This is a continuation of my earlier rant on Medicare/Medicaid. …Earlier this week, it was another patient. Also with osteomyelitis (a bone infection). Doing well however. I still had this patient on antibiotics and wanted to get bloodwork to monitor for potential adverse effects of the antibiotics. Knowing that bloodwork requires an ICD-code for billing […]
It’s Official – I Have an American Accent
For the third time since moving to “the real America” patients have confided in me their distaste, distrust, and disapproval of “foreign doctors”. Each time I wonder if they are secretly talking about me but no these are patients who have no qualms putting their doctor in her or his place. Like the man who […]
Taking Responsibility for One’s Own Health
She walked into the office appearing as if she was chewing something. Only a few years older than myself she had already lost her teeth and her mouth was puckered and sunken. I looked at her. It had been several months since our first visit together. There had been many missed appointments. Where should I […]
All Die Be Die
My interest in HIV/AIDS is in changing people’s behaviours and attitudes about their self-perceived risk of acquiring the infection. At this time, the ongoing epidemic in Africa does not stem from ignorance. People know the basics of what HIV/AIDS is and how it is spread. One can blame our religious and political leaders in that […]
Sleep Deprivation in Medical Education
Going to Seattle for the SHEA/CDC Training Course proved to be very tiring. I flew JetBlue and had no flight delays or mishaps with the exception of a $7 blanket offer and lack of peanut snacks as someone on the plane had a severe nut allergy. I flew on late night flights to and fro, spent […]