Guess the Abnormal Finding.

This patient presented with altered mental status and fever. An MRI of the brain showed the above results. What is the next appropriate treatment or test?

ER Physician logic.

How Defensive Medicine Changes the Practice of Medicine.

Emergency physicians are well known in the medical profession to be paranoid about litigation. And well they should be. Emergency medicine docs are among such litigation high risk specialties as obstetricians and neurosurgeons. There is every reason to believe (and some evidence) that this paranoia alters how these […]

Mold causes depression?

Toxic Mold Makes People Depressed - An American Journal of Public Health study looked at World Health Organization data from almost 6,000 adults in Europe. The WHO data showed that those living in damp buildings with mold problems were more likely to report that they suffer from depressive symptoms such as decreased appetite low self-esteem […]

The Misleading WHO Health Care Rankings.

In the mockumentary ‘Sicko’, Michael Moore points out that despite spending the most on health care of any nation ($7,400 per capita), the US ranks near the bottom among industrialized countries and only two spots above Cuba (that spends $251 per capita). What rankings? In 2000 the World Health Organization came up with rankings for […]

If we screw up then you don’t pay!

Medicare Won’t Pay for These Medical Complications!
When you take your car in to the mechanic to have the engine worked on and they screw up your transmission, you don’t expect to have to pay for their mistake. This is the logic that the Federal government is using in its new regulations for hospital reimbursement. CMS […]

Why sex surveys fail.

The “observer effect” is what happens when the very act of measuring something changes the properties of what is being measured. This is common in physics as well as sociology where people tend to change their behavior if they are aware that they are being observed (much like the waving idiots in the background of […]

Socialized Medicine and excessive wait times.

 (a follow up to Part I) - A 22 year old English woman died from a rare (but treatable) brain tumor after waiting almost 13 weeks for an MRI of the head. Dr. Luba had the following to say;
“The NHS used to be a much better system. The Tories cut funding greatly when they were […]

NHS kills young woman

Socialized health care kills patient with excessive wait times for MRI.
A 22 year old English woman collapsed and died from a rare brain tumor after having severe headaches for over a year and after no less than 5 visits to her physician. Her headaches were diagnosed as “stress related” and she received 6 physical therapy […]

Reefer Madness is Real?

Reefer Madness is Real! Everybody Overreact!
Researchers in the UK have found statistical evidence to associate marijuana use to an increased risk of psychosis. The absolute risk appears to be very small but the media got around this problem by hyping the exact relative risk numbers while being vague on the absolute risks (emphasis added).
“The […]

Inequality in health care delivery.

There will always be a two tier health care system.
Part of the liberal idea for universal health care is that because everyone will be guaranteed at least government provided health insurance then everyone will have the same access to and receive the same health care, thereby eliminating inequalities of health care access and delivery. Too […]