Monday, December 26, 2011

Depression common following an operation - Commercial Appeal Articles

Published: December 26, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

My patient, who was built like a linebacker, was a week out from major heart surgery. He sat in a chair in his ICU room with his head drooped down. The surgery had gone well, and his heart rate, blood pressure and respirations were all normal. Read More

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

When terminally ill patients ask how long they have, doctors find it hard to say - Washington Post


Published: December 20, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

In January, when my close friend’s lymph node biopsy came back as a rare form of T-cell lymphoma, I scoured the scientific literature. What was his prognosis?
He was 56, a little overweight but otherwise healthy. He had helped us move into our home more than a decade ago, and I was like an uncle to his son and daughter.patientsRead More 

Monday, November 14, 2011

U.S. doctors can take cue from medical tourism - Commercial Appeal

Published: November 14, 2011 
by Dr. Manoj Jain

When my father had a toothache, he saw a dentist in Boston who recommended a root canal and dental crown costing about $2,000. He decided to wait until he was in India, his native land, for holidays and had the procedure done there for $200. patientsRead More

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

False positives show need to adjust expectations for cancer screening tests - Washington Post

Published: November 01, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

Several years ago, during an annual mammogram, my wife, who is in her 40s, was told a mass had been found in one of her breasts. Anxious and uncertain, she had a biopsy, and we braced for the worst. Read More 

Diwali at the White House - Washington Post

Published: November 01, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

Thursday evening my teenage daughter asked me to help her review for an AP U.S. Government exam on the Bill of Rights. That she was studying the first amendment and the freedom of religion seemed fortuitous: the following morning I was to board an early morning flight from our home in Memphis, Tennessee, to Washington to celebrate the festival of Diwali at the White House with the president of the United States. Read More

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Accepting death is difficult for patients and doctors, but it needs to be done - Washington Post

Published: October 18, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

My 64-year-old patient with terminal cancer and less than six months to live wanted to go to Oregon. He was contemplating assisted suicide, which is legal there. “My life has been long and good,” he said. “I believe it is my right. I want the ability to say it’s too much, I can’t do it anymore. A person should have a dignified quality of life.” patientsRead More

Sunday, October 16, 2011

No easy cure for hospital errors / Significant gains seen in specific areas - Commercial Appeal

Fight for patient safety enlists everyone, from doctors to housekeepers
Published: October 16, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

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

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Waging Peace - Commericial Appeal


Gandhi-King Conference to examine revival of nonviolent approach to social change
Published: October 15, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

Since my childhood, I have believed that both petty and global conflicts can be resolved through the power of nonviolence.
In school, when a kid bullied me, my parents told me, "Never hit back." Since I was puny -- 90 pounds in ninth grade -- this strategy was my best option. My strategy worked. A burly, unruly kid named Tom befriended me and prevented others from dumping my books in the hallway. I reciprocated by helping him with his homework during study halls. Read More

Thursday, September 29, 2011

LETTERS TO THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE Following the Jain Tradition - New York Times


Published: September 29, 2011
By Dr. Manoj Jain
Regarding Aidan Foster-Carter’s “To Catch a Roach” (Meanwhile, Sept. 27): Last Saturday night, coming home from a party, we found a roach, a spider and an ant in our kitchen. Gently, I got the roach to climb on to the bristle part of the broom; my wife captured the spider in a cup, and our 12-year-old son helped scoot the ant onto a sheet of paper. Then we escorted them outside to our lawn. Read More

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Knowledge is weapon in fight against silent killers - Commercial Appeal

Published: September 17, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

The first question my friends asked last week after we watched the new movie "Contagion" was: "Can this really happen?"
I should know. I am an infectious disease doctor. Read More

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Intensive care units grow more friendly to patients’ families at some hospitals - Washington Post

Published: August 30, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

Not long ago, when my father was about to undergo a heart procedure, I hinted to the cardiologist, a colleague, that I wanted to be there, too, not just to offer comfort but also to be present for the play-by-play that would lead to a critical decision: whether to open his blocked arteries with a stent or to perform bypass surgery. Draped in an X-ray-shielding body suit over his blue scrubs, the doctor hesitated. Read More

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Video: Meningitis - WREG

Interviewed on : August 18, 2011


Dr Manoj Jain is an Infectious Disease Specialist talking about the deadly brain infection that occurs after swimming in warm fresh water that killed a 9-year-old boy in Virginia and 16-year-old girl in Florida. view video

Monday, August 15, 2011

Knowledge is weapon in fight against silent killers

Published: August 15, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

When my patient, a middle-age working woman and mother of three, was admitted to the hospital for shortness of breath, I told her she had a choice: "You can live for three to four years, or you can live for 30 to 40 years." Read More

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Big pharma and patient care - Commercial Appeal

Doctors' interaction with drug reps is slippery slope, Memphis physician says
Published: July 10, 2011 
by Dr. Manoj Jain

About a decade ago when I was newly settled into private practice in Memphis, a representative for a drug company marketing 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

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Video: Scarlet Fever | WREG

Interviewed on 29th June, 2011


Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Manoj Jain discussing if we should be worried about the Scarlet Fever outbreak that is happening now..




Monday, June 13, 2011

New MyPlate guidelines only first step to better diet - Commercial Appeal


Published: June 13, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain


My patient's hospital breakfast plate lay inches away from his freshly cracked and wired sternum, underneath which his clotted arteries were bypassed. On one side of the plate lay brown slices of bacon; on the other side was a heap of yellow scrambled eggs, along with a muffin. Read More


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Doctors often struggle to show compassion while dealing with patients - Washington Post


Published: May 17, 2011 

I was standing at my patient's bedside. Mike Venata was having chills with a temperature of 103. Sweat covered his balding scalp like dew, then coalesced and rolled down past his staring eyes. 

Just 20 minutes earlier, a specialist had informed him that he had metastatic pancreatic cancer and could expect to live less than six months. He was alone. I’d seen him once before; as an infectious-disease specialist, I’d been called in because his fever might be due to an underlying infection.
I wondered: How do I show him compassion? Read More 

Monday, May 16, 2011

Flood water not likely to produce epidemics - Commercial Appeal

Published: May 16, 2011

Last Monday evening, our family headed out to see the "flood of the century," as the mighty Mississippi crested in Memphis.

From afar, trunk-less treetops appeared as shrubs and tall telephone posts had become stumps. And, up-close, debris of bottles, boxes and tires rested at the water's edge, as if the local roads were a dumping ground. Read More

Friday, April 22, 2011

Obama talks about cheap healthcare in Mexico and India

A recent comment by President Obama has caused a stir in India. Below are some press clips.


"My preference would be that you don't have to travel to Mexico or India for cheap healthcare," he said in response to a question about why US health insurance won't cover medical expenses incurred abroad.



So my question is this:  By the word "cheap" does he mean "low cost" or "low quality" or both. If he read my article -- it means "low cost" because lot of healthcare being offered in India and Mexico is "high quality".


Regardless, it is fun to speculate that President Obama is reading your articles in the Washington Post. Is he?

US healthcare: Obama talks to curb medical tourism to India - Hindustan Times

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Collegians face obstacles to healthful lifestyles - Commercial Appeal

This week in the Commercial Appeal I talk about my lunch conversation with my daughter, who is a freshman in college. Hope you enjoy it:


Freshman year in college is life-changing, but more often lifestyle-determining.
For the first time in their lives, young adults, who were kids a few years earlier, have to make choices about the simple tasks of life -- like when to wake up, how to do the laundry and what to eat.
A few weeks ago, I took my oldest daughter out for lunch a day before she was heading back to college. She had spent a relaxing week at home during her spring break.
Over Chinese food, I asked her what three things she was doing well at college as a freshman. She thought for a few moments with her gaze diverting to other customers and the waiter.
I did not want it to be an inquisition, but I wanted her to make an effort to reflect on the past months. So out of politeness and respect, or the fact that I was paying for her lunch and her tuition, she replied.


Read more

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Medical tourism can pose problems, but savings are welcome - Washington Post


Medical tourism
Re: “The future of American medicine may be offshore” [Apr. 5]: The interest in getting much less costly health care overseas is understandable.
But what happens to a patient who has major surgery in India, for example, has immediate post-op care there and everthing is fine until they come back to the United States and start having complications? Will surgeons here want to pick up someone else’s problems when they were not involved at all in the original health care? It will be very difficult to find doctors who will be willing to put their reputation on the line and risk a huge lawsuit. Yes, many folks do just fine, but what about those who do not?
Someone, somewhere, somehow must fix our out-of-control system — not find others to do it for us and help destroy the best health care in the world. Read More




Sunday, April 10, 2011

My homes - Memphis and Indore - quite similar

Little while ago I wrote about my trip to Indore, India and compared it with the problems and issues we face in Memphis.

HERE IT IS: Memphis and Indore - my homes


I have been away -- 8,500 miles away in India, where I was born and lived until age 10.
I was vacationing with family, lecturing on antibiotic-resistant bacteria, convening meetings on tuberculosis, visiting shimmering private hospitals, talking with elementary school kids in villages and sharing precious moments with my 93-year-old grandfather.
During my travels, I often thought, "What lessons can I learn here, and how can I apply them back home, so we do things better in Memphis?"



Monday, April 4, 2011

Medical tourism draws growing numbers of Americans to seek health care abroad

When my father had a toothache, he saw a dentist in Boston who recommended a root canal and dental crown costing about $2,000. He decided to wait until he was in India, his native land, for holidays and had the procedure done there for $200. Extremely satisfied with the service and the price, my mother decided to have her two front teeth replaced, eliminating a wide gap that tarnished her smile, and estimated she had saved $3,000. Read More

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Primary care doctors in short supply - Commercial Appeal

Published: March 06, 2011 
Daniel Talley was my first patient the morning after Congress passed health care reform a year ago. Talley is a soft-spoken truck driver and for most of the past 10 years has endured two kinds of pain: needle stabs from insulin injections to control diabetes and lack of health insurance. Read More





Monday, February 14, 2011

Hospitals taking over from private practices - Commercial Appeal


Published: February 14, 2011
by Dr. Manoj Jain

A decade and a half ago, when I moved to Memphis, I proudly hung a sign outside an office I shared with another doctor. It had my name followed by an MD. I had started my own small business as a solo practitioner in medicine.
Over the years, the practice has grown. I now have several employees and my own office, with the names of several other doctors alongside mine on the sign. Read More