Month: August 2017

(Snippets from the frontline) Living shorter lives Life Expectancy in the United States decreased last year for the first time in 23 years.  Despite advancing technology, innovation in drug therapy, … Continue Reading →

(Snippets from the frontline) Private Practice I’ve been practicing medicine for 36 years.  One of my patients fought in the 1898 Spanish-American War; a handful lived in three centuries…born in … Continue Reading →

(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 →