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Musings on the intersection of science, medicine, and culture
PalMD is a practicing internist in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.. Aside from the great joy he finds in his family and his work, he likes communicating some of that joy to others. He has a special interest in the ways patients---and we are all patients at one time or another---are deceived by charlatans. He aims to change the world, one reader at a time. Previous writings can still be found here, and here. I also write twice a month for Science-Based Medicine
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March 31, 2010
Category: Absurd religious wingnutery
The recent arrests of the Hutaree cult here in Michigan are part of a tradition of militant separatism in this part of the country, beginning with the militia movements in the late 20th century and climaxing (hopefully) in the terrorist...
Posted by PalMD at 1:07 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 27, 2010
Category: Medicine
I love Icelandic names. Just reading them makes me think of Vikings and valkyries. One name that I can't get out of my head right now is "Iris Erlingsdottir". She's an Icelandic journalist who put up a pro-vaccine piece on...
Posted by PalMD at 2:33 PM • 53 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 24, 2010
Category: Absurd medical claims
It has been alleged by Great Minds such as Jenny McCarthy (D.Goog.) that the US recommends far more vaccinations than other countries. Her precise statement was, "How come many other countries give their kids one-third as many shots as we do?" She...
Posted by PalMD at 7:27 PM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 22, 2010
Category: Medicine
It's hard to imagine the that the hyperbolic rhetoric that characterized the health care reform debate could get any worse (death panels, etc.). But it will. Representative John Boehner (Asshat-OH) started it of last night with what amounted to a...
Posted by PalMD at 1:59 PM • 69 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 21, 2010
Category: Fatherhood
After a week of fine weather, the first weekend of spring was forecast to be cold, rainy, and snowy. I love it when they're wrong. I would love to be able to sleep in, but if I can't sleep in,...
Posted by PalMD at 7:00 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
Early in the prolonged economic crisis a patient who had lost his factory job came to see me. He no longer had insurance, but he had plenty of health problems. Our office normally doesn't see uninsured patients (we simply can't...
Posted by PalMD at 9:21 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 18, 2010
Category: Medicine
A physician friend asked me today if I had seen the survey in the New England Journal of Medicine that says nearly half of us will quit medicine if health care reform passes. My fried, a life-long Republican, found the numbers...
Posted by PalMD at 3:59 PM • 60 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 17, 2010
Category: #FWDAOTI
One of the things I love about the blogosphere is the give and take, the ability of people to comment on each others' work, and the diversity of topics. The conversations that take place in the blogosphere have real value...
Posted by PalMD at 5:27 PM • 57 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
(This piece appears today at Science-Based Medicine and is re-posted here today because I like it and I'm lazy. --PalMD) A couple of years ago, a number of us raised concerns about an "investigative reporter" at a Detroit television station....
Posted by PalMD at 2:37 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 15, 2010
Category: Medicine
The work up of "fever of unknown origin" (FUO) is a classic exercise in internal medicine. Originally defined as a temperature greater than 38.3°C (101°F) on several occasions for more than three weeks with no diagnosis after one week of...
Posted by PalMD at 5:56 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
