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The Law Of Conservation of Mass

Students of physics, and doctors who were not asleep during all of their pre-med classes, will recall their professor’s lecture on the “law of conservation of mass.” This law of physics states that: “matter cannot be created or destroyed, although it may be rearranged.” This is the primary reason why no one can truly lose weight. The law of conservation of mass means that even if you do lose weight, someone else has to gain it, because matter (fat) cannot be destroyed, only rearranged…

I took a beginning Spanish course at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, about ten years ago. One day I was at a local grocery store, picking through some apples and oranges when I noticed several women looking at me with utter disgust. I couldn’t imagine what was bothering them and returned their gaze with an innocent shrug.

“Sucio!” [dirty] uttered one under her breath. And the women shook their heads and pushed their shopping carts away from me in a huff.

My mind went into overdrive trying to figure out what I could possibly have done that was so utterly distasteful…

Thanks to Dr. Val for making a guest appearance at Wait Times. Val is a former Candian now living south of the border. When you make it to Waterloo (or Toronto) I’ll have some back-bacon on a bun and a pint of Canadian waiting for you.

When I was a medical student rotating at a hospital that shall remain unnamed, I witnessed a medical error that has haunted me ever since. I was partnered with a team of residents in the inpatient pediatric unit, and late one night a two month old baby was accidentally infused with an entire bottle of Foscarnet instead of normal saline. The nurse who gave the infusion was working as a locum tenens – a traveling nurse who spent a few months here and there filling in for others at various hospitals…

My pediatrician is 90 years old. He worked hard and invested his money until age 65, and then retired. He told me that he is about to outlive his savings, and he worries that he will lose his home shortly. It disturbs me to think that such a hard working, responsible person who devoted his life to caring for sick children could end his days homeless and penniless. This is the reality of our current economy – even the most conservative investors are seeing their monthly income dwindle. And if a retired physician is having a hard time surviving, what will happen to the average American?…