Second Opinions Patients are frequently advised, or decide on their own, to seek a second opinion after a recommendation to undergo an operation. That seems reasonable but it can actually result in more uncertainty than existed prior to the second opinion. When the surgeon agrees with the first recommendation the Read More
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How to teach. Surgeons that are either full-time or part-time academic faculty are the teachers and mentors of surgical residents. Although there is the occasional lecture and/or presentation at Grand Rounds or elsewhere, most teaching and learning takes place in a clinical setting, with patients in the hospital or in Read More
Conflicts: Inevitable? Patients and their families are human beings. Surgeons, to the surprise of some, are also. As such our interactions, especially during the time after an operation when feelings run high, are subject to potential conflict. Despite the best of intentions, the stress of an illness or need for Read More
Explaining Medical Residencies After my previous blog on financing medical residencies, it was brought to my attention that medical residencies, their functional details (why and how) may not be well understood. Let’s start at the beginning for those who want to be a doctor. First you attend college where Read More
Politics get in the way. Hospitals that have medical residency training programs (this includes trainees in internal medicine, surgery, and all other specialties) are responsible for paying the salary and benefits of their residents. In turn the hospitals bill and are reimbursed by Medicare which is where the government housed Read More
The surgeon’s dilemma. An unescapable result of any invasive operation, certainly the chest surgery I performed for several decades, is pain. Patients hurt…a lot. My patients needed, actually required, narcotics/opioids (opioids are narcotics) for their pain. If the pain was insufficiently treated they not only suffered but were unable Read More
Escape from the heat. Tucson really heats up this time of the year. Except for the days when the monsoon rains provide some relief (and unusual humidity) the daily high temperature is routinely between 100° and 110°. To get a break from the unrelenting heat my wife and I headed Read More
They live among us. My talented wife Louise has been making glass beads and jewelry for a couple of decades. I don’t mean she purchases components from others and puts them together. She does it all from scratch. She makes the beads in her studio by hunkering over a hot Read More
Medical schools provide safety nets. The safety net idea is to “catch” patients that fall through the system that catches and cares for the insured. Those that slip through are uninsured or have insurance that is insufficient to give them a foothold in the world of for profit hospitals and Read More
Cancer and fluid in the chest. When a surgeon looks into a chest the initial view reveals only a lung. It seems to take all the room. That’s because it’s full of air. However, while it touches the inside of the chest wall it’s not attached. The lung is quite Read More
