Do We Ration Healthcare

Hospitals' focus on patient safety hasn't eliminated preventable deaths - Washington Post

Published: December 20, 2010
Some years ago, I got a call at 3 a.m. from the hospital because a patient of mine had spiked a high fever. Suspecting an infection, I called in some antibiotics. A few hours later, a frantic nurse called to say my patient had turned red and was wheezing, likely from an allergic reaction. Read More

Home remedies - Commercial Appeal

Answers to rising health costs will be found in local communities, with doctors, hospitals and patients taking new roles in the delivery of care.

I took a penlight, peered into my daughter's mouth and saw two fiery-red, cherry-sized tonsils.


"My throat is killing me," she said. Read more

Force that bonds us is stronger than what divides - Commercial Appeal

On an unusually quiet Sunday afternoon in the intensive care unit, Memphian Kristen Sharp lay in bed attached to a heart pump. Her tightly braided hair was pulled to the side of her thin, brown face. She gave me a beaming smile. It was Halloween day, and life had played many tricks on her, but today she was getting a treat. Read More

Doctor Report Cards: Innovating Healthcare through Grading | MyFox Memphis | Fox 13 News

Doctor Report Cards: Innovating Healthcare through Grading | MyFox Memphis | Fox 13 News

More rules are needed to curb drug firms' attempts to influence physicians - Washington Post

Nearly a decade ago when I was newly settled into private practice in Memphis, a drug representative for a new and powerful antibiotic stood in my office and asked whether I would like to attend a consultants' meeting about the drug in Washington. Read More

Mandatory flu shots for hospital staff a no-brainer - Commercial Appeal

Published: October 18, 2010 
A nurse who tracks hospital infections displayed her name tag with a green dot. "It means I have had my flu shot this year."

We were at a meeting strategizing on how to reduce hospital infections through initiatives such as hand-washing and isolating certain infected patients. She talked about how flu shots for health care workers at Saint Francis Hospital had become mandatory this year.Read More

Compassion can move us to break cycle of violence - Commercial Appeal

Published: October 11, 2010

I was standing at the bedside of a patient who was having shaking chills with a temperature of 103. Sweat covered his balding scalp like dew, then coalesced and rolled down his neck like raindrops. Just 20 minutes earlier, a specialist had visited him and talked with him about his dire prognosis of metastatic cancer. No family was in the room. Read More

Honoring a Surgeon

Like many people, I sometimes find myself in buildings or grand auditoriums that are named for individuals whom I know little about. But that was not the case last Thursday when I attended the inauguration of the Dr. H. Edward Garrett Sr. Auditorium at Baptist Memorial Hospital- Memphis.
Fifteen years ago, as a young infectious disease doctor, I cared for Dr. Garrett before he died of hepatitis, an illness he almost certainly acquired while performing surgery. His wife was our real estate agent and sold us our first house. His son, Dr. Edward Garrett Jr., is my colleague, directing the only heart and heart-lung transplant program in the city. The program celebrates its 25th anniversary next month.
Read more

Auditorium celebrates surgeon's life's work - Commercial Appeal

Published: September 20, 2010 

Like many people, I sometimes find myself in buildings or grand auditoriums that are named for individuals whom I know little about. But that was not the case last Thursday when I attended the inauguration of the Dr. H. Edward Garrett Sr. Auditorium at Baptist Memorial Hospital- Memphis. Read More

Viewpoint: Good doctor-patient relationship reduces lawsuits - Commercial Appreal

Published: September 06, 2010

My medical partner, a soft-spoken and caring man with more than a decade of clinical experience, has encountered patients who have threatened to sue him.

So when I told him I'd received a letter from a patient's widow who intended to sue me, he suggested I reply with a letter. Read More

Viewpoint: Threat of malpractice lawsuits means medicine is a balancing act - Commerical Appeal

Published: September 05, 2010 

Some months ago at my office, my receptionist handed me a registered letter. The name on the envelope seemed familiar.
"Dear Sir," I read. "Please be advised that this letter serves as official notice that I am considering a potential claim against you in a medical malpractice claim in regard to my husband..." Read More

Even with malpractice insurance, doctors opt for expensive, defensive medicine - Washington Post

Published: August 31, 2010

Some months ago, the receptionist in my clinic handed me a registered letter. The name of the sender seemed familiar. "Dear Sir," the letter read. "Please be advised that this letter serves as official notice that I am considering a potential claim against you in a medical Malpractice claim in regard to my husband. . . ." I stood, stunned. My white coat, which held the daily tools of my profession -- my list of patients, the Sanford antibiotic manual, a black stethoscope -- felt extraordinarily heavy. Read More

When a patient says she wants to sue me ...

Even with malpractice insurance, doctors opt for expensive, defensive medicine

Some months ago, the receptionist in my clinic handed me a registered letter. The name of the sender seemed familiar. "Dear Sir," the letter read. "Please be advised that this letter serves as official notice that I am considering a potential claim against you in a medical Malpractice claim in regard to my husband. . . ." I stood, stunned. My white coat, which held the daily tools of my profession -- my list of patients, the Sanford antibiotic manual, a black stethoscope -- felt extraordinarily heavy. .. Read More..

Vacation helps us recharge and refresh - Commercial Appeal

Published: August 23, 2010 

"A vacation is not a luxury but a necessity; it keeps us healthy and living longer." Try that line the next time you are negotiating vacation days with your boss. Then, quote this research to support your point.Read More

Writers, like physicians, hope to stir improvement - Commercial Appeal

Published: August 16, 2010 

A few weeks ago a young woman was admitted to the hospital with a raging fever, excessive urination and back pain. I prescribed an antibiotic for a kidney infection, and over the next several days I watched her improve and go home. As a doctor, I could see the impact that I had made.Read More

New Medicare appointee is no stranger to Memphis - Commerical Appeal

Published: July 19, 2010 

The new director of one of the largest health insurance systems in the world has been hired. He will manage health insurance for 90 million enrollees -- including many Memphians -- and wield funds of more than $800 billion -- about one-third of the national health care expenditure.Read More

Take steps to prevent severe harm from heat - Commercial Appeal

Published: June 28, 2010 

I have fond childhood memories of my summer vacations in India playing soccer (we called it football), cricket and marbles in the relentless 100-degree heat.Often, it was under the setting sun and as kids, we were unaffected by the heat. Read More

How one handles life situations is telling - Commercial Appeal

Published: June 07, 2010 

Last week, my oldest daughter graduated from high school and began her journey as a young adult. As a proud parent and the commencement speaker, I shared some life lessons with the class of 2010. Here is some of what I said: Read More

Big steps help end infant mortality - Commercial Appeal

Published: May 10, 2010 

For every 1,000 babies born in Memphis, 12 die. This is double the national rate and similar to that of some developing countries like Sri Lanka and Jamaica. Read More

Examining Physicians Part 3: High or low, room to improve - Commercial Appeal

Published: April 27, 2010 

I rehearsed my lines as I drove up to an office in Midtown. I was meeting with a doctor who had been rated poorly by his patients. 
Memphis is one of three cities where Consumers' Checkbook, a nonprofit national consumer organization, has conducted surveys on what patients say about their doctor. The results are at healthymemphis.org. Read More

Examining Physicians Part 2: The good doctor: High-scoring Memphis physician practices patient-centered care - Commercial Appeal

Published: April 26, 2010 

Dr. John Buttross reached over his office desk to shake my hand. He has a warm smile and a salt-and-pepper mustache. 
Buttross was rated one of the top primary care doctors in Memphis on a doctor-rating survey recently made public at healthymemphis.org.Read More

Examining physicians: How do you feel? Better choices, care are goals - Commercial Appeal

Published: April 25, 2010 

Doctors play a unique role in our lives. They ask us to undress, and then they lay their hands on our bodies. They give us drugs that alter our minds. We trust our doctors as much as we trust our spouses -- sometimes more. Read More

Close friend's passing raises questions beyond the scientific - Commercial Appeal

Published: April 12, 2010 

A close friend of mine, Tapan Thakur, died last week. As I tried to go about my routine of seeing patients or having dinner with my kids, no more than five minutes would pass before my thoughts would revert to him. Read More

Health care reform from one doctor's perspective - Commercial Appeal

Published: March 19, 2010 

I don't want to discuss the polarizing politics of the health care reform bill, which is now a law. Rather, I want to answer one fundamental question that my patients and my peers have asked me. "What's in it?" Read More

Bundled payments might cut hospital costs without reducing quality of care - Washington Post

Published: March 09, 2010

A decade and a half ago, when I started my solo practice, I would say to my routine HIV patients, "Let's see you back in three months." I was eager to fill clinic slots; also, because of my lack of experience, I felt safer seeing my patients more often. Read More

Pleasant thoughts can help you sleep - Commercial Appeal

Published: March 08, 2010 

At 9 p.m. most nights, I put my reluctant 10-year-old son to bed. He frets and frowns, saying "I can't sleep when I am alone," but readily agrees when I offer to stay. Read More