Quite the exposé about oncologists and drug reimbursements is found in an article written by Alex Berenson in the New York Times. The crux of the story is that oncologists — cancer doctors — have the ability to profit from the drugs they prescribe for their patients. When they prescribe chemo, or any of the […]
Games Oncologists Play – and WE Pay Read More »
Ovarian Cancer is one of those topics I’ve blogged about previously, because my mother-in-law was diagnosed with it six months ago. Her diagnosis came after many months of complaints, mostly gastro-intestinal in nature. Despite her ongoing complaints, she was never diagnosed until she was hospitalized. At the age of 86, she underwent surgery (wrong, wrong
Ovarian Cancer, Condescension and Intuition Read More »
Julia Schopick, patient advocate and tell-it-like-it-is author, exposes a lack of objectivity in her three part series about research that gets published without disclosure. We patients are bombarded with news and information every day about health and medical research results. The points Julia makes can affect the care we receive, so it’s important for us
Medical Research: Is Objectivity Optional? Read More »
A few years ago I received an email forwarded from a friend asking me to sign a petition to notify my congress representatives about my feelings about a bill that requires insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour stay in the hospital for women who have had mastectomies. Even its moniker makes me shudder: Drive
Drive Thru Mastectomies and Politics Read More »
Sometimes my radio show conversations take a very unexpected turn — and yesterday’s post-air chat was no exception, although I have to say, this one surprised even me. I’ve been hearing stories from the dark side of medicine for more than 2-1/2 years, ever since I started by advocacy work. I thought I’d gotten a
The COSTS of Medical Records Errors and Lies Read More »
Now you think I’m going to blog about something medical for patients, right? Well — I will in a minute — but let me tell you where the idea came from for this morning’s post… At 2:30 this morning, I was awakened to a beeeep…… beeeep….. beeeeep….. It took me almost 10 minutes of searching
Digital Differential Diagnosis Read More »
Max Alexander paints a very frightening portrayal of nighttime in the hospital in the June 2007 Reader’s Digest. There is nothing condensed about the appalling stories he tells which have resulted in death, damage, pain and long term trauma. The story was forwarded to me by Helen Haskell, one of “us” — patients and loved
Hospital Night Terrors – Condensed Read More »
When I blogged about your local drug store’s walk-in medical clinic, I promised some thoughts about a shift for primary care doctors and their role in healthcare. To reiterate: New options for patient care are evolving, and the primary care physician is being left by the wayside. Beyond the walk-in drug store clinics mentioned above,
Primary Care Physician as Care Maestro Read More »
