Today’s Thursday Thought quote offers a diet plan that’s certain to improve our well being. And you don’t even need to consult a doctor first.
Tag Archive for doctor
I Never Thought of That!
Sometimes simple logic can be, if not earth-shaking, at least entertaining. Consider these logicalities. [Thanks to Linda Younts for sending me these.]
- If you attempt to rob a bank you won’t have any trouble with rent/food bills for the next 10 years, whether or not you are successful.
- Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty.
- The word “swims” upside-down is still “swims.”
- Intentionally losing a game of rock, paper, scissors is just as hard as trying to win.
- 100 years ago everyone owned a horse and only the rich had cars. Today everyone has cars and only the rich own horses.
- The doctors that told Stephen Hawking he had two years to live in 1953 are probably dead.
- If you replace “W” with “T” in “What, Where and When” you get the answer to each of them.
- If you rip a hole in a net, there are actually fewer holes in it than there were before.
Is an Exhausted Doctor Treating You?
“‘Study after study shows that sleep-deprived resident physicians are a danger to themselves, their patients and the public,’ says Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.” Yet a new rule would change medical interns’ maximum of 16 hours without a break to a possible 28 hours.
Read the pros and cons of this change at Medical Interns Could Work Longer Without A Break Under New Rule and decide for yourself.
Then, if you think this would be a situation you wouldn’t want yourself or a loved one to face, add your name to the No 28-Hour Shifts for Novice Doctors petition.
When Cops Should NOT have Guns
A retired NYPD police officer should be so familiar with his gun that he should know better. But he was so interested in showing it to his doctor during an exam that he wasn’t careful. Maybe that’s the reason he brought it to his appointment in the first place, because he obviously didn’t fear his physician.
Anyway, once in the exam room he pulled his licenced 10 mm semi-automatic out of its holster, only to have it go off, hitting himself in the thigh and his doctor in the foot.
I have no idea what side of the gun-regulation issue this story falls on. I just found the situation curious.
Despite Law, Kids Can Avoid Vaccinations
My state, California, is mandating that all children be vaccinated before they can attend school. This means that the 80,000+ kids who have claimed personal exemptions no longer can do so. At first blush, it seems an infringement on rights. However, most of the families sought exemptions based on a bogus report written by a now-disgraced “scientist,” saying that vaccines cause autism and other maladies (scientifically proven wrong).
It’s been a clash of rights: for some families it’s freedom of choice vs., for other families, freedom from spreading disease (especially by unvaccinated children).
The 80,000+ still have ways to pursue their beliefs, however. They can home-school their kids or put them into off-campus independent studies.
I’m afraid there will be an additional avenue for people so inclined. Children with medical problems that make vaccinating harmful or impossible to them are still exempt. Therefore, if parents look hard enough, they’ll find an unscrupulous doctor who, for a price, will give his medical opinion that their child should not be vaccinated.
Can’t happen? How about all those doctors making a healthy living off of issuing medical marijuana cards to anyone who merely claims a debilitating condition?
Another Side to the V.A.
You’ve been hearing horror stories about how veterans have been treated by the V.A. Let me describe our (my husband, who’s the vet, and me) experience yesterday at our local V.A. clinic. It’s typical of the horrible treatment he has received there.
After he did his 3:00 check-in, we began our wait. By 3:05 someone was coming around to see how long everyone had been waiting, to push things along if necessary. A few minutes later we were in the exam room, talking to the nurse, who took his info. and vitals while we chatted amiably. A few minutes after that the doctor arrived.
He clearly explained a couple of concerning blood test results, took my husband for a walk to determine oxygen levels, then sat him down in the room for more of a physical and a discussion that helped us understand what’s going on inside my husband’s lungs. He ordered an antibiotic to have on hand so we wouldn’t have to wait for an Rx to be filled at first sign of an infection, which can be deadly to my husband. We talked about my husband’s weight loss and why it’s important to get it back up and keep it up, then the doctor excused himself to consult with the dietitian. The doctor acted like we were the only people in the world he needed or wanted to work with at that time, staying with us for about an hour.
Then the dietitian–the doc had asked her to see us now rather sometime in the future–came into the room and advised us and arranged for food supplements. She, too, seemed to be in no hurry. Finally, at 4:45 we were headed home.
Throughout, both of us were treated with respect, concern, some levity to soften the situation, and warmth. This has been the case for the five years we’ve gone to this V.A. clinic.
I realize that others haven’t been as fortunate as us with treatment through the V.A. I just wanted you to know that humanity thrives at least at the San Jose V.A. clinic.
Vets, the VA, and Priorities
65% of senior executives at the Veterans Administration received bonuses last year while veterans (we don’t know how many because of record-keeping games) went without care. I know that I don’t fully understand the system–or any bureaucracy, for that matter. It just seems to me that not only were the bonuses not earned but also they could have bought the time of a good number of doctors (inside and/or outside VA) to give our vets the care they deserve.
If the VA doesn’t make our vets a priority, then who?