Healthcare Policy
    11 hours ago

    SURVEY: TRUST IN HEALTH CARE AGENCIES HAS DECLINED

    In a recent blogpost, I alluded to the attitude of the American public toward vaccines, the CDC, and local and…
    Drugs & Medications
    4 days ago

    VACCINES USED TO BE MIRACLE DRUGS!

    Anyone my age vividly remembers when Dr. Jonas Salk developed his vaccine for infantile paralysis, ie. Poliomyelitis. It was 1954…
    Drugs & Medications
    4 days ago

    EFFECTS OF ORAL DECONGESTANTS

    Historically, doctors were concerned that oral decongestants may have an adverse effect on the user’s blood pressure and heart rate.…
    Dermatology
    5 days ago

    SEBORRHEIC DERMATITIS

    One of the most common skin conditions in adults is Seborrheic Dermatitis. It’s so common that patients tend to ignore…
    Heart Disease
    7 days ago

    POST MI BETA BLOCKERS? NO ONE CAN DECIDE

    The proverbial pendulum must be getting confused about which way to swing! At least that seems to be true in…
    Cancer
    1 week ago

    A BLOOD TEST FOR COLORECTAL CANCER

    I mentioned recently that I had been to my gastroenterologist’s office for a follow up appointment. Among other things, I…
    Medical Devices
    1 week ago

    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: AI PUT TO GOOD USE!

    This afternoon, I had an appointment with my gastroenterologist. He’s always been a “cutting edge” kind of guy so the…
    A Day in the Life Scenarios
    2 weeks ago

    PATIENTS LOSING TRUST IN DOCTORS

    The medical profession, and in particular family physicians, remain among the most respected professionals in the U.S. According to a…
    Human Interest
    2 weeks ago

    PHYSICIANS FILL TOP 20 IN PAY!

    American print media seems to have an obsession with the subject of physician compensation. Several times each year, some media…
    Physician Office Issues
    2 weeks ago

    PRIOR AUTHORIZATIONS DELAY CARE

    If you have ever had to delay a procedure because you’re waiting for a prior authorization, you probably have a…
    Neurology
    2 weeks ago

    AUTISM: IS IT MORE COMMON TODAY?

    Autism does seem to be present more often today than it was forty years ago. I can’t recall any of…
    Physician Office Issues
    3 weeks ago

    SPEAKING TO PATIENTS IS AN ART

    Learning how to communicate with patients is an art physicians must master. They must learn how to give verbal instructions…
    Preventive Medicine
    3 weeks ago

    THESE CHANGES CAN ADD A YEAR TO YOUR LIFE

    Medical researchers continually harp on the benefits of lifestyle change. Living habits form the basis for nearly every preventive medicine…
    Human Interest
    3 weeks ago

    NO TAX ON TIPS: SOME STIPULATIONS

    Last year, as a part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress made permanent the tax cuts passed in…
    Preventive Medicine
    3 weeks ago

    PSA TESTING: THE ENIGMA THAT WON’T GO AWAY

    For decades, the Prostate Specific Antigen, or PSA test, has been the “red-headed step child” of preventive medicine. Any opportunity…
    Physician Office Issues
    3 weeks ago

    PHYSICIAN OVERCOMPENSATION

    The last thing the medical profession needs at the present time is for the public to read the article I…
    Human Interest
    3 weeks ago

    2026 INDY 500 MILE RACE

    I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to write about the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile…
    Gastrointestinal Diseases
    4 weeks ago

    COLONOSCOPY AFTER AGE 75

    Healthcare economists have a fixation on various ratios that determine when, and if, a diagnostic procedure should be done. Two…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    4 weeks ago

    AFP CLINICAL ANSWERS APRIL, 2026

    This is the second article based on information presented the American Family Physician  journal’s section titled “Clinical Answers.” The April…
    Cancer
    4 weeks ago

    IVERMECTIN: FOR CANCER?

    Over the past 5 to 10 years, no drug has been more controversial than Ivermectin. All the uproar during the…
    Cancer
    4 weeks ago

    GLP-1’S AND BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL

    Who isn’t taking a GLP-1 these days? There are so many reasons for doctors to prescribe them that almost everyone…
    Drugs & Medications
    May 22, 2026

    ADVERSE EFFECTS OF GLP-1’S

    Literally every day I read something about Glucagon Like Peptide-1Receptor Agonists, GLP-RA’s. That’s the million dollar name for the class…
    Drugs & Medications
    May 21, 2026

    QUICK MEDICAL ADVICE FROM THE AAFP

     American Family Physician is the scientific journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians (the AAFP). The AAFP is the…
    Healthcare Policy
    May 20, 2026

    SPENDING TO TRAIN FAMILY DOCS DIVERTED

    Increasing the number of practicing primary care physicians has been a serious consideration for the past fifty years. It seemed…
    Bone & Joint Problems
    May 19, 2026

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT? No. 4

    WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PATIENT? No. 4 Case number 4 is a 46 year old homeless male who was brought…

      COVID-19
      October 27, 2025

      MEDICAL “MISINFORMATION”

      I fear I may be “wading into shark-infested waters” when I approach the subject in the title of this article.…
      COVID-19
      September 23, 2025

      LONG COVID STILL AFFECTING DOCTORS, NURSES

      The serious, deadly phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has ended along with the frequency of acute cases. It’s been over…
      COVID-19
      September 3, 2025

      VACCINES PROTECT CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

      COVID-19 and the vaccines developed to combat it did more to erode trust in old, well-established, standard vaccines than any…
      Cancer
      July 27, 2025

      COVID-19, VITAMIN D, CANCER, GLP-1’S, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

      MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #29 COVID-19 has a greater effect on kidneys than pneumonia: Natural aging causes a gradual decline in…
      COVID-19
      September 16, 2023

      CDC RECOMMENDS ALL AMERICANS 6 MONTHS AND OLDER RECEIVE AT LEAST ONE DOSE OF UPDATED COVID-19 VACCINE

      The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved “reformulated” COVID vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. That prompted a CDC Advisory…
      COVID-19
      March 18, 2023

      MOST COVID-19 DEATHS WORLDWIDE WERE AMONG OLDER PEOPLE.

      The high mortality rate from COVID-19 among the elderly was a fact everyone knew, but a lot of people ignored.…
      Preventive Medicine
      January 18, 2023

      STROKE AND PFIZER VACCINE

      Have you heard the latest about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster? There’s always something, you know! This time, there are serious…
      Healthcare Policy
      December 26, 2022

      LIFE EXPECTANCY LOWERED—AGAIN!

      The CDC just announced the life expectancy of Americans recently dropped to a 25-year low. People born in 2021 have…
      COVID-19
      May 27, 2022

      mRNA VACCINE EFFICACY

      Who really knows how effective mRNA vaccines are for COVID-19. All degrees of outrageous claims about them are made back…
      COVID-19
      February 4, 2022

      MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES: What are they? What do they do?

      This is a difficult subject to write about. Difficult because to understand it, you must possess basic knowledge of the…
      COVID-19
      January 23, 2022

      “COVID-19 VACCINE BOOSTERS SAVE LIVES”

      Yes, they really do! And The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is proud to report that fact. Two…
      COVID-19
      January 5, 2022

      COVID-19 VACCINE-MYOCARDITIS LINK INSIGNIFICANT

      Last summer, there was a lot of fuss about a link between mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and the occurrence of…
      COVID-19
      October 11, 2021

      NATURAL IMMUNITY TO COVID-19: IS IT A REALITY?

      Why can’t today’s viruses play fair? Why can’t viruses like SARS-CoV-2 behave like the viruses of old—the varicella-zoster virus or…
      COVID-19
      September 28, 2021

      PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE AND MYOCARDITIS

      In July, I wrote a blog about the incidence of myocarditis in young males after vaccination with Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.…
      COVID-19
      September 17, 2021

      COVID-19 VACCINATION AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

      I’m having a bit of trouble with the current attitude of a lot of people. I’m referring to the 80…
      COVID-19
      August 15, 2021

      VACCINE HESITANCY: WHY PEOPLE REFUSE COVID-19 VACCINE

      I’m old enough to remember what life was like before vaccines. As a child I had measles, mumps, and chicken…
      COVID-19
      July 12, 2021

      MYOCARDITIS AFTER COVID-19 VACCINE

      Much ado has been made on cable news programs about the adverse effects attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. In particular, there…
      COVID-19
      March 6, 2021

      SIX COVID-19 VACCINES IN PHASE III TRIALS

      We’ve heard repeatedly about the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for COVID-19. Those are the two vaccines in use locally; if…
      COVID-19
      March 5, 2021

      ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO PFIZER-BIONTECH VACCINE

      Today’s media seems to have difficulty reporting the good news that comes from developments in the COVID-19 pandemic. Such is…
      COVID-19
      January 12, 2021

      COVID-19 VACCINE: MY EXPERIENCE

      The Maricopa County (Arizona) Health Department began administering COVID-19 vaccine in late December. Maricopa County has the bulk of the…
      COVID-19
      December 5, 2020

      AT-HOME COVID-19 TESTING

      These days news travels fast so you may already know the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the…
      COVID-19
      November 21, 2020

      PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE 90% (95%) EFFECTIVE!

      By now you’ve surely heard the good news about the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company in collaboration…
      COVID-19
      July 5, 2020

      HERD IMMUNITY? What’s That?

      Lately, there have been many references to the term HERD IMMUNITY. Public health officials use it in their communications about…

      CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

        Drugs & Medications
        December 25, 2023

        ANTI-ARRHYTHMIC DRUGS AFTER ABLATION: DO THEY HELP?

        If you’re one of the ever-increasing number of folks who have undergone ablation for atrial fibrillation, you may be wondering,…
        Drugs & Medications
        August 6, 2025

        POST MI BETA BLOCKERS QUESTIONED

        For many years, doctors have been told that patients who suffered an acute myocardial infarction, a heart attack, were all…
        Heart Disease
        7 days ago

        POST MI BETA BLOCKERS? NO ONE CAN DECIDE

        The proverbial pendulum must be getting confused about which way to swing! At least that seems to be true in…
        Heart Disease
        July 28, 2023

        POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN BEWARE!

        After menopause, women have a lot of health problems to worry about. Besides hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and…
        Preventive Medicine
        June 22, 2022

        CAROTID STENOSIS AND STROKE

        Carotid stenosis is a narrowing of the artery in the neck that sends blood to the brain. When blood flow…
        Heart Disease
        April 24, 2026

        WOMEN AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        Last year, the American Heart Association updated their hypertension guidelines for women. They established four groups of hypertensive patients based…
        Preventive Medicine
        September 6, 2022

        LET’S PUT STATINS IN THE WATER!

        I have written 7 blogs about statins, and I suspect you’re beginning to tire of my persistence. I love statins!…
        Heart Disease
        September 21, 2023

        WOMEN WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT THAN MEN

        As I’ve reported before, it seems like atrial fibrillation exists in epidemic proportion. If you don’t know someone who has…
        Heart Disease
        March 26, 2026

        MANAGEMENT OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

        The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, the two largest organizations dedicated to the prevention and treatment…
        Heart Disease
        June 25, 2020

        SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART DISEASE

        We’ve known for decades that high blood pressure and heart disease go hand in hand. The higher a patient’s blood…
        Heart Disease
        August 11, 2022

        SWOLLEN LEGS: NO SIMPLE ANSWER!

        It’s fairly common for a person over age 65 to, at some time, experience swelling of one or both legs.…
        Bone & Joint Problems
        December 1, 2024

        MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS #24

        Does a cortisone shot help a frozen shoulder? Adhesive capsulitis is the fancy term for a frozen shoulder. The bones…
        Heart Disease
        May 4, 2026

        CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE AND STENTS

        I just read an article on medscape.com that referred to changes that may be coming in the long-term prevention and…
        Heart Disease
        April 15, 2020

        CHOLESTEROL

        What is it and how does it cause harm? Everyone has heard of cholesterol. Everyone has cholesterol. Everyone should worry…
        Heart Disease
        February 6, 2026

        hsCRP: BETTER THAN CHOLESTEROL

        C-Reactive Protein, or CRP, is a substance produced by the liver in response to the presence of a serious infection…
        Drugs & Medications
        March 28, 2022

        TYLENOL AND BLOOD PRESSURE: THERE’S MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

        Most people think of Tylenol (acetaminophen) as a safe drug. They substitute if for aspirin because they are continually reminded…
        Heart Disease
        June 3, 2019

        AN EPIDEMIC OF A DIFFERENT COLOR: Atrial Fibrillation

        I have at least 8 or 10 personal friends who have had episodes of Atrial Fibrillation. My wife and I…
        Heart Disease
        October 7, 2025

        TROPONIN LEVELS AND HEART ATTACKS

        If you have had the misfortune of having a heart attack, no doubt you have heard of the troponin test.…
        Drugs & Medications
        December 8, 2024

        NEW APPROACH TO TREATING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

        For decades, the “step-wise care” approach to treating high blood pressure (HBP) was in vogue. This approach recommended starting with…
        Heart Disease
        August 3, 2022

        HEART TRANSPLANT: FINDING DONORS IS DAUNTING!

        A heart transplant is unquestionably the most serious operation a human can have. Removing a person’s heart is a terminal…
        Drugs & Medications
        May 3, 2020

        MORE ON ASPIRIN AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

        On March 22nd, I published a blog on aspirin for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The message…
        Heart Disease
        April 29, 2026

        THE CORNEAL REFLEX

        There is an important, but simple, diagnostic procedure doctors do frequently but don’t talk about very much. This procedure, called…
        Heart Disease
        February 19, 2024

        SCREENING FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

        Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and is a major risk factor for ischemic stroke. An ischemic stroke…
        Healthcare Policy
        November 19, 2025

        NEW BLOOD PRESSURE GUIDELINES

        In the healthcare realm, policies and guidelines for just about everything are constantly being re-evaluated. One such re-evaluation occurred recently…
        Preventive Medicine
        September 21, 2022

        TOO MUCH HDL-CHOLESTEROL?

        For decades we’ve been told about the cardio-protective benefits of the “good cholesterol,” High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C). We were…

        DAY-IN-THE-LIFE SCENARIOS

          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          2 weeks ago

          PATIENTS LOSING TRUST IN DOCTORS

          The medical profession, and in particular family physicians, remain among the most respected professionals in the U.S. According to a…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          May 15, 2026

          ABNORMAL LAB RESULTS

          Every day, family physicians have patients with abnormal lab test results. Most of the time, the abnormal results can be…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          March 27, 2026

          PHYSICIANS ARE NOT “PROVIDERS”

          Finally, someone besides me has taken offense at physicians being called providers. Since today’s world contains all levels of folks…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          March 23, 2026

          REST

          REST is not a state physicians find themselves in very often. In fact, the medical profession has a thing for…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          March 19, 2026

          OLDER PHYSICIANS: IMPAIRED?

          Many healthcare institutions and medical practices are seeing the age of practicing physicians increase as more continue to practice beyond…
          A Day in the Life Scenarios
          February 11, 2026

          THE QUIRKS OF MEDICAL EDUCATION

          Medical education is phenomenon unto itself. It is filled with nuances that make it distinctive in  character and personality, as…

          YOUR WELLNESS MATTERS

            August 8, 2025

            FASTING FOR BLOODWORK IS OUTDATED

            Here’s something that might brighten your day. “It really doesn’t matter if you’re stomach is empty” [when you have blood…
            July 5, 2024

            PRIORITIES IN GERIATRIC CARE

            In spite of statistics that show the average life expectancy of Americans has been declining over the past 5-10 years,…
            January 9, 2024

            WHITE TEETH

            Many people today have a significant focus on personal appearance. You might not think so from the way segments of…
            September 1, 2023

            MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS NO. 5

            Cancer Among Younger Americans is Increasing    A study published on JAMA Network Open using data from the National Cancer…
            August 25, 2023

            WATER FLUORIDATION, CREST TOOTHPASTE

            There’s little or no disagreement with the statement that fluoridation of community drinking water supplies has been one of public…
            August 5, 2023

            MORE ABOUT SUGAR IN OUR DIET

            Recently, I reported information that certain amounts of sugar in our diet were tied directly to increased risk of a…
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