MD Whistleblower

This is not really a fair fight.  In one corner of the ring sits the novel coronavirus.  It's invisible and can attack without warning.  Moreover, when it lands a punch, the victim may not even feel its impact for several days.  It can fell even a highly trained athletic competitor.  And it has proven expertise in psychological warfare.  It's opponents - us - are scared that we might become tomorrow's victims.  The virus clearly understands and exploits the power of fear.   And with deepening pandemic fatigue, the virus gains a strategic advantage as we tire of practicing recommended public health mitigation efforts.   And in the opposite corner sits us, with a mask dangling loosely below our nostrils.  We thought that heading into the mall or to a friend's party would relax us before the competition.   After all, how much risk could there to be to have a quick drink at a coworker's house?   Or flying to ano...

How often have we heard or read after a courtroom verdict, ‘we are going to appeal’, issued by confident lawyers who claim that their crusade for justice will yet be realized.  Indeed, I think many of us misunderstand the appeals process.  You cannot successfully aim to appeal a verdict simply because you reject the outcome.  There is no automatic judicial do over.   The losing party must offer convincing arguments to an appeals court that there were errors in the trial that rendered the proceedings unfair.  In other words, the error(s) must be material and not simply a harmless error.  Obviously, any trial or human endeavor will include mistakes that have no bearing on the ultimate outcome. For example, if a physician like me mistakenly records a patient’s height to be a half inch shorter than the true height, then the error is not consequential and won't affect the patient's care. 'I lost? I demand an appeal!' One of the many regrettable developm...

What is your threshold for speaking up?  Most of us claim to hover at an upper orbit of personal integrity.  But for many if not most of us, the boundary can be wavy.  We see and hear every day how political leaders use different sets of weights and measures depending upon political considerations.  Let me make this plain for readers with the following brief example. “When your guy does it, it’s corrupt and dishonest!” “When my guy does it, it’s completely ethical!” Test your own integrity as you peruse the following list. "Hmmm, what do I tell mom?" Is it a lie to tell your mom that her meat loaf was great when it conjured up visions of Ken-L Ration? If you catch your kid plagiarizing a term paper, do you contact the teacher? If a friend divulges that he is working under the table to avoid paying taxes, do you notify the IRS? If a coworker asks you to punch the time clock for him to hide a late start, do you simply refuse or also notify the manager? Ha...

Four years ago, the country was shocked at the outcome of the 2016 World Series of Politics when the darkest of dark horses triumphed over the establishment.   In that contest, the New York Elites came up short against the New York Six Packs.   The final score of the decisive game was Six Packs 7 and the Elites 6 – a clear victory. The Elites and their supporters were incensed and bitter. “This is not fair!” they proclaimed.   “We got more hits than they did,” explained their team captain. “Who cares?” replied Captain Six Pack.    “The rules only count the runs, not the number of hits.” Over the next 4 years, every time Elitists referred to the prior lost contest, they always added, “We got more hits than they did.”   In fact, many of them began murmuring that the unfair rules should be changed such that the number of hits should now determine the winner.  Fairness, they grumbled, demanded a rules change. Let the Games Begin Anew! It's four y...

Two days from now is Election Day, which heretofore had been a demonstration of the majesty of American democracy.  Her Majesty has been dethroned.   Millions are wailing for a change in presidential leadership and millions of others demand that the current administration be granted another term. We are an angry people who seem willing to fight over everything and anything.   No issue is too trivial to demand someone’s cancellation.   Has the current administration caused these seemingly irreparable angry divisions or simply revealed them?  What is the pathway back to civil life? Those who support Vice President Joe Biden do so in part because they believe that his decency and empathy can serve as a national healing elixir.   I pray that this is the case, but I have deep doubts in his capacity to turn a lumbering ocean liner around with only a set of oars.   The healing, if it is ever to occur, will have to come from within.   And we have...

Presently, your humble scrivener is situated in Atlanta, Georgia, the destination of a long road trip from Cleveland, Ohio.   Tucked safely inside our car, we were insulated from the novel coronavirus as well as the storm surge of seething of the nation.   As of yet, there is no vaccine or truly effective therapeutic agent available for either of these afflictions.   My sense is that the virus will be sooner and more easily vanquished than will be the malignant divisions that are threatening our society.    Am I being serious here?   Do I actually argue that a scourge from an invisible warrior that has wounded millions will be more easily defeated than our vile and vindictive politics?   Is reaching across the aisle or across the street or across the table such in insurmountable task? Here’s why the virus, as wily and destructive as it is, will at some point be the first to be defeated. Our politics, in contrast, will be more like arthritis and dia...

To note that our nation is seething with anger – although deeply disturbing – is certainly not Breaking News, except on CNN where Breaking News flashes even when they are breaking for a commercial.  It is not that the nation is angry over a handful of controversial issues; we are angry over every issue.  Indeed, part of my dismay and fascination is how even a trivial event or utterance can provoke rage.  A few decades ago, if a person provoked or insulted someone, an argument might ensue.  Today the same provocation can have a fatal outcome.  Let me offer a very bold pronouncement.   I do so under my own name and stand ready to accept a searing rebuke.    Ready?   Humans are not perfect. Yet, when we judge current political leaders, historical figures, athletes, law enforcement personnel, writers, musicians, educators and the rest of us, any flaw discovered may generate outrage.   The paradigm is not to consider any surrounding cir...