News Flash of the Century: Norcal recently announced that starting in January 2000, they will provide physicians with administrative defense coverage, up to $25,000, at no additional cost. This should be the first step in leveling the playing field where the Medical Board, hospitals, and other third-parties have financially depleted physicians of income and retirement […]

Robert J Lull, MD, Editor, San Francisco Medicine, in their issue on Women’s Health, outlines the challenges in women’s health since the dark ages and the increased polarization even in our modern era. To reduce the need for abortion clinics and meet the reproductive needs of women, he suggests that the high-dose hormone-based morning after […]

As we close out another year in our professional lives, and the last month of this millennium, we reflect on where we’ve been and envision where we’re heading. Many disgruntled physicians ask, “Are we moving forward in the cause of helping our patients, or are they worse off?” One doctor wrote me a five page […]

San Francisco Medicine devoted an entire issue to “Computers & Medicine.” Robert J. Lull, MD, editor, reviews the various applications of computers in the diagnostic and therapeutic arena, including radiology (CT, MRI, SPECT, and PET scans), radiation oncology, nuclear medicine, cardiac catheterization, etc. But Dr Lull feels that the root of physician resistance to computers […]

On a recent trip to London to visit our daughter and see the organization she cofounded (www.firsttuesday.com) go international, we were met at the airport by a driver who proceeded to drive on the “wrong” side of the street. It caused me to reflect on a recent story about an elderly lady who was increasingly […]

Arthur Lurvey, MD, reminds the members of the Orange County Medical Society (OCMS) that the waiver of Medicare deductibles and copayments requirement is unlawful and violates the anti-kick-back statutes. Although it may appear that the waiver of the 20% copayments and deductibles helps Medicare beneficiaries, several studies have shown that if patients are required to […]

HMOs have been very successful in reducing health care costs. This has happened primarily by intimidating doctors to provide less care and reduced hospital charges. The HMOs tell patients when they sign them up that they can get all the consultations and care they’ve been accustomed to. When the doctor puts the breaks on the […]

When I was a summer extern in a Kansas City hospital some years ago, the hospital employed Danish interns. As an idealistic third year medical student, I was struck by their comparison of American medicine with the practice of medicine in Denmark. American doctors, they said, try too hard to please their patients. In their […]

Over a span of several years, Roger Bone, MD, a pulmonologist, gave us a running commentary on his fight with Cancer in his “As I lay Dying” articles. Now another world renowned pulmonologist, Thomas Petty, MD, gives us an account of his personal brush with death. I met Professor Petty as a fellow in 1969 […]

Summer is over and I hope we’ve all had some respite from our usual routines as we get down to the business of what we do best–practice medicine and surgery. Our best offense is to do it well. Otherwise we may be replaced by a Physician Assistant or a computer. While reading ECGs the other […]