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

H1N1 Declaration Gives Hospitals Flexibility - CNN

President Obama's declaration that the swine flu is a national emergency is supposed to give more flexibility for how the outbreak is handled.

So what exactly does that mean?

Fredricka Whitfield put that question to Dr. Manoj Jain, an infectious disease specialist in Memphis, Tennessee. Read more

H1N1, Vaccine, Flu, Virus, Illness - WREG

Misery Loves Company, but . . . - Washington Post

With Swine Flu Returning, Families Can Reduce Risk of Transmission
Published: September 08, 2009

Last winter, a few months before the first outbreak of H1N1 flu, my 13-year-old became ill, first with a cough and runny nose, and then with low-grade fever and nasal congestion. It was not severe enough to have her miss school, but we had her skip indoor soccer practice. A week later her older sister, who shares her room, had the same constellation of symptoms; then my wife and my youngest son. Over a three-week period I carefully tracked the passage of the virus within the family. Read More

For Doctors, Rationing Care Is Standard Practice - Washington Post

Published: August 04, 2009

A seasoned pulmonologist shakes his head. "Let's face it, we already ration care." And, pausing ever so slightly, he begins his story. "This family of an 80-year-old gentleman came to me a few days after he was admitted into the ICU. He had end-stage emphysema. 'We had a family conference last night,' they told me, 'and we have decided that we want our father to have a lung transplant.' " The doctor shakes his head again. "They were dead serious," he says. "I took them aside and tried to explain the situation: He is 80 years old and a smoker. He can't get a lung transplant." Read More