April 6th, 2011 by DrRich in Health Policy, Humor, Opinion
1 Comment »
In an earlier post, DrRich offered several potential strategies for doctors and patients to consider should healthcare reformers ultimately succeed in their efforts to make it illegal for Americans to seek medical care outside the auspices of Obamacare. To those readers who persist in thinking that DrRich is particularly paranoid in worrying about such a thing, he refers you to his prior work carefully documenting the efforts the Central Authority has already made in limiting the prerogatives of individual Americans within the healthcare system, and reminds you that in any society where social justice is the overriding concern, individual prerogatives such as these must be criminalized. Indeed, whether individuals will retain the right to spend their own money on their own healthcare is ultimately the real battle. The outcome of this battle will determine much more than merely what kind of healthcare system we will end up with.
DrRich, despite his paranoia on the matter, is a long-term optimist, and believes that the American spirit will ultimately prevail. So, to advance this happy result DrRich (in the previously mentioned post) graciously offered several creative options that could be employed to establish a useful Black Market in healthcare, which will allow individuals to exercise their healthcare-autonomy against the day when such autonomy again becomes legal. His suggestions included offshore, state-of-the-art medical centers on old aircraft carriers; combination Casino/Hospitals on the sovereign soil of Native American reservations; and cutting-edge medical centers just south of the border (which would have the the added benefit of encouraging our government to finally close the borders to illegal crossings once and for all).
As entertaining as it might be to imagine such solutions, a readily available, though much more mundane, option exists today, which is to say, medical tourism. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
February 4th, 2011 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Tips, True Stories
1 Comment »
I’m a physician trained in sports medicine, and a chronic back pain sufferer. I first injured my back in 2001 when lifting a heavy bag and trying to sling it onto my shoulder. The pain was so severe that I couldn’t get off the floor for three days. I eventually ended up in the ER with an “unremarkable” MRI. The cause of my pain was never explained — all I knew is that I hadn’t herniated any disks.
Years later my back pain still flares up occasionally, and I’ve never really understood how to prevent it or treat it effectively. This has been very embarrassing for me, since I’m supposed to be an expert in this field. But today I finally got some insight into the real cause of my pain — not from a physician or physical therapist, but from a yoga instructor. Read more »
August 30th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed
No Comments »
There are many stories journalists could report on about conflicts of interest and questions about evidence in the treatment of low back pain, perhaps especially with spinal fusion. We talked about many of these with journalists from the American Society of News Editors in a workshop at the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making in Boston in May.
John Fauber of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel hammers one of these issues, looking at how Medtronic’s Infuse product “went from revolutionary advance to public health alert.”
Here’s his story on MedPageToday: “Spinal Fusion Device: A Bone of Contention for FDA.”
His entire series entitled “Side Effects: Money, Medicine and Patients” is indexed on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel website. The image below is from the Journal-Sentinel’s online story:
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
April 7th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays
No Comments »
With the prospect of 32 million new patients clamoring for care comes sorting out who will see them all. New medical schools are opening and students say they relish the idea of entering a market that will demand their services. American College of Physicians member Manoj Jain, M.D., offers a more tempered view of how the fallout might affect primary care. (AP, American Medical News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Even Hawaii has a shortage, especially in primary care, but also cardiology and orthopedic surgery. It’s hard to believe recruiters couldn’t sell Hawaii as a destination. (Honolulu Advertiser)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
February 9th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
1 Comment »
Pain management is a hot topic in medicine in general and certainly in medicine for the outdoors. Injuries in particular, and many illnesses, cause pain, which in turn causes the victim to suffer. To a great extent, pain is subjective, but regardless of whether your pain is a “1” or a “10,” it can be disabling and even dangerous, particularly if it causes you to be distracted in a situation of risk (e.g., climbing, swimming, walking along a ridgeline).
Broken bones usually hurt a great deal. It’s commonly believed that the pain is always of a severity to require the administration of “strong” pain medicine, notably, something containing a narcotic compound. This may not be true. Read more »
This post, Broken Arm? Try Some Ibuprofen, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
