Living with Chronic Illness - Julian Seifter's Wise Guidance

I've never met Dr. Julian Seifter, but over the years I heard about him from patients with kidney disease who he treated. (He's a ne...

Psychiatrists, God, and Lying

A psychiatrist in Texas submitted an important question to Randy Cohen's "The Ethicist" column today. I've taken the libe...

The FBI and Martin Luther King

I recently came upon a letter I had written to the Washington Post, published on June 14, 1969. (I was living in Washington at the time, dur...

After Visit Summary - Little Things Mean a Lot

When I was in high school, the singer Kitty Kallen had a #1 hit - " Little Things Mean a Lot ." The ballad is decidedly uncool by ...

Making Accountable Care Organizations Acceptable to the Public

The most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has a valuable article about the "Patient's Role in Accountable Care ...

Fall 2010 Attitudes Toward Health Care Reform and its Possible Repeal

With the Republicans having regained a majority in the U.S. House and narrowed the Democrats' majority in the Senate last Tuesday, there...

Advocating for the Future of Medicare

I've admired Randy Cohen's "The Ethicist" column in the New York Times Magazine ever since he started it more than ten yea...

On Not Hiring Smokers

Five days ago I wrote a post defending the new Massachusetts Hospital Association policy decision not to hire tobacco users. I usually agre...

Nanny Employer or Public Health Leader?

The Massachusetts Hospital Association announced yesterday that as of January 1, tobacco users will not be eligible for employment. The blo...

State by State Analysis of Patient Rights under 2010 Reforms

State Reactions to 2010 Health Care Reforms A virtual firestorm has ensued with state reactions to some of the federal government mandates u...