Lack of Compensation Can Tempt Doctors to Tailor Their Care to a Patient’s CoveragePublished: October 14, 2008 When I walked into the hospital room of a 19-year-old woman, a foul smell all but overwhelmed me. I called a nurse to assist me and saw her, too, catch...
Published: September 16, 2008 From the patient’s point of view, doctors and hospital officials can seem to be a monolithic medical power structure. But in fact, physicians and administrators often do not see eye to eye.Read More
We Need Carrots and Sticks to Reduce Infection RatesPublished: August 05, 2008 One morning on hospital rounds, I saw a physician colleague enter the intensive care unit where a patient lay intubated and sedated. With his hands unwashed and ungloved, the physician...
Published: July 15, 2008 Last summer, my oldest daughter, Sapna, passed a multiple-choice driver’s exam, secured a learner’s permit and asked to sit in the driver’s seat. This was a source of concern for me. As an epidemiologist, it is my job to look...
My patient is an elderly man with end-stage congestive heart failure, kidney failure and now an infected dialysis line, and he is unlikely to live more than six months. The Bible lies on his bedside table next to his hospital breakfast tray and the morning newspaper....
Published: April 15, 2008 Each morning as I head for my morning rounds, I routinely hurry through the hallway alongside the cardiac catheterization lab not noticing what goes on inside. But, this morning it was different. On the table, under the x-ray beams, with a...
