Is it OK for drug companies to give money to Doctors to write a certain prescription?  This article digs into the practice.

Dementia can be more devastating to the loved ones than the patient because the patient has no real grasp of what is going on.  Hospice provides such a benefit to dying patients and their families, but very few dementia patients are included because the course of their disease can be so slow.  This NY Times article looks at the issue of Why so few dementia patients receive hospice care.

This link is to another blog, KevinMD.com.  He relates a story about a major problem with the mail order pharmacy business, poor customer service.  I have worked with a few family Doctors and have seen how much of their time is taken up dealing with these behemoth business.  I have seen that they do routinely loss prescription faxes.  They force patients to take their “preferred” medicine over what the Doctor actually thinks the patient should be on.  Thinking of switching to a mail order?  Beware, the grass is not always greener and it may not be as cheap as you think.

Even though, I worked as a Paramedic for 10 years, I never had to deliver a child in the field.  The only child that I ever delivered was my son, Ian.  We had a resident with us during his delivery.  Her name was Dr. Vino.  I have often wondered where she ended up because she told us that Ian was the first baby that she ever delivered.

In less than a week, people are going to be looking to me to be their doctor.  My palms can start to sweat just thinking about it and my palms don’t sweat.  ever!  So, I’m going to be saying a lot of prayer and reading a lot and trying to prepare.

I guess this is why I went to Medical school.  Wow!  What was I thinking?!?

This is shocking.  Not the size of the fine, but the fact that no one is going to jail for selling tainted baby products and ineffective depression medicine.  KNOWINGLY selling these items.  They should lose a few patents on their overpriced brand name drugs.  I’m will make it a point to remember this when I’m prescribing medicines.  GlaxoSmithKline shame on you!!

The University of Maryland School of Medicine has discovered bitter taste receptors in the Lungs open up bronchial airways better than currently used medicines.

“An Austrian man who became the first person outside the US to wear thought-powered ‘bionic’ arms has died from injuries sustained in a car crash … Kandlbauer, who would have turned 23 next month, sustained severe head injuries when the specially modified car he was driving swerved off the road in the south east of Austria and crashed into a tree on October 19. The cause of the accident is not yet known, particularly whether the neurally-controlled arm-prostheses he had been fitted with might have played a role.”

Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland, KY will be my home away from home for the next three years.  I’m kind of nervous, kind of excited, kind of scared, and kind of thrilled.  On November 1st, I go from being a “Student Doctor” to a “Resident Physician”.  For the next three years, I will complete my training toward becoming a Family Medicine doctor.  In my first week at WVSOM, an instructor read to us from a Dr.Suess book.  Once again, I remember the words. “Oh… the places I will go.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/new-melanoma-drugs/