We planned for our first child with enthusiasm. We had just gotten married, had virtually no money, but that didn’t matter to us. I was getting a salary of $175 per month, and Jane was getting a secretary’s wages in 1965. We had a bed, some kitchen utensils, a few clothes, toiletries, and… Continue Reading
Morals, Ethics and Medicine
I suppose it is necessary to make it clear what we are not talking about. The terms mores, morals and ethics get all mixed up in our heads, so that it becomes easy to use one word when something else is intended. Even those who claim to be moralists or ethicists do not… Continue Reading
Surgical Care
During one of our first patient rounds for surgical residents at the University of Cincinnati, our department chairman said to us, with emphasis, “ A surgeon is an internist (internal medicine specialist) who does surgery.” He was true to his word. We were asked to do our own white cell counts, hemoglobin… Continue Reading
Respect for all Life
I don’t think I have consistently emphasized this foundation enough in my books, and in these web page blogs. Since this concept is an integral part of all my thinking concerning how we manage our lives in all other ways, and how we react to all other humans,… Continue Reading
Future Health Care
It should be universal, for all citizens of the United States of America, and for the citizens of all countries of all the nations that exist on this earth. I consider the right to basic health care as much a right of the human population as the right to own property, own… Continue Reading
Cancer Care
It is difficult to find a word in the English language other than “Cancer” that causes more anxiety. There are a great many human situations that cause horror and devastating fear, including torture, near death, extreme deprivation, and violent observed death of a dearly loved. There are many disease states which are at… Continue Reading
Smoking
They come in, saying, “I have a cold.” “What do you mean by a cold? Different people mean many different things by that word. Tell me exactly what kind of problems you are having.” The patient now is getting exasperated. “I have a cold. I have a cough. My face is always… Continue Reading
Lawsuits
In this year of these editorials which explore problems in the medical profession, I thought that lawsuits surely should be addressed. As soon as I started to collect thoughts about lawsuits, however, I became angry. I immediately had multiple flashbacks to the two lawsuits I had to face through full court trials.… Continue Reading
Welfare
My father was a minister, a District Superintendent for the Methodist Church. My second brother was also a minister, and Bishop for the Southwestern Region of the Methodist Church. That region included Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. They were both good preachers, but I often heard them struggling, trying to understand… Continue Reading
Obesity
The stock market crash of 1929 occurred much for the same reason as our most recent stock market crash, in 2009. Opportunistic banks speculated way beyond their ability to pay, should their investors have come calling, asking for their money back. It was giddy times, the gay twenties, when speakeasies were running full… Continue Reading