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