MD Whistleblower

What is the explanation for Tom Price, a physician and current Secretary of Health and Human Services, taking private charter flights costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars?  Keep in mind that when Price was a conservative congressman from Georgia, he would have railed against such fiscal profligacy.  Is it hubris?  Entitlement?  Or, do folks who ascend to positions of power simply rationalize that such excesses are absolute necessities for getting the job done? By the time this piece is posted, Dr. Price, an orthopedic surgeon, may have been surgically excised from the government without anesthesia.  While his behavior is not quite Watergate, it was wrong.  And, if it was not wrong, it demonstrated impaired judgment.  And, if was not simply a repeated exercise of misjudgments, then it exhibited bad optics.  And, if it somehow passed the optics test, it was just dumb.  Would Price have been able to explain these expensive charter flights to average folks, half

The Graham-Cassidy bill – the latest Repeal and Replace iteration - still has a pulse, but its prognosis is grave.   While we physicians generally avoid predicting outcomes, my sense is that this bill will be buried in the coming days.  I presume that once its passage becomes mathematically impossible, that the bill will be pulled. Of course, failure to Repeal and Replace is a horrendous embarrassment and exposure of the Republicans who have been campaigning and crusading against Obamacare with religious zeal these past 7 years.   These patriots knew they could safely rail against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – throwing red meat to their base – knowing that the bills would never pass while a Democratic president occupied the White House.   How ironic it is that now that the GOP have congressional majorities that they couldn’t get it done.  Not only could they not run the ball into the end zone, but they repeatedly fumbled at every opportunity into the hands of waiting Democrats. 

Most of us do not know the basics of economics, although we should.  It impacts every one of us every day that we are alive.  Yet, for most of us, once we get beyond the law of supply and demand, our knowledge of the subject starts to vaporize.  I can't explain fiscal or monetary policy.  While I regard economics as a science, it seems that experts routinely interpret data differently, which confuses beginners like me.  What are novices to think when one expert hails our continued job gains while another laments our anemic recovery? The Puppeteers I have a general feel for market forces.  If consumer demand for an item rises, then I will expect to pay more.  If I want to make a purchase at an independent appliance store, then I will expect to pay more in return for superior customer service.  If the item is manufactured in China, it will likely cost me less as this factory is not burdened with worker protections, environmental regulation and union wages. The above

If any reader has heard of C. difficile, affectionately known as C. diff, than I presume you have had closer contact with this germ than you would have liked.  It’s an infection of the colon that can be serious, or even fatal.  There isn’t a hospital in the country that isn’t battling against the infection.   We are not winning the war against this crafty and cunning adversary.  We Need Better Weapons Against C. diff While the infection is not new, the strength and seriousness of current strains of the germ have tilted the odds against doctors and our patients.  The infection usually is a ‘side-effect’ of antibiotic treatment, but it can also be contracted from infected surfaces and people that reside in hospitals and extended care facilities and nursing homes.  For example, nowadays a patient can be admitted to a hospital and pick up the germ from hospital personnel who are contaminated from contact with an actual C. diff patient.  For this reason, C diff patients are k

Couldn't cover every tool or trade here, but a shout out to all.   All work is honorable. Warm wishes from the Whistelblower.

I have written about talcum powder previously.  Indeed, I have not only opined on the slippery substance, but I am also a regular consumer of the product.  Talcum powder has become magic legal dust that brings forth zillions of dollars to those who have been attacked by the poisonous toxin.  Just last year, I informed readers of $55 million and $72 million judgments to cancer victims who used powder against the manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.  Earlier this year a Missouri woman was awarded $110 in damages.  Recently, a jury in California, where the cost of everything is stratospheric, ordered J & J to pay damages to a victim of ovarian cancer.   The jury clearly wanted to send the company and corporate America a monetary message that went beyond the pinprick judgements that were issued against J & J last year.  Readers at this point are invited to consider what would constitute reasonable damages if it were proven true that the product caused the cancer and th

While I typically offer readers thoughts and commentary on the medical universe, or musings on politics, I am serving up some lighter fare today.  Hopefully, unlike the patient highlighted below, you will be able to chew on, swallow and digest this post.  If this blog had a category entitled, A Day in the Life of a Gastroenterologist, this piece would reside there. I was called to the emergency room yesterday to attend to an elderly woman who had steak lodged in her esophagus.  While this sounds life threatening to ordinary folks, it poses no mortal danger.  The airway is uninvolved and normal respirations proceed without interruption. These patients, while fully alive, are rather uncomfortable.  This is one of the tasks that gastroenterologists are routinely called to undertake, often at inhospitable hours. Sometimes, these folks have known esophageal narrowed regions where food that is not masticated with enthusiasm can hold up.  On other occasions, a person with a t