A tale of three codes and AEDs
Paul Buehrens 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…
A “new” outpatient treatment for alcohol withdrawal
The patient admitted his alcoholism and had been through “treatment” but rejected the 12 step approach, in the days before we had anything but Antabuse to reduce drinking. He would…
One Case, One More Lesson
One case, more than one lesson. The multifactorial nature of causation in a story. The 50ish woman came in for a complete physical with nearly every symptom on the review…
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…
Either/or? Or Both/and?
In the early 20th Century, Niels Bohr created a model of the hydrogen atom that looked a lot like the sun and one planet: a central proton with an orbiting…
The body has strange ways at times
Long ago I was serving in the Charleston SC County hospital as a surgical intern on my first year rotation. An elderly man had an open sore on his ankle…
Kids heal fast
Sometimes faster than you can believe! In a family practice like mine, broken bones in little ones are not very common. Sometimes the family doc can handle them, sometimes not,…
The benefits of group practice
One day in my first year, the most senior doc in our group of then 9 men asked me to listen to his patient’s heart. She was in her early…
Diet and cholesterol: Sometimes, sometimes not so much!
Father Jones was shocked to find out his cholesterol total was 302, back in the day. “Father, you can try going on a low fat low cholesterol diet, but I’m…