In this video, you will see an interview I was asked to do on November 11th on local TV about alcoholic energy drinks like Four Loko that has been in the news recently. I talk about the potential harmful effects of the ingredients of a product like this. As of this posting there have been a number of states, colleges, and universities who have taken steps to ban these type of beverages.
At the end of the interview, I talk about how I don’t think banning a product like this is going to solve the problem. In the article “Banning Four Loko Doesn’t Solve Problems,” Alex Belz from The North Wind explains:
It seems these health officials are either unaware of or choosing to ignore the fact that combining a caffeinated beverage with an alcoholic one is a time-tested formula for a decent drink. So far, they’ve not proposed banning drinks like Jager Bombs and vodka and Red Bulls from being served in bars, but perhaps that’s just around the corner.
As of this post, it has been only hours since the ban was announced in Washington State. Since the ban does not take effect for about seven days, guess what is happening? According to The Seattle Times, a “Buying Rush Follows Washington Ban On Four Loko.” Read more »
The past two weeks I’ve been the “dayfloat” resident on the cardiology inpatient service. With the 30-hour-shift work “restrictions” placed on medical residents, there has been a need for new systems of care to ensure the safety of newly admitted patients and cardiology dayfloat is one of them. My job is to round with the post-call team, help them get out of the hospital on time, and then take care of their patients through the end of the work day. It’s a fairly easy rotation, as they go, though because I “float” from one team to another without patients of my own, it’s also not the most satisfying.
Towards the end of my two week rotation, I was paged by a nurse because a patient’s husband wanted an update on his wife’s condition. Glancing at my “signout” — a one-page synopsis of the patient’s presenting illness and hospital course — I learned that Mrs. FN (as I will call her) was admitted to the hospital for heart failure secondary to “medical noncompliance.” It appeared that she had not had any of her medications for well over a week, which likely precipitated the shortness of breath and fluid overload that led to her admission. On top of this, the patient had a number of “dietary indiscretions” including eating Chinese food, which likely only exacerbated her condition. Read more »
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