First do no harm. Treat every patient with respect and dignity. These are values I try to live by and incorporate into my daily work. Treatment of chronic pain is the scenario that puts me and every practicing primary care physician in a no-win situation regularly in the office. To try to make physicians feel more comfortable ...
Category Archives: Public Health
Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite
That would be easier if we really had much of a clue as to how to get rid of bedbugs, why there is a new bedbug epidemic after decades of no bedbug problems, and if we had a good reliable way to kill the bugs. Bedbugs are formally known as Climex lectularious, is a small ...
More on Pertussis
I'm not the only one posting about pertussis, a.k.a. whooping cough. I recently posted about getting my Tdap booster early in order to get the protecti0n against pertussis, not just tetanus and diptheria. (see Dr. Pullen Got His Tetanus Shot Years Early ) A nice recent article in the NY Times talks about this epidemic ...
Dr. Pullen got his Tetanus Booster Years Early!
Why? I’m not really at risk for tetanus; I stay away from working in the dirt when I can avoid it. I’m also not at much risk for diphtheria, the traditional second component of the Td (tetanus-diphtheria) booster shot. Still I decided to get the new Tdap booster well before my Td was due. Why? ...
Tricare to Provide Free Confidential Counseling for Military Dependents
As our US Military personnel face not only harm’s way in Afghanistan and Iraq, but repeated tours of duty, their families, dependents in military jargon, also face the difficulty of separation and anxiety and depression. Effective just hours ago, through TriWest, the Western US region of Tricare, the government provided health plan for eligible ...
What’s So Special About Oral Rehydration Formula
Name another essentially free remedy that saves the lives of over a million children annually. If you believe the TV, magazine and billboard commercials you’d think products like Gatoraide have it all figured out when it comes to rehydration and prevention of dehydration. Actually they have figured out how to sell a sugary drink that people ...
Great Britain’s National Health Care System Faces Major Changes
I visited England a few years ago as a part of a Rotary Friendship Exchange. It was a wonderful experience, and I got to speak with physicians, pharmacists, and citizens about their health care system. Most were fairly satisfied overall with the national health care system. It sounds like lots of change is coming ...
XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Drama Continues.
A quick follow up on the XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome controversy. The Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog has been following this closely, and here are two related links for those of you who are interested. July 15, 2010, 6:23 PM ET Potential XMRV-Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Link Not Easy to Tease Out July 26, 2010, 8:50 ...
Dengue Fever in Key West
In 2009 there were 27 confirmed cases of Dengue Fever that originated in Key West, FL according to the May 21, 2010 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) put out by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Dengue Fever is one of those tropical diseases generally passed off by US physicians as exotic ...
What if All Americans Had at Least Catastrophic Health Care Coverage
I really dislike the term healthcare reform. I think our system needs to be changed not reformed. I assume that I am not the only person who suspects that the recent health care reform act is not going to be the final solution for America’s health care problems. The cost of healthcare is not really ...