SCV Physician Report

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 →

Buffalo and Hart Park I miss the buffalo. They always seemed so gentle. Sometimes they would roll around in the dirt kicking up a dust cloud at Hart Park in … Continue Reading →

Ageism and the role it plays on being a doctor There are several certainties in the world, and one is we will age. But unfortunately, there are some unforeseen consequences … Continue Reading →

Lessons learned from the pandemic – a silver lining  Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, many Americans were unaware of the 1918 pandemic that rampaged across the United States a century before. … Continue Reading →

A thank you to my Los Angeles community I am a medical doctor in my fourth decade of saving lives, but my life was saved long before today by a … Continue Reading →

Pulling the Plug How many older adults and disabled have had their “plug pulled”? Here is a recent story how a group of senior advocates fought back and rectified state … Continue Reading →

  Abortion States:  Facing Restrictions from Faith-based Hospitals Medical decision-making is not easy. A patient’s quality of life, including career and family, may hang in the balance. I have practiced … Continue Reading →

  Doctor’s Diary:  Avoiding Covid-19 asymptomatic carriers Nationwide distribution of at-home Covid-19 self-tests kits has begun. Individually, we should be able to determine if one’s symptoms might be from the … Continue Reading →

There Oughta Be a Law I was Chairman of the Ethics Committee at our local hospital.  An emergency meeting was called at family request.  The father had been brought to … Continue Reading →

Hospitals have evolved as a business. They are bigger, have flashy newspaper and TV ads, and tout medical prowess.  Arising now from their sterile halls are horror stories of compromised … Continue Reading →

(Snippets from the frontline) The nursing home crucible Harriet broke her hip and needed surgery. Post-operatively, the hospital was swift to push her out the door, while Medicare controlled the … Continue Reading →