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New York Times Articles LETTERS : When Hospitals Buy Doctor Practices To the Editor: Re “A Hospital War Reflects a Bind for U.S. Doctors” (front page, Dec. 1): LETTERS : In Search of Political Champions for the Poor To the Editor: Re “Cutting the Deficit, With Compassion” (Economic View, Sept. 9), in which Christina R. Romer suggested reducing the federal budget deficit “in a way that does as little harm as possible to people, jobs and economic opportunity.” LETTERS TO THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE Regarding Aidan Foster-Carter’s “To Catch a Roach” (Meanwhile, Sept. 27): Last Saturday night, coming home from a party, we found a roach, a spider and an ant in our kitchen. Gently, I got the roach to climb on to the bristle part of the broom; my wife captured the spider in a cup, and our 12-year-old son helped scoot the ant onto a sheet of paper. Then we escorted them outside to our lawn. LETTERS : An Insidious Infection in Indiana To the Editor : “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health,” by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, March 12), addresses a topic of paramount importance, the epidemic of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in our community. Mr. Kristof draws an association between the occurrence of community-acquired MRSA in a farm town in northwestern Indiana to the death of a family doctor. From the facts presented, there is no evidence that the doctor died of MRSA. Without a proper investigation, such anecdotal information may deter doctors from caring for MRSA patients. Recall the early stages of the H.I.V. epidemic. The Germs Are Potent. But So Is a Kiss. “I have been waiting to see you, and I want answers now,” my patient said angrily as I entered her hospital room. Essay : Putting Pay on the Line to Improve Health Care Every quarter I get together with my partners to review the performance of our medical practice. Like a manager of a car dealership, I bring out the numbers. I show them how many patients we saw in the previous months, what we billed, how much we collected. Yet too often we fail to answer some crucial questions: What is the quality of our care? How well or poorly are our patients doing? When it comes to those with pneumonia, for instance, did we deliver an appropriate antibiotic in a timely fashion? At the hospitals where we practice, is the mortality rate for congestive heart failure higher or lower than the national average?
I carry the card in the glove compartment of my car. It is not a Valentine’s card from my wife, or a graduation card from my mother. It is a simple greeting card, with a cheerful watercolor of wildflowers, sent to me by a patient I cared for after moving to Memphis. She was an attractive 34-year-old medical detailer who was engaged to be married until she became inexplicably short of breath. First her doctors thought it was asthma, then bronchitis. |
