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

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..

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

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 

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

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

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