palmd
Posts by this author
February 23, 2009
If you read the news, you know that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has pancreatic cancer. I am not privy to the details of her illness, but it was apparently amenable to surgery, which gives her a fighting chance, and today, she returned to the Bench. I was going to use her illness to explore the…
February 20, 2009
This is an essay from several years ago, but with so many WWII vets dying, I thought I'd keep this little bit of oral history around.
About an hour before my patients begin to show up, I sit at my desk and enjoy a cup of coffee while looking over the charts for the day. On my list was a new patient…
February 19, 2009
I don't link to Pharyngula very often---our content just doesn't intersect that much, but I followed a link from today's post and had a good laugh.
You see, some comedian creationist cult leader put out a new book, and the reviews on Amazon are a real hoot. From one review:
My only…
February 19, 2009
It's been a slow flu season this year---until now. In the last week I've seen people dragging themselves into the office looking like absolute hell---fevers, cough, severe muscle aches---in other words, they've got the flu.
The latest CDC data shows a marked increase in flu activity.
A large…
February 19, 2009
It seems the same questions keep coming up when looking at the cult leaders of the infectious disease promotion movement. When you listen to them preach or read their liturgy you can't help thinking, "dumb, evil, or both?" I think I'm going to vote for "both" when it comes to Deirdre Imus. Her…
February 18, 2009
Before I started medical school I worked at a clinic that served the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. I was the "front office", greeting patients, answering the phone by TDD/TTY or by relay service (this was before the existence of text messaging, instant messaging, or anything else that relied…
February 18, 2009
There was a piece of good news on vaccine front this week. The first judgments from the Autism Omnibus Trial were announced, and the special masters (who served as judges) agreed with the rest of the reality-based community in ruling that vaccines do not cause autism. The rulings weren't subtle,…
February 17, 2009
I'm getting really tired of this nature vs. nurture debate when discussing homosexual rights. It's always interesting to investigate the origins of human behavior, and occasionally something is found to be purely genetic, but I suspect that sexuality, like many human attributes, has a complex mix…
February 16, 2009
Morning report is a daily conference for medical residents. It is done differently at different institutions, but normally a case is presented, often by the post-call team, and discussed by the senior residents and an attending physician. Today's case will be the first in an occasional series. It…
February 16, 2009
The New York Times is reporting that the economic stimulus bill will include over a billion dollars to fund research into medical evidence. This is a good thing, but it's bound to be controversial. I've mentioned before that we need to spend money to improve our medical infrastructure, and this…
February 15, 2009
Science is hard. But science, and the methodological naturalism that underlies it, has proved to be the best way to observe, describe, and explain our reality. Sure, people can come up with ridiculous straw man arguments like, "but how do you measure love?" but these arguments ring hollow. (We…
February 12, 2009
In 1999, during my intern year, Hurricane Mitch struck Central America. As stated below, I wanted to become involved. The program director of my residency was kind enough to view this as a worthwhile educational experience. This is my diary from the trip. Part IV is here.
Leaving
Our final evening…
February 12, 2009
The Pope has decided that forgiven doesn't mean forgotten. When he recently un-excommunicated some dissenters, and they continued to spew hateful, anti-semitic Holocaust-denial, the Pope's silence implied consent. He is silent no more. That isn't to say he has re-excommunicated the offender, but…
February 11, 2009
There's been some pretty cryptic talk on ScienceBlogs over the last day or so, which brings up some topics that may seem obscure to some readers.* Worse, it gives an appearance that bloggers are engaged in some sort of self-indulgent flame war over minutiae. Let me help draw a guide for those of…
February 11, 2009
In 1999, during my intern year, Hurricane Mitch struck Central America. As stated below, I wanted to become involved. The program director of my residency was kind enough to view this as a worthwhile educational experience. This is my diary from the trip. Part III is here.
After Hours
We returned…
February 10, 2009
In 1999, during my intern year, Hurricane Mitch struck Central America. As stated below, I wanted to become involved. The program director of my residency was kind enough to view this as a worthwhile educational experience. This is my diary from the trip. Part II is here.
Zopilotepe; the Clinic
We…
February 10, 2009
There's a lot of talk about there about "economic stimulus" and "infrastructure", but what is "infrastructure"? Traditionally, it's the basic physical and social structure needed for a society to operate. Roads, sewers, utilities, schools---these are the "guts" of our nation. Without these…
February 9, 2009
In 1999, during my intern year, Hurricane Mitch struck Central America. As stated below, I wanted to become involved. The program director of my residency was kind enough to view this as a worthwhile educational experience. This is part II of my diary from the trip. Part I is here.
To Juticalpa
As…
February 9, 2009
I keep pandagon.net on my google reader. I don't agree with everything I read there, which is a good thing, but I do respect Amanda Marcotte's opinions (and they are always well-written).
I must take some exception with her recent analysis of the octuplet fiasco. It's not just that I have a…
February 9, 2009
Via Tara Parker-Pope at NYT I learned of a little economics piece in the same paper. It looks into the economics and cost of waitng for health care services.
No one like waiting at the doctor. I've heard many people say, "Well, if he is going to use up my valuable time, then I'm sending him a…
February 8, 2009
In 1999, during my intern year, Hurricane Mitch struck Central America. As stated below, I wanted to become involved. The program director of my residency was kind enough to view this as a worthwhile educational experience. This is my diary from the trip.
Beginning
The idea to go to Honduras came…
February 8, 2009
It's generally a bad idea to assault the religious beliefs of your friends, neighbors, and relatives. That being said, sometimes it's unavoidable. My being Jewish is hard for some people, who feel that just by being me, I am denying their Lord and delaying His return (and before you start tossing…
February 7, 2009
The movement against vaccination is old---very old. All medical interventions require scrutiny. Like any medical intervention, vaccines require systematic investigation before deployment, and monitoring during their use. Still, vaccines have done more for public health than most Westerners under…
February 6, 2009
I don't usually see these guys during the day, but this one was caught (barely) by PalMom and PalKid.
February 6, 2009
Apparently, it's time once again to remind people why vaccination is important. Pertussis ("whooping cough") is a nasty vaccine-preventable illness that is highly contagious and can be deadly to little ones. And it's making a comeback. The Michigan Department of Community Health is tracking this…
February 5, 2009
Returning phone calls isn't my strong suit. I'm not sure what it is, but I'd rather just take the calls as they come, whenever possible. I usually let my patients know to have me paged if they need anything important, so it's not unusual for me to hear from my patients at odd times. It's a bit…
February 5, 2009
MarkH has Part IV of Choosing a Medical specialty up at denialism blog. Go and read.
February 5, 2009
A delusion is usually defined as "a fixed, false belief". Anyone can be wrong, but to persist in being wrong despite all the evidence is the hallmark of delusional thinking. In their latest senseless rant at HuffPo, infectious disease promoters David Kirby and Robert Kennedy, Jr. cling to thin…
February 5, 2009
Reproductive ethics is a field I'm not all that familiar with, but it's been a big deal lately, so I've been thinking about it a bit. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has a few broadsheets on ethics, which are actually rather helpful. Reproductive medicine is a great field for…
February 5, 2009
I don't have a lot of software (computer is broken, working in the cloud), but here's a slightly annotated picture of my back:
To orient you, I'm facing left, the blocky thingies are my vertebral bodies. Hopefully this helps.