It is commonly accepted that satisfaction of a job well done adds to our sense of well being. But just maintaining a job–any kind of job–can be difficult for a patient with mental illness. People that are mentally ill, e.g. Schizophrenia, have confused thinking and impaired social functioning. This obvious impairs insight in most jobs. […]

Patients have not comprehended their position in the managed care system as industrial products with no specialized problems. Dr Caroline Poplin, an internist and graduate of the Yale Law School points out that managed care is the industrialization of medicine. In her article “Transaction Social Science and Modern Society” she develops the premise that managed […]

Dr Eugene Robin has been informing doctors and trying to protect the public about the dangers of the Swan Ganz catheter that intensive care specialists frequently insert into your right heart to obtain rather sophisticated information. Dr Robin, a world premier medical scientist, points out that this procedure has never been subjected to standard scientific […]

On two tables of stone, DIETS & DYING found on Mt Ararat, a short distance from Sinai, the final word on nutrition and health were found. (We’re researching the validity of the finding.) The Japanese eat very little fat or red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The French eat […]

I had a 50-year-old patient who had smoke several packs of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years. This had caused her skin to age and she looked more like 70. She would not pay for any pulmonary function tests for her COPD because she was saving all of her money for a face […]

For the past 25 years, the medical profession has battled hypertension and its related illnesses with great success. Significant declines in deaths from stroke and coronary artery disease are the result of effective treatments. So it was a surprise to hear the latest statistics about hypertension-related conditions: They show a rise in severe kidney disease […]

After death and taxes, worry may be the most unavoidable fact of life according to the Menninger Letter. We worry about our personal concerns, our family, all the way to world crises. Worry has always been considered a negative experience. People who worry also tend to make decisions more slowly. In light of these negative […]

Hospital costs have gone off the radar screen. Major efforts have gone into reducing these costs. This has included doing more outpatient surgery and sending the patients home early for post hospital home care. The home care companies, many of which have been bought out by the hospitals, may not have reduced costs. ABC’s 20/20 […]

Driver’s side steering wheel airbags have saved many lives. However the government’s requirement of extending airbags to the front passenger’s side by 1999 in the cause of safety, has proven quite hazardous to children. Of the 23 people killed by passenger side airbags, 22 were children. The lone adult was a frail woman. For years, […]

Last week I saw a new patient who changed physicians because of the impersonal treatment from her previous in-house For Profit HMO. This was one of those HMOs that owns the doctor group that work for it. The doctors were allotted 15 minutes per patient, and patients were expected to be seen on time. So […]