Treating the Poor - No Good Deed Will Go Unpunished

Physicians and teachers are the focus of a major societal effort to reward excellence, encourage improvement, and weed out poor performers. ...

Amending the 2010 Health Care Reforms Checklist

Suggestions for Amending the 2010 Health Care Reforms Now that the teeth gnashing is on-going over proposed changes to the health care refor...

Nicholas Kristof on "Tussling Over Jesus"

Readers who have followed the controversy within the Catholic Church over the abortion done at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix to save ...

Ground Rules for the Single Payer Debate in Vermont

The national debate about health reform has been dominated by sloganeering. Polling suggests that the public does not understand the drivers...

Dr. Andrew Wakefield's Fraudulent Claims about Autism

This month the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a three part series by Brian Deer, detailing the fraud by which Dr. Andrew Wakefield ...

Physicians Treating Family Members

Randy Cohen, who writes "The Ethicist" column for the New York Times, is my ego ideal for this blog. I admire his down to earth,hu...

Recently, a number of columnists have remarked upon the lack of consistency (and in some cases, lack of precision) in how various pollsters ...

A Blog Post about Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

I just came upon this post by Paul Levy, who until recently was CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, about Harvard Pilgrim Health Car...

States are the Hotbed for Medical Ethics

On Tuesday, by voting to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), all 242 Republicans in the House of Representatives pr...

Single Payer Proposal in Vermont

On May 27, 2010 Vermont Act 128 - "An act relating to health care financing and universal access to health care in Vermont" - was...

Six More States Join the Anti-Mandate Suit

The Associated Press reported today that Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Wisconsin and Wyoming, all with Republican Attorneys General, have join...

Public Attitudes Towards the Health Reform Law

I've been pouring over an Associated Press-GfK poll done last week on health care reform. Overall support for (40%) and opposition to (...

Sacred Moments in Medical Care

This month's issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry has a fascinating clinical discussion - "Perspectives on 'Sacred Momen...

Drugging America

In the December issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, an article on "National Trends in Outpatient Psychotherapy" and an a...

President Obama's Tucson Speech

I'm in Washington DC for three days of meetings of an Institute of Medicine committee whose assignment is to advise Secretary Sebelius o...

The Ethics of Using Placebos in Clinical Practice

The most interesting research study you may ever read about was published last month in PLoS - "Placebos without Deception: A Randomiz...

Catholic Social Vision and the Diocese of Phoenix

With regard to the abortion done for a patient who was 11 weeks pregnant and on a rapid trajectory towards death from pulmonary hypertension...

With the just-sworn-in Republican majority in the U.S. House poised to pass a repeal of last year's health care reform legislation (such...

Governor Patrick Throws Down the Gauntlet on ACOs

Two days ago I described the current moment in Massachusetts Health Care Reform as "crunch time," with a number of tough choices ...

Sexual Assault Protocol in Philadelphia

Below is the City of Philadelphia's Sexual Assault Complaint Form for those interested in checking it out. The actual document is 10 pag...

Crunch Time in Massachusetts for Cost Containment and ACOs

The time has come for Massachusetts to walk the talk of health care reform. We've done a good job with the easier part - increasing acce...

Resources from Sex and Gender Health Disparities IM Grand Rounds Jan 5, 2011

Hi, Thanks for joining me at Grand Rounds. As promised here's the resource listing I mentioned. I've listed the 'what can I use ...