Author Archive

Dead Bodies Do Not Spread Disease

January 15, 2010
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You hear it after every natural disaster that causes large loss of life and the massive earthquake in Haiti this week has been no exception: Dead bodies spread disease. Well, no, not exactly. The short answer is that corpses are not an infection risk for diseases they didn't already have.
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Posted in Medicine | 4 Comments »

Is Taxing Expensive Health Benefits the Key to Health Care Reform?

January 14, 2010
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Is Taxing Expensive Health Benefits the Key to Health Care Reform?

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber and the Obama Administration are pushing Congress to include a massive tax on so-called "Cadillac" health care insurance plans under the theory that these expensive insurance products are causing high health care costs.The problem is that this theory is an unproven fantasy that Dr. Gruber was paid by the Obama...
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Posted in Health Care "Reform" | 2 Comments »

How Drug Prices Respond to Billions in Funding

January 12, 2010
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Medicare part D and expensive and senseless prescription drug utilization by physicians is reeking havoc in a non-capitalist responsive medical care system.
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Posted in Health Care "Reform" | Comments Off

Is Antarctica Melting yet?

January 10, 2010
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The Earth's climate is warming. Everyone knows this. So the ice in Antarctica should be melting at an ever increasing rate, right? Well, actually, no not really, unless you are the New York Times.
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Posted in Misc | 1 Comment »

More Sex. Less Coronaries.

January 9, 2010
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More Sex. Less Coronaries.

The results are in! Study finds that sex is healthy for you. Republicans slam results as politically biased.
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Obese and in Denial

January 6, 2010
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Obese and in Denial

People who can't lose weight by diet and exercise often say that they have "slow metabolism". But in reality, what they really have is fast denial.
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Posted in Medicine | 1 Comment »

GISOL Ate My Blog

November 23, 2009
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This what I get for sticking with a web host that has been given a grade of “F” by the Los Angeles branch of the better business bureau and who’s Google search page list is filled with words like “fraud” and “sucks”. And according to this FOX News investigative report from 2008, GISOL has...
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Posted in Misc | 11 Comments »

The Skewed Logic of Hospital CEOs

May 1, 2009
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The Skewed Logic of Hospital CEOs

Dealing with hospital CEOs is like snake charming, or defusing bombs, or playing with fire, or kissing sick pigs. You get the idea. It’s dangerous. Things can go south quickly and suddenly. Of course, for hospital CEOs, dealing with physicians is often like being the personal assistant to Diana Ross. Many docs (surgeons, *cough,...
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Treating Patients with “Normal” Cholesterol Levels.

November 15, 2008
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Treatment with cholesterol lowering drugs is well proven to reduce the risk of a cardiovascular event (i.e. heart attack or stroke) in patients with elevated cholesterol but no prior history of cardiovascular disease. However, significant numbers of heart attacks occur in patients with “normal” cholesterol levels.  How can we differentiate between high risk and...
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No Dogs Allowed!

October 26, 2008
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The Texas Medical Board is entrusted in part to safeguard the medical care of the public by oversight of medical professionals. Every few months they go through thousands of complaints (usually filed anonymously) to discipline a handful of physicians. Apparently, complaints with any merit what-so-ever are hard to come by given that the board...
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