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The FDA Provides The Dos And Don’ts Of Medical Waste Disposal

All medical offices must dispose of medical waste in a safe manner.  I closed my office at the end of September, but my last medical waste pickup is the first Friday of December.  My dear husband is going to open the office and wait for them.

How have you told patients over the years to deal with their medical waste?  Needles?  Syringes?  JP drains they pull out or that fall out before they get back for follow up?

Last week the FDA sent out a press release announcing the launch a new website for patients and caregivers on the safe disposal of needles and other so-called “sharps” that are used at home, at work and while traveling. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

How Old Is Too Old To Be An Organ Donor?

I happened to see this press release from American Society of Nephrology via Eurekalert regarding an article in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN) advocating the safety of kidney donation in individuals over 70 years old.  The press release does note that kidneys from these elderly donors do not last as long as those from younger living donors.

Currently, as noted on the University of Maryland Medical Center website:

Donors need to be between the ages of 18 and early 70s and can include parents, children, siblings, other relatives, and friends. An ideal donor should have a genuine interest in donating and a compatible blood type with the recipient.

Donors should be in good general health. Donors do not need to be Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Disability Insurance And The Differences Between The Payment Types

I have now completed three weeks at my new job with the Disability Determination Services office.  I sort of knew there were two types of disability payments under SSI:  Title II and Title XVI.  Now I understand the differences much clearer.

I would urge everyone who can afford it to purchase disability insurance.  As the person training me put it, “If you are disabled, you are still ‘costing’ your family in addition to not contributing to the family income.”

The big difference between the two (II and XVI) is that Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Movie Explores The Impact Of Breast Cancer On Patients And Loved Ones

I caught this movie last week flipping though channels looking for something to watch while I knitted.

Five” stars Patricia Clarkson, Rosario Dawson, Lyndsy Fonseca, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Holloway, Tony Shalhoub, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.  It is an anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives.

The first one, the story of Charlotte (Ginnifer Goodwin), is set in 1969.  Charlotte lays dying in her bedroom while the family mills around the house and the TV showing the mans first step on the moon.  Her story for me was taken over by the effect of her cancer on her young daughter Pearl who only wants to see her mom.   Finally she manages to sneak into the room.

The second one is Mia’s story.  Mia (Patricia Clarkson) is the tale of Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Paralyzed Man Wants To Know: “What’s Your Excuse?”

I have meet several amazing people at my new job.  Here is one of them:  Richard Vaughn (photo credit).  The poster isn’t accurate any longer, the 12 should read 20.

Richard is the IT guy at my work place.  He broke his back at age 17.  This hasn’t kept him from having a full life.

……Shortly after graduation as a 17 year old, a severe accident – a fall of roughly 85 feet from a scaffolding – left me paralyzed and in a wheelchair. This was in the early 1970s. It was suggested that I enter one of several “special schools” for the handicapped. There, I was told, I might learn a vocation and become a “contributing member of society.” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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