Do we really want to know the unvarnished truth?

There was an article in the LA Times today about a study underway where patients would get unlimited access to doctor’s notes in their files.  While I am normally a big fan of transparency, there are certain relationships where the information exchanged is...

Electronic Medical Records and Impatient Patients

I read a blog post by Andy Kessler today, who has written a book called The End of Medicine, which I have admittedly not read as of yet. The post alleges that the medical industry has created a complete boondoggle of finances, and if we were to employ electronic...

Health Care, Under Cover

Disclosure- I am married to a physician who is in an academic medicine practice. I sit on the nexus between two worlds- that of the normal, every day patient, and that of someone who practices medicine every day. It’s often an odd place to be, especially in...

What is Quality Health Care?

Disclosure- I am married to a practicing physician. As we enter the great debate of what is quality health care, I worry that most patients don’t know. From a patient’s perspective, we tend to look at the poshness of the office, how long we had to wait,...

Are Social Networks for Everyone?

A friend of mine asked what I thought about lawyers using social media tools for communication and networking.  I wrote a long email back, and it became clear there was a blog post brewing, so here it is- my thoughts on the use of social media for professions,...