by Del Meyer Mrs. Sanchez, in her 60s with asthma and chronic bronchitis, began having increased coughing, wheezing and sputum production on Tuesday. She did not call the office or seek an appointment at any time despite the fact that she was getting worse daily. On Saturday, she had her son take her to the […]

by Del Meyer Last week a patient came in and told me that since his last visit, two years earlier, he had a gallbladder operation. He thought I would be interested in the bill his insurance company received, of which he brought a copy. He was in the hospital for about 23 hours, and the […]

by Del Meyer In our continuing debate on having the government take over healthcare, the current debate on Medicare is germane. Medicare, a government healthcare program for senior citizens over 65 and those that have been disabled for over two years, has outstripped all projections in costs. When President Johnson stated in 1965 that Seniors […]

by Del Meyer Keep The Government Out Of The Medicine Cabinet Chris Ward, an independent consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, spoke at the annual meeting of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) this past month on the topic of prescription drugs. His specialty is Market Access & Health Policy Issues. He was formerly […]

by Del Meyer Part of my responsibilities at University of California, Davis Medical School, include teaching physical diagnosis. This means teaching and observing second-year medical students as they obtain a medical history and perform a physical examination. Sometimes I observe and instruct them in my office and other times in the hospital. Recently I had […]

by Del Meyer Medical record confidentiality is a serious concern of many patients. This is reflected in a lead, front page, headlined article titled: “Medical data private? No,” which I recently came across while passing through Hawaii. A companion article on page 10 indicated that a judge ruled in favor of the Hawaii Medical Service […]

by Del Meyer Doctor Phil Alper in his OpEd column in the WSJ has pointed out the shackles into which Medicare places doctors. Doctors have to be able to document the need for any test that is ordered. Gone are the days of a routine screening panel. Many patients have gotten use to coming in […]

by Gil N. Mileikowsky, MD In search of the “Black Box” for reliable and cost-effective quality control of the delivery of medical care. The reason airline transportation is the safest of all transports is due to the famous “black box” that provides the necessary first step, i.e. the accurate “diagnosis.” Without that reliable “forensic” analysis, […]

Are our hospitals any different from ENRON and WORLDCOM in their proclivity to hide the truth? Doctors are supposed to keep the medicine clean by performing “peer-review” on each other and taking actions where they find problems. But in many hospitals, the power elite (administrators and physicians acting in concert) simply use this system to […]

by David M. Galie On April 5, 1989 Robert Fellmeth, a professor of law and Director of the Center for Public Interest Law (CPIL) at the University of San Diego School of Law, issued a report entitled “Physician Discipline in California: A Code Blue Emergency – An Initial Report on the Physician Discipline System of […]