How Not To Faint
Paul Buehrens Have you ever felt faint, or actually fainted. I have! Without too much detail (TMI!), I fainted once back in med school, my glasses cut my eyebrow, ER visit to…
Common Sense
Sticker Prices in Healthcare
Back in the 90s my practice group was in an IPA, Independent Practice Association, a legal vehicle for contracting with health plans together without violating antitrust law by taking some…
Joe and the winter sun
Joe and winter sun I got to know Joe pretty well. I inherited him from a partner who retired, and my first duty for Joe revolved around him coming in…
The Good Samaritan takes a trip, or two.
You all probably know the Good Samaritan parable from the Bible. If not, look it up. There are laws allowing docs to help as “good Samaritans” without fear of malpractice.…
Smart, but not THAT smart
A story that is true from a very long time ago, but still perfectly relevant. When I was in college, my annoying younger brother not only skipped his last year…
Vitamin and mineral supplements for the general population
A couple of decades ago, we docs “learned” that vitamin D deficiency was rampant, and there were many studies correlating that with bone loss, asthma, autoimmune disease, cancer, etc. etc.…
Johnny can’t play!
Another day in the office, another appointment. This one turned out to be unique. Johnny, 8 years old, plays hockey, but he seems to have lost his stamina, can’t finish…
A tale of three codes and AEDs
OK, so apologies to Dickens. All three are the worst of times, if you are the patient, even if they turned out OK. First code I ever went to. I…
When the receptionist can make the diagnosis
Standing next to her, my nurse fields a phone call. Average, 25/day. The average family doc sees about 25 patients a day of a group of about 1500 under management,…
The Chocolate Truffle Diet
Dennis was a very interesting guy, whom I had gotten to know pretty well, along with a number of other members of his extended family. One day he came in…