Information and Critical Thinking for Your Health
(Snippets from the frontline) Doctor Shortage We do not have enough doctors. Passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) amplified this deficiency in our healthcare system. Even with new insurance … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Infrastructure Society needs roads, bridges, and power to function. Likewise, the human body has an infrastructure requiring vision, hearing, and good teeth. Physiologic infrastructure deteriorates … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Good hands We know a tight end can catch a football. How do you know a surgeon has similar hand-eye coordination? Shouldn’t this quality be possessed … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Doctor Bonus Primary Care Physicians are internists, family practitioners, and pediatricians who are frontline doctors encountered by patients seeking medical care. Some physicians are in private … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Improving Nursing Home Care None of my seniors want to go to a nursing home. Being surrounded by screaming patients, the odor of incontinence, and the … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Cost of Drugs Pharmaceutical companies have a stranglehold on us. Medicare Part D was written by their lobbyists. Drugs developed decades ago have gone up 10 … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Hospital administrators on a pedestal Last month, a hospital administrator retired and all local media outlets had press-release headlines lauding his accomplishments. Two years ago, our … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Look at the medication As our mother entered her late 80’s, living at home alone became more challenging. Within a four month span, she was admitted … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Courage, Character, Responsibility Sometimes my surgical colleagues impress me with not just their skills, but the quality and spirit of their character. A neurosurgeon gets up … Continue Reading →
Denied You’ve been told surgery required to repair a herniated disc has been denied; a mammogram to evaluate a new lump won’t be allowed; or you must be discharged from … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Congress doesn’t go on Medicare With all the recent headline hubbub concerning creation of a new healthcare law, the public must realize Congresspeople don’t go on … Continue Reading →
Paperwork Doctors and their staff are inundated with paperwork…and it is getting worse. Despite computerization, the volume is overwhelming, and the data collected is mostly used to substantiate insurance payment … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Comfort Care – Know the difference Your loved one is seizing and brought to the Emergency Room. The staff offers “comfort care” and of course who … Continue Reading →
(Snippets from the frontline) Bring accountability to your hospital stay You or your loved one has been hospitalized. For most, this is an unfamiliar road. Beware, as nowadays hospitals are … Continue Reading →
A pediatrician decides a struggling teen with mental illness needs hospitalization to neutralize psychologic demons impacting their personal and social life. A Workers’ Compensation doctor requests a neck MRI in … Continue Reading →
(To Readers: A previous posting here in early 2016 discussed Life Expectancy. This is a re-write of that article as statistics have borne out for the first time in 23 … Continue Reading →
I had never heard the term “throughput” before a meeting at our hospital two years ago. It was used to discuss how the emergency department (ED) could yield greater profits … Continue Reading →
War is being waged on behalf of American citizens against the business takeover of hospitals, yet most people don’t realize this battle exists. Surprisingly, the warriors scattered throughout our country … Continue Reading →
Hospitals have always served as a lifeline to survival. Whether from pneumonia, heart attack, stroke, or trauma, they have been a community safeguard between life and death. Today, cost of … Continue Reading →
With the 2016 Rio Olympics coming to a close, we honor four participants claimed by the Santa Clarita Valley as their own: Allyson Felix, Anthony Ervin, Abbey Weitzeil, and David … Continue Reading →
Born in Canada, our mother came to the United States after World War II and blended into the Greatest Generation. Raising a family in the second half of the 20th … Continue Reading →
Growing up in a family that emphasized education, I had trouble staying on mark as I wanted to be a baseball player. At the age of 11 though, I underwent … Continue Reading →
Most primary care physicians (PCPs) who admit patients to a hospital are family practitioners or internists. Since medicine becomes more complex each day, PCPs must remain up-to-date on the latest … Continue Reading →
Hospitals are sacrosanct pillars of a community with alabaster halls and sterile rooms where saving lives and curing disease emanates. But fifteen years ago some floundered in bankruptcy, and that’s … Continue Reading →
A Purple Heart was displayed next to his bed so I knew he was a veteran. Our only contact though was tossing bean-bags during activities at his Board & Care … Continue Reading →