MD Whistleblower

 Recently, I faced 3 patients who had chosen not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.  Interestingly, each had a different reason underlying their hesitancy.  The first patient gave an adamant refusal that there is no way he would ever submit to the vaccine.   He didn’t trust the government.   The second patient offered the canard that the approval process was rushed.   The third patient had simply procrastinated.   Her family members had all been vaccinated and she has received many other vaccinations.   She was simply perched on the fence and hadn’t moved. I offered counsel to Patients #2 and #3 as I felt there was a chance I might have impact with them.   I hope that I did. Stop Vaccine Tyranny! The walls are closing in on the unvaccinated.   With the recent formal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Pfizer vaccine, and the increasing number of businesses, organizations and venues that will only admit the vaccinated, th...

We are taught from a young age to finish the entire job.  I confess that I still need reminding on this virtue. I suspect that all of us must plead guilty to partial task completion from time to time.   Have you ever washed some of the dishes remaining in the sink?   How about cleaning out part of the garage and rationalizing that this is enough work for one day.   How many of us have projects around the house that are waiting patiently for our attention as they sit frozen in time? There are more stark examples   when stopping short if the finish line is downright absurd. Consider some examples extracted from my imagination. An artist paints only on one side of the canvas, and I don’t mean for artistic reasons. A car wash cleans only the rear section of automobiles. A publisher distributes books that are 100 pages short of their true length. Silly, right? It’s easy to conjure up similar examples regarding the medical universe. A surgeon washes only...

We have all been counseled to avoid discussing religion and politics in order to reduce the risk of a hostile encounter.  I recall being reminded of this maxim when dining with a new acquaintance many years ago.  My response?  ‘That’s all I like to talk about!’ I am writing this at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday and I’ve already had multiple conversations – both directly and electronically – with people in my life on both of these radioactive subjects.  As far as I know, all of the friendships remain whole.  Indeed, these debates and exchanges serve to fortify our friendships rather than to threaten them. I recognized that discussing religion can be fraught for many individuals and might be best avoided for them.  Same with politics.  Many a thanksgiving dinner has been sullied by someone who decides to serve as the family turkey  Look at the national response when a Colorado baker refused to bake a wedding cake for gay couple in 2012.  The cake...

Labor Day, which honors American workers, was established well over a century ago in 1894. The holiday emerged from a cauldron of worker unrest protesting against harsh, unfair and unsafe working conditions.  Indeed, there were strikes and even violence in the early years of the fight for workers’ rights.  Over the ensuing decades, organized labor gained membership and power as increasing numbers of workers sought out union protections.   Those numbers have declined over time for several reasons.  Currently, about 11% of workers belong to unions. While I have not always supported organized labor’s positions and actions, I certainly agree that every employee -union or non-union - is entitled to a fair wage and safe working conditions. It’s been a very tough year for labor and for the rest of us.   When a company or a business is forced to close by an enemy that we can’t see or touch, toxic ripples spread out far and wide.    When a restaurant s...

Over the course of this pandemic, we have learned a lot about the country, our leaders and ourselves – and not all of it has been good.  One thing we have learned is that anything can be politicized.  Will anyone be shocked, for example, if a protest movement develops demanding that that Mother’s Day either be abolished or renamed?   Overall, Governor Mike DeWine has provided sober guidance and directives here in Ohio.  I think that his performance during the pandemic will be an important reason why he will be reelected in 2022.  Interestingly, although he is a bonafide conservative, he will face primary threats from the right in a state that Trump handily won in the past 2 presidential elections.  As we all have learned in November 2016, anything can happen. But, DeWine, like every other political leader considered the political impact of public health decisions. Governor DeWine Understands the Pandemic and Politics. In April 2020, he issued a m...

 We have all witnessed the debacle from our clumsy and precipitous withdrawal of our military from Afghanistan.  The humanitarian and moral disaster was as astonishing as it was avoidable.  Not only do our allies and our adversaries correctly point out our incompetence, but so do members of the the president’s own political party and administration.  Perhaps, this is an issue that might unite the Democrats and the GOP.  Indeed, the record contradicts President Biden’s claim that no military experts warned him that his plan risked chaos and catastrophe.   All of us certainly heard the president reassure us only weeks ago that the Taliban were unlikely to prevail in the short term and there would certainly not be a ‘Saigon moment’, recalling an iconic and humiliating scene from 1975. The president also claimed that he was handcuffed to withdraw troops as he needed to honor the prior agreement between the Taliban and the former administration.   This ...

 There isn’t a person, a pet or a plant in this country who is not aware of COVID-19.  With regret, but not surprisingly, the pandemic has struck back as it successfully targets the unvaccinated community.  We have to hope that this outbreak will be the last gasp of the pandemic and not that of many ailing Americans. The nation has been deluged with information, misinformation and disinformation.   We confront facts and alternative facts.   Even legitimate public health experts are not consistently singing from the same hymnal. So, I thought this was an apt opportunity to test your knowledge on the novel coronavirus with ten True or False questions – no multiple choice or essay.   What could be easier?   And there is no penalty for guessing.   Answers appear at the foot of this post.   Good luck.   Let the games begin. How Much Do You Know?   The Delta variant is so named since this strain was brought in from overseas by ...