APOL1 Nephropathy-The Cause of Kidney Failure in Black Patients
In 1966, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death. I see no alternative to direct action and creative nonviolence to raise the conscience of the nation.” -There are 500,000 dialysis patients in the United…
Read MoreAn Old Doctor Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last time
An Old Doctor Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last time Ethical Issues in Clinical Medicine Chapter 8 In 1973 medical ethics did not take up a chapter. Little was said about the subject. Dr. Howard Brody was one of the first to bring this to the forefront in the late…
Read MoreAN OLD DOCTOR READS HARRISON’S PRINCIPLE’S OF INTERNAL MEDICINE FOR THE LAST TIME-CHAPTER 7 RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTHCARE
An Old Doctor Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last time Racial Disparities in Health Care-Chapter 7 I entered medical school in 1973, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ended in 1972. The professors who interviewed me to ascertain if I was of sound moral character to be a doctor were ignorant of or…
Read MoreAN OLD DOCTOR READING HARRISON’S PRINCIPLES OF INTERNAL MEDICNE FOR THE LAST TIME
An Old Doctor Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last time Chapter 6 Safety and Quality of Healthcare More on safety. There are many factors that have influenced improvement and safety in medicine but in my opinion the most important and effective were the routine autopsy and the predatory sleazy malpractice plaintive attorney.…
Read MoreON READING HARRISON’S PRINCIPLES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE FOR THE LAST TIME — CHAPTER 6
On Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last time Chapter 6 Safety and Quality of Healthcare As a medical student in 1973 I believed the safety and quality of healthcare rested with the individual physician. If the physician was trained properly quality would be assured. I studied and exposed myself to as much…
Read MoreON READING HARRISON’S PRINCIPLES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE FOR THE LAST TIME-CHAPTER 5
On Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last time Chapter 5 Healthcare Systems in Developed Countries Not too sure what this chapter has to do with becoming a master clinician. All I got from this was that healthcare is expensive and it seems all delivery systems are pretty screwed up in their own…
Read MoreOn Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last Time – Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Decision Making in Clinical Medicine This was a difficult chapter for me and made me recall my first reading of Harrison’s. I didn’t understand it on first read but I appreciate the significance and if I wasn’t a busy clinician, I could spend a lifetime studying this chapter as well as James Joyce’s…
Read MoreOn Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last Time – Chapter 2
Physical Examination page 2 “The patient must be examined from head to toe” That was true when we were medical students in 1973 and perhaps for fifteen years after but patients became wary of doctors and with some justification as evidenced by Larry Nassar or the late University of Michigan’s former team physician. During my…
Read MoreOn Reading Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for the Last Time – Chapter 1
My medical career started in 1973 and wow its now 2022. I recall reading Harrison’s for the first time over forty years ago and had to use Dorland’s medical dictionary every few words. Words like leukocytosis, uremia, salpingo oophorectomy, made me laugh at my ignorance. Eventually I learned their meaning and continue to relate and…
Read MoreINSULIN FOR ALL
Almost one hundred years ago researchers Banting, Best, Collip, and Macleod isolated insulin for clinical use. As reported by Amanda Foreman in the WSJ in July 2021 the researchers sold their patent rights for one dollar because they thought insulin was too vital to be exploited. She reports that insulin today is so expensive that…
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