Can Doctors Get Drafted Into the Military?
[embedded content] Russia has invaded Ukraine, and many people — including doctors and other healthcare workers — are worried about the possibility of a draft, should things escalate to a global scale. If you’re a nurse, resident, doctor, or another healthcare worker, should you be worried? How likely is a medical draft? And if one […]
Meet the Primary Care Doc Who Wants the World to Go Back to Normal
Like many doctors, Washington, D.C.-based internist Lucy McBride, MD, found herself fielding question after question from worried patients when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020. She decided that the best way to reach everyone would be to send out mass email blasts to all her patients, addressing the most commonly voiced concerns. Two years […]
More Workers, Better Data Needed, Frontline Health Workers Tell House Members
WASHINGTON — More doctors and nurses on staff and in the pipeline are needed to help alleviate workforce shortages that have existed in healthcare for years and got much worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, witnesses said at a House hearing Wednesday. “Only a few weeks ago, a nurse in charge of my emergency department told […]
If I’d Listened To My Doctor, I Would Be Dead Right Now
Most doctors are intelligent, compassionate human beings, but they are human. And medicine is a business, which means doctors can be overworked, pressed for time and dismissive of patient complaints, especially if that patient is a woman. In my case, the casual dismissal of my symptoms almost cost me my life. It was October 2019 […]
I’m Fat And Diabetic. Here’s Why Your ‘Concern’ For My Health Is Destructive.
I brace myself for my doctor’s words. “So, your A1C is high. It’s in the diabetic range.” After our televisit, I hang up and try to bring myself to say or even write, “I’m diabetic” or “I have diabetes.” The words are bitter in my mouth and turn my stomach. I think of all the […]
Using T cells to target malignant brain tumors
Doctors and scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and from Heidelberg University’s Medical Faculty Mannheim have successfully tested a neoantigen-specific transgenic immune cell therapy for malignant brain tumors for the first time using an experimental model in mice. Cellular immunotherapies that specifically target malignant tumors are thought to be a promising approach in […]
Are Your Hobbies Connected to Your Specialty?
Throughout my career I have met doctors with some of the most interesting hobbies — car collectors, wine makers, coffee roasters, and many others. I’ve often wondered whether physicians who have utilized their specialized skills in the practice of medicine have parlayed those skills into hobbies. In other words, is there a connection between physicians’ […]
Doctors Sue Hackensack Meridian for Age Discrimination
Three doctors terminated from Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, a part of Hackensack Meridian Health, are suing their former employer, claiming they were fired because of age discrimination. The emergency pediatric physicians — Usha Avva, MD, Nina Gold, MD, and Kathleen Reichard, MD — were 56, 55, and 53, respectively, at the time. […]
Q&A: Loice Swisher, MD, on National Physician Suicide Awareness Day
Each year since 2018, doctors around the country recognize National Physician Suicide Awareness Day on September 17. One of the co-founders of this awareness campaign, Loice Swisher, MD, of Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, shared her own experience of suicidal thoughts after her daughter was left “neurologically devastated” following surgery on a malignant […]
10 Things That Frustrate Doctors The Most During Appointments
There are a number of scenarios that could lead to you not getting what you need out of a doctor’s appointment. Sometimes the blame falls solely on the physician, who may not take you seriously when you explain what’s wrong. “There are also patients who come to me with a great deal of medical trauma […]