The high-tech hospital is extremely important for the complicated and seriously ill patient. However, as this conference repeatedly pointed out from acquired infections to simple blood transfusion, it is an increasingly hazardous environment. The consequences extend far beyond the hospitalization into the ambulatory care arena. As hospitals lose much of their volume from inpatients, they […]

Proof and Prayer Emily Dalton, MD, discusses “Science and Intercessory Prayer” in the November 2006 issues of The Bulletin, published monthly by the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society. ‘Intercessory Prayer Ineffective!’ touted the headlines in the medical periodicals when a major study on intercessory prayer and recovery from cardiac surgery was published in the American Heart […]

A patient developed pain in the pit of his stomach with nausea and vomiting associated with gastro-esophageal reflux disease. This began shortly after he entered the service at age 19. A clinic physician prescribed Tagomet, an acid H2 blocker, with refills. He improved while the refills lasted for about a year and then the pain […]

We are Human, We Make Mistakes. George Ingraham, MD, calls his article “A Missed Opportunity,” in the In My Opinion column of the August 2006 issue of The Bulletin, published monthly by the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society. “On April 27 of this year Cheri Lynne Moore, a 48 year old woman suffering from a […]

Dr. Cobb’s Finale. “Time Flies” was the title the president of the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society, Luther F. Cobb gave to his farewell message in The Bulletin of May 2006 “As the saying goes, time flies while you’re having fun. Or, as I’ve been told Kermit the Frog pointed out, time’s fun when you’re having flies. In either […]

Lamenting Physician Ads Dr. Emily Dalton does not like physician advertising, as she makes clear in “Physician Advertising: Compromising Ethical Standards in Surrender to the Relentless Capitalistic Model of Corporate America.” The article is in The Bulletin of May 2006, a monthly publication of the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society. “Is medicine a profession? A business? A calling? […]

Between Danger and Opportunity Luther F. Cobb, MD, wrote on “Crises” in his president’s message in The Bulletin” of April 2006, published monthly by the Humboldt-Del Norte Medical Society. [This is an important message for our medical society. For back­ground of the hospital crises in Humboldt, and how important the issues are to physicians who can only […]

Dancing Elephants and the P4P From the President’s Message in The Bulletin of the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society, by Luther F. Cobb, M.D: “The elephants are dancing in Washington, but it’s a minuet, not the jitterbug. As I write this, only two months remain until the SGR (Sustainable Growth Rate) formula is due to operate to reduce Medicare […]

About four years ago, my doctor told me I had to lose 30 pounds if I wanted to live. Although I was healthy, my mother had diabetes late in life. So I knew I had one diabetic gene. It takes two to have diabetes; what if my father had one diabetic gene? I could have […]

Pay for Performance In the President’s Point of View column of Santa Barbara County Medical Society’s Medical Society News of July/August 2005, Dennis H. Baker, M.D., wrote: “In 1999, when the Institute of Medicine published its reports, ‘To Err is Human’ and ‘Crossing the Quality Chasm’ pointing out the high prevalence of medical errors. Since then, policymakers […]