MD Whistleblower

Trump is roaring toward securing the GOP nomination in Cleveland this summer.  While I am excited that the convention will occur in my city, I expect chaos and gridlock downtown.  I won’t be visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or any of our city’s other outstanding attractions, during that week. I think that Trump may garner the necessary 1237 delegates prior to the convention.  For self-serving reasons, the trailing 2 candidates are stating that no candidate will meet the required threshold and that the convention will select the nominee according to rules, yet to be decided.  My candidate Kasich – who has won only Ohio – crows that it’s now a 3 man race!  Sorry, John.  Wining 1 out of 32 states, while Cruz and Trump have won 9 and 19 states respectively, does not make this a 3-way tug of war. The New White House? The media is preoccupied to determine if the candidates and the GOP establishment will award Trump the nomination if he falls...

I am not a woman.  I cannot contemplate the physical and emotional experience of carrying a pregnancy and birthing a child.  I imagine that it is a singular experience that is as deep and awesome today as it has always been.  We have all seen the explosion in reproductive technology with in vitro fertilization, surrogate mothers, fertility agents and other emerging techniques.  This process, beyond the high costs, can create anguish for those who are on this journey. I have felt in many instances that the ethical ramifications of some of these techniques are minimized or dismissed.  Sadly, we often do stuff because we can, not because we should.  Do we really think we can stop human cloning? Recently, a woman in Cleveland had a cadaver uterus placed during an extremely demanding 9 hour operation on 2/24/16.  This was the first time this was performed in the United States.  Only a handful of these operations have been performed worldwide....

Proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, are among the most common drugs prescribed in the United States.  They are extremely safe and highly effective for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).  Are there potential side-effects?  Of course.  Look up the side effects of any of your medicines and you will soon need an anxiety medicine to relieve you of side-effect stress.  The side-effect lists of even our safest medicines are daunting.  PPIs are associated with a growing list of potential serious side-effects, at least according to the lay press.  A few clicks on your computer, and you will find that these medicines can cause pneumonia, C difficile colitis, malabsorption of nutrients, bone fractures and anemia.   The latest report to emerge links these drugs with dementia.  In the past two weeks, I’ve been questioned about this repeatedly by my patients.  One stopped her medication from fear that her heartburn medicine might be incine...

The nutrition police are at it again.  They demand that food products that use genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their processing inform us of this on the product’s label.  They argue, not only that consumers have a right to know how their food is prepared, but also that manufacturers should be required to disclose when evil GMOs are utilized.  (Keep in mind that most of the food that we consume includes GMOs, a fact likely unknown by most of us.) Proposed Label For GMO Foods This labeling demand from the nutritionistas is a little hard for me to swallow.  I don’t want to hear about polling that demonstrates that most American favor mandatory labeling.  I guess we cite poll results when they support our views and dismiss them when we don’t.  Donald Trump is ahead in every poll.  See my point? There is no scientific evidence that GMOs harm our health.  Fear is not evidence.  Political correctness is not evidence....

There was a tragedy in France recently that did not involve offensive cartoons, radicalized jihadists or terrorists masquerading as refugees.  Innocent French citizens were taken down by a profession whose mission is to heal and comfort.  A medical clinical trial careened off the rails and crashed.  Were these volunteer study patients properly informed?  Are medical study patients here in the U.S. truly making a free choice? From time to time, friends, patients and relatives ask my advice if they should participate in a medical experiment.  While I am a doctor, I usually say no.  And, once I explain to them the realities of medical research, they usually say no also. While my colleagues may chastise me for not encouraging my patients to join clinical trials, my primary obligation is to advocate for the patient before me, not for society.  If physicians contemplate changing this ethical construct to consider the greater good when we advise pa...

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), perhaps the most prestigious hospital in the United States, has just announced that it is joining the concierge medical universe.  Concierge medicine offers patients Rolls Royce care for an extra fee.  This model has gained popularity across the country and is attracting both patients and physicians.  Patients receive white glove treatment on demand and physicians have more time with each patient as they no longer are pressured to increase patient volume to pay bills.  I’m sure that some of these physicians have increased their incomes, but others may be paid the same, but enjoy seeing 6 patients per day instead of 20.  I was struck by $6,000 annual feel that MGH was charging concierge patients, the highest I had ever seen before.  The typical fee I had seen was in the $1,500 per year range.  Six grand per year will get Bay Staters personalized care whenever they want.  They will never wait for an appoint...

I am known by my patients and friends for my calm, imperturbable manner.  Yes, I am equipped with the full range of human emotions, but few folks have ever seen me raise my voice or demonstrate bulging next veins.  I am not suggesting this is a virtue or a character flaw, but is just the way I am wired. Sure, I get irritated and frustrated with the absurdities of life, as we all do.   For those who cannot relate here, may I suggest calling any airline carrier to discuss changing your ticket reservation.  If that fails,  then have a go at reaching out for tech support when your home internet goes ‘poof’! Last week, I did become irritated when I was notified one evening about a patient’s abnormal blood test result.  I was on-call for our gastroenterology group, so I would be the designated physician to notify with concerning test results.  Why, then, was I miffed? Our community hospital uses a ‘new and improved’ system for notifying phys...