KevinMD.com

When the DEA became my patient’s doctor

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:00:32 +0000

I have practiced neurology for more than fifty years. I have treated patients with refractory neuropathic pain, central pain syndromes, spinal cord injuries, and the cruel mix of conditions that fall under no clean diagnostic label. I have watched patients who were finally stable, finally sleeping, finally functioning, lose their prescriptions not because their physicians

When the DEA became my patient’s doctor originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Big Pharma’s drug marketing got stealthy, and you are the target [PODCAST]

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 23:00:03 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! The pharma rep with the free lunch is gone. What replaced it is harder to see, and aimed at you and your doctor. Martha Rosenberg is an investigative reporter who has worked at two medical schools and two medical ad agencies,

What I learned as a research volunteer at 70

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:00:44 +0000

My wife answered our telephone. A representative of the state university asked her about my interest in participating again in her group’s research project. She handed the handset to me. For several years, my name has resided in the database of their Office of Human Research. My honoraria, when they offer one, have ranged from

What I learned as a research volunteer at 70 originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why a psychiatric diagnosis is not a biological target

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 20:00:17 +0000

“I have a lot of anxiety and stress. Can I get Prozac, Lexapro, or something like that?” “My moods are all over the place. One moment I’m happy, the next I’m sad, the next I’m enraged. Can I get a mood stabilizer?” I hear requests like these constantly. They’re completely understandable. They also reflect a

The male loneliness epidemic hiding behind success

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:00:10 +0000

Clinicians often meet men like K at the exact moment their lives start to quietly unravel. They don’t walk in using the language of distress. They show up looking competent, composed, and in control, even as something inside them is slipping. What looks like a business crisis is often an emotional one, driven by shame,

Anticipatory anxiety about AI is showing up in clinic

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:00:11 +0000

I just finished watching Daniel Kokotajlo’s interview on The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett and reading his full AI 2027 publication in its entirety, and I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that this conversation, one that has clearly sparked a wave of public unease since it aired, is a preview of

The life hack that could undo medical debt credit reports

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:00:17 +0000

“I just don’t pay them.” I was with a group of acquaintances, and we had been engaged in a spirited conversation about the costs of medical care. While I was the only one present who worked in health care, the group itself was fairly homogenous, with individuals in similar stages of life and financial security.

Cookbook medicine and the loss of clinical judgment

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:00:56 +0000

“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.” – Robert Frost Since the publication of my first nonfiction book, Failure to Treat: How a Broken Healthcare System Puts Patients and Practitioners at Risk, I have been

7 ways to use AI for better health and nutrition

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:00:08 +0000

Like many doctors, I was initially skeptical about artificial intelligence (AI). As a retired Australian anesthetist, I had spent decades relying on clinical experience, scientific evidence, and professional judgment. I never imagined that one of the most useful health education tools I would encounter would be a mobile phone. In 2024, I was living with

Medical student advocacy begins before you feel ready

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:00:53 +0000

One of my favorite quotes is, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” I did not fully understand the meaning of that statement until I became involved in advocacy and organized medicine during medical school. Like many medical students, I entered training focused almost entirely on becoming the best physician I could

The best gluten-free Trader Joe’s finds to grab now

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:00:28 +0000

This article is for those living or needing to live a gluten-free lifestyle, but still also appreciate a good guide for the grocery store too. Up to 15 percent of Western countries avoid gluten. By the year 2030 there could be up to 600 million people worldwide avoiding gluten, and those numbers could influence a

Leaving academic medicine was not falling out of love

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:53 +0000

Although becoming a doctor is a rigorous endeavor, the journey is somewhat prescribed. I made a decision to become a doctor at seventeen; I boarded that train and rode it through college, medical school, residency, and fellowships. All the while so focused on the destination that I never got off to explore, rarely looked out

Patient experience in clinical trials starts with kindness

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:00:49 +0000

Patients may not remember every lab draw, procedure, or study visit. But they will remember how they felt. One of the greatest privileges of working in clinical research for more than 20 years has been meeting extraordinary people. Clinical research is often associated with science, data, and innovation. While those elements are essential, there is

What ChatGPT revealed when a medical student asked it to analyze him [PODCAST]

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:00:37 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! What happens when you ask ChatGPT to study every conversation you have had and tell you who you really are? One medical student did that, and what it told him changed how he sees his future in medicine. Jack Tiller is

Moral injury doesn’t care how many hours you worked

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 20:00:22 +0000

I am not a Mormon male. But for fifteen years, I had been doing a remarkably good impression of one. And then, on a Wednesday evening in May 2026, I was outed. The termination letter was two pages, formal and bloodless. Ninety days’ notice, effective August 31. “With or without cause,” it said, a phrase

What does humor in medicine actually do to the body?

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 19:00:34 +0000

An excerpt from Peach Cobbler Is Not a Fruit. Laughter is good medicine. I don’t merely believe that. I have prescribed it, inhaled it, survived by it, and, on more than one occasion, snorted it through my nose at profoundly inappropriate moments. Medicine is serious business. Patients entrust their bodies, fears, secrets, and occasionally their

Is your patient a candidate for tobacco harm reduction?

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:00:31 +0000

Many lifelong cigarette smokers and their doctors have pushed smoking cessation to the bottom of the problem list and thus never get to discuss it again. A recent announcement from the FDA may give you a second chance to continue that conversation. By now most adult cigarette smokers, and their doctors, have heard about ZYN.

What becoming a chief medical officer taught a shy doctor

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

I never sought out leadership. It found me. We met when I clumsily stumbled into it as a junior faculty. Razor-focused on patient care and teaching, I stared at my clinical leader with bewilderment when she asked me if I had thought about becoming an associate program director. While I questioned whether I had the

Trauma-informed care starts before the first question

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:00:58 +0000

Every first appointment with a new clinician, every first review after being admitted to a psychiatric ward, I spent less time thinking about what I wanted to say and more time wondering how I was going to answer the question I knew was coming. The question that always left me silent. The question that left

The people-pleasing in medicine that burns doctors out

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:00:16 +0000

We are taught from the first days of medical school that bedside manner is a clinical tool as vital as a stethoscope. We are told to listen, to mirror, and to connect. But for many of us, this directive has quietly morphed into a high-stakes performance. If you find yourself leaving the exam room physically