macho vice-president was emulating his vice-presidential predecessor who dropped a similar verbal bomb onto Senator Patrick Leahy in 2004. Cheney’s muscular rhetoric was no aerial drone attack; he delivered his message face to face to the Vermont senator. I wonder if Dick ever invited Pat on a hunting trip? Obamacare is now law. Will this lead us to Armageddon or to the Garden of Eden? I confess that I haven’t read the bill, but then neither did the legislators who voted for or against it. Sure, the specifics are important, but what we really crave to know is what the scor...

Photo Credit Eva Kocher First, let me state unequivcally that I am against all varieties of pain, foreign and domestic. Indeed, I wish that we could snuff the varmint out every time and place it surfaces. Pain is a wily opponent that can be difficult to vanquish. In recent years, physicians have been resorting to a ‘shock and awe’ strategy of using excessive force against it. While this may be sound military strategy, in the medical arena it has led to unintended and predictable consequences. I think that we physicians are pulling the narc trigger too quickly and too often. It’s easy to advocate for a more parsimonious approach to pain control, when your humble blogger is pain free. Indeed, my own pain threshold cruises at low altitude, and has never been fairly tested. While this may limit my credibility, I maintain as a physician that my profession, including me, needs some narc reform. When I was in medical training, during the days when my kids insist that I took the pet ste...

Hypocrisy : The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness. Which of the following medical tests or procedures do physicians commonly recommend, but state they would never accept themselves? (1) Cardiac catheterization (2) Screening colonoscopy (3) Feeding tube placement (4) PSA screening for prostate cancer (5) Hip replacement surgery Answer appears at the post’s end. Last week, I was asked by a primary care physician to place a feeding tube in an NNHP, a nonagenarian nursing home patient. The patient had a panoply of active medical issues, and was at the end of life. The feeding tube was advised because the patient’s swallowing function was impaired and he was, therefore, at risk for pneumonia if he ate. These swallowing evaluations are generally performed by speech pathologists, whom I have found to be dedicated and competent professionals. As an aside, they often uncover swallowing defects that suggest that eat...