SCV Physician Report

If you build it, they will come The clouds are wispy, and the breeze drifts toward the sunset. The dusky colors of the coming evening signify the end of the … Continue Reading →

Lying displaces trust What if your doctor lied to you? “I can fix your spinal cord so you can walk again,” or “This drug will keep you from getting wrinkles … Continue Reading →

A terminal disease intercepted by modern medicine I have been a physician for over forty years with an office practice and providing geriatric house calls in our community. Now, I … Continue Reading →

A “Senior-friendly” 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles The Paris Olympics have ended, and watching two weeks of events on television was, as usual, captivating. As most of you know, this … Continue Reading →

Hope for those who give up their car keys When you are older, you are a threat to other drivers. Reflexes are dampened, muscle responses are sluggish, cataracts obscure vision, … Continue Reading →

Keeping us in our lane As we get older, one fear is not passing the California driver’s test at the DMV.  Our quality of life depends on hopping into our … Continue Reading →

Passing the torch One difficult responsibility as a physician is to recognize physical frailties especially those indicating patients are incapable of driving.  Too often in my medical practice, most resistance … Continue Reading →

Teammanship Nothing could have prepared me better for my career and life than playing team sports growing up.  It’s hard to imagine someone now in their 70s pitching a fastball … Continue Reading →

The Meaning of D-Day Robin and I share a family bond. Both our fathers were wounded WWII veterans. Her father was on the water, taken to a British hospital unconscious … Continue Reading →

A Jury of Lie Detectors A trial by a jury of your peers does not mean they will reach the correct conclusion of innocence or guilt. When serving on a … Continue Reading →

Targeting Targeted Cancer Therapy For decades, many patients, their children, and grandkids have strived to answer, “What is cancer? As a doctor and scientist, over the past 16 months, I … Continue Reading →

Emancipation from the Medical-Industrial Complex My grandfather was forced to immigrate from Japan to Canada in 1910. As I learned, he owned many saki factories in Japan, which were nationalized … Continue Reading →

On Being a Doctor and an Advocate I opened my internal medicine practice almost four decades ago to serve a growing urban community. I gravitated toward the underserved geriatric population … Continue Reading →

Disadvantage Plans Continue to Inundate Us  With the primary election over in California, I was hopeful junk mail would lessen. However, the mailbox is still clogged with advertisements targeting older … Continue Reading →

My parents grew up on farms: my mother in British Columbia and my father in Pennsylvania. Both told me how they walked 5 miles in the snow to school. We … Continue Reading →

Telemedicine Can’t Cross State Lines Forty years ago when I first started in medicine, there were no CT scans or MRIs. In the next forty years, I foresee cancer as … Continue Reading →

Nursing Homes:  Diminishing the dignity of older adults Call it what you want: Nursing home, skilled nursing facility, rehab center, convalescent home, or post-acute care. They are all the same … Continue Reading →

As a medical doctor, I have peeked into the lives of many patients who have unique experiences. When I started practice 40 years ago, some of my patients had parents … Continue Reading →

Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury and I attended Los Angeles High School separated by 15 years. He once spoke there and quelled the rumor he failed English: “I got a … Continue Reading →

The slowing of technology by the medical-industrial complex How I practice medicine has changed for the better because of technology.  In the future I foresee no pandemics, cancer becoming a … Continue Reading →

We worry about politicians who trip over sandbags, walk gingerly down rain-soaked stage ramps, or have “episodes” during press conferences or Congressional meetings. Typically, these frailties are attributed to “old … Continue Reading →

Parades are for memories Raising children is not an easy task. But as parents, we try to provide occasional life experiences they will preserve as memories for decades to come. … Continue Reading →

Doin the walk  On the first day of class, one of my medical school professors limped in, stopped, then proceeded to teach us specifically what ailment a patient has to … Continue Reading →