Science and the Artful Clinician on Science Day

Yesterday (April 22) was Earth Day or Science Day or some combination of the two. There were marches supporting Science which is a little like marches supporting motherhood. Whatever political agenda may be in play here, I have no problem supporting Science and certainly in the work I do as a physician. For the past forty years that I have been in the medical field I have heard numerous complaints about the American healthcare system. Actually, over those forty years,…

9/11 Chronicles: Breast Cancer Takes a Backseat

I remember driving down the FDR Drive in Manhattan on the way to my office in Brooklyn on 9/11/2001. Yes, it was a beautiful late summer, early fall day, as so many have noted. A busy day was planned at work. In ten days I was going on a long needed vacation. The FDR in Manhattan runs down the East Side along the East River. As the island narrows at its southernmost point, the FDR disappears in a mini tunnel…

Obamacare’s Death Spiral

To all well meaning opponents of Obamacare: cease and desist, now! The end is near. This will end on its own. A DNR (do not resuscitate) order is imminent. Robert Kocker, a physician and one of the architects of the bill, has buyer’s remorse. I guess he just didn’t think his grand plans through, didn’t consider how real folks might react to this top down monstrosity. I guess he was just too smart to consider any contingencies. He was warned….

Off the Prairie: Remembering My Father on Father’s Day

My father was a doctor. I received by doctoring interest from him. My brother was similarly influenced. He was a pediatrician. He knew most kids in town and their mothers and fathers. He treated thousands of them and calmed a similar number of mothers and fathers. When he was out of the office at night or on weekends and someone needed his services, he would meet them at the top of our driveway in their cars and administer his treatment…

An Homage to Nurses on National Nurses Week

My father was a pediatrician. When I was growing up there were always incoming calls into our house from patients of my father. When my father wasn’t there, my mother would take the calls and dispense worldly and medical advice (after all, she brought up five children) to anxious patients. She wasn’t a nurse, but could have been. Mothers nurse their children at birth and nurse them when ill. I guess for all of us the first nurse we encounter…

This is The First Blog Post

This is the first post to the blog that resides on this web site. I was told I should do a blog. That made me feel young, like I was one of those young digital wiz kids, who sit in their parent’s home in their underwear and eat Cheetos while communicating with and changing the world on the internet. I’m not that, but don’t want the world to leave me behind either. I suppose I am a reasonably respectable breast…