Anyway, let me explain...

While I wait for The Powers That Be to help fix the commenting feature on the brand new blog, let me tell you a little bit more about this place. (You can read my "About" page, but that's pretty boring, and there for technical reasons.)

I'm an internist, that is, a specialist in prevention and treatment of adult diseases (which most emphatically does not mean anything to do with porn). I'm privileged to have a back stage pass to other peoples' lives---every day is an education. This gives me both special insight and special responsibilities. When I started White Coat Underground a couple of years ago, I blogged completely anonymously (hence "underground"), hoping this would let me write anything I wanted, including some of the fascinating cases I see on a daily basis. It became clear over time that I should not rely on anonymity as a privacy barrier for my patients, and any and all case reports are amalgams. Still, it can be convenient to be just a little bit anonymous, so I blog under a pseudonym (PalMD) rather than my real name---I just don't make any big effort to hide who I am. This topic is going to (hopefully) lead to a lively discussion at ScienceOnline later this week.

The nice thing about medicine, both as a career and as a writing topic, is that it included just about everything---science, politics, religion---you name it, I deal with it at work every day. This space will give you a seat in the exam room, a place where you can see what takes place in the mind of one internist as he confronts joy, tragedy, and not a little bit of comedy (seriously, syphilis---even the name is funny).

In addition to the wonderful writing you'll encounter here, you will also have my PalCast, a weekly (more or less) podcast that will dig a little deeper into medical issues, and will, some day, have really, really good guests.

So, pull up a seat, and as soon as the commenting works again, feel free to give me a piece of your mind.