It still amazes me when what seems like common sense is not seen as such by others. My mom taught me early on that, "There is nothing common about common sense," and I think of that statement almost every time I watch the news reporting riots and war or read...

Flipping through the channels last month, I witnessed an NFL playoff game just at the moment to see a player tackled so hard that his headgear went flying through the air! This, along with the ongoing media attention on head injury, made me want to revisit the topic of helmet...

Part 2: Don't Blame Diagnostic Imaging, Blame the Abuse of Utilization

In a newly-released study, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that in 2010, physician self-referrals rose 80 percent for physicians who purchased diagnostic imaging equipment in 2009.

During the fiscal year of 2010, self-referrals amounted to over...

Part 1: Physician Self-Referrals Increase After Equipment Is Purchased

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently announced that physician referrals for MRI and CT examinations for Medicare beneficiaries substantially increase the year they purchased or leased imaging equipment or after joining a group that already practiced self-referral. Self-referral is...

Your child's soda and beverages may be infused with caffeine, and they drink them like water. These drinks could be deadly. The parents of 14-year-old Anais Fournie are unfortunately aware of this. After consuming two Monster energy drinks, Anais suffered a heart attack and sadly died. Anais Fournie's...

A few weeks ago, friends of mine dropped their 10-year-old daughter off for her first skateboard lesson at a local skate park. They wandered around watching the other children skate. The environment was new, as was the instructor. After a short while, the instructor told the young girl that he...

We have all been there. You look in the mirror one day and say "Ugh... I need to lose some weight!" Or maybe you have a friend who is hyper-focused on self-image and weight. Maybe they constantly compare themselves to men and women in magazines, on television, in movies and...

What Your Radiologist Needs to Know Before an Imaging Study

You've been feeling under the weather lately, or you have aches and pains or swelling that just will not go away, or you just don't feel like yourself. You are hoping these signs, symptoms, and feelings are nothing serious, but...

Are CT scans dangerous? Yes! Should you not allow your child to have a CT scan? No!

Recently published research documented, for the first time, a direct link between children receiving CT scans (ionizing radiation) with the development of brain tumors and leukemia. The research findings are powerful, and...

You have pain in your knee, or your hip or shoulder. You choose a doctor recommended by a friend or relative who accepts your insurance. You make contact for an appointment. If it is not urgent and the appointment can wait, you wait. After your physical examination, the doctor orders...

The subject of obesity, family-size bags of chips and general health have been the topic of many of my postings. My previous blog, which described morbidly-obese parents giving individual family-size bags of chips to each of their two little girls, produced responses from many readers expressing their righteous...

There are recent changes in how you are registered at a hospital. These changes are based on years of research with the goal being improved care for all. It is good to be prepared, so here is a bit of background information. The Institute of Medicine (IOM)'s landmark report

The New York Times recently published an article -- "Doctor Panels Recommend Fewer Tests for Patients" -- that reported on the recommendations of a group of nine medical specialty boards and stated that 45 common tests and procedures are performed more often than necessary. The article noted...

In a recent New York Times article titled, "Mind Games: Sometimes a White Coat Isn't Just a White Coat," Adam D. Galinsky, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, describes "enclothed cognition." Enclothed cognition is "the effects of clothing on cognitive processes." He...

Bully, a new movie about high school students tormenting each other, is getting much attention. Bully situations can escalate and bubble up to a breaking point that results in innocent victims and families suffering needlessly and, in extreme situations, suicide. In the aftermath of such a catastrophe, the media usually...

The author of the New York Times op-ed "Our High-Tech Health Care Future," Nov. 9, 2011, is an entrepreneur from MIT and describes the role of a "digital nervous system." The author describes:

... inconspicuous wireless sensors that are worn on a patient's body and placed in...

The first day of medical school, the class was told to "Read Reader's Digest; your patients will and if you do not know what's in, they will lose confidence in your competence as their physician." That was in 1968. Today, keeping up with medical information in the lay media is...

July 1 is a special day in hospitals, medical schools and the medical profession in general. July 1 is like Jan. 1 to most. July 1 starts the academic year in health care. It is the first day of internship, residency and fellowship training. For those leaving their trainee status,...

Institute free medical school tuition to increase the number of primary care physicians and decrease the costs of health care; and do it now as it takes time to qualify, apply, and train new doctors. This is the message of the May 29, 2011 New York Times article in the...

My personal belief regarding how parents' eating habits affect their children and their ability to make healthful eating decisions was addressed a previous blog post regarding a family I saw lounging on the beach.

Each of the family members -- parents and toddlers -- had his or her...