The recent Fredericksburg Planning commission hearing about Mary Washington Healthcare’s application for approval of a $10 million building project got me thinking about the expenditures of nonprofit hospitals, and do they give a fair shake in fulfilling their charitable obligation? The medical literature is suggesting that tax exemption for non-profit…
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Those Nasty Pathologists of Old
![Those Nasty Pathologists of Old](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Crown-Prince-Anchovy-Paste-12-X-1-75-oz_db2740a4-ae5f-4826-bd18-b0355fa551db_1.3a12dbbace64db47300239d675cff87b.jpeg-150x150.webp)
Talking to good friend and colleague, gastroenterologist Farrukh Jafri the other day, I got excited. We were talking about a dear friend of mine, and patient of his, who just had a liver cyst drained. My excitement was because he added to my lexicon of the vile pathological food analogies. …
Read MoreWho’s going to pay for the poor and the sick?
![Who’s going to pay for the poor and the sick?](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Document-150x150.jpeg)
You may be aware of the challenges taking place over the funding of the Moss Free Clinic. The clinic is running out of the money collected by a capital campaign managed by Mary Washington Hospital Foundation in 2004. It is also being hit with extra charges that formerly Mary Washington…
Read More“Missionary Position” the title given to my writeup of exploits in Zimbabwe.
![“Missionary Position” the title given to my writeup of exploits in Zimbabwe.](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_0583-2-scaled-150x150.jpeg)
The early afternoon sun was blinding as we stepped out from the Medical, Dental and Allied Professions Council office in Zimbabwe’s capitol, Harare. My wife Robin and I were elated. I was brandishing an elegantly calligraphed, temporary medical license. The last hurdle between me and my fantasies of being another…
Read MoreOld Fart Companionship, and Super Aging
![Old Fart Companionship, and Super Aging](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG_5716-150x150.jpg)
If you go to Eileen’s Bakery and Café at 10 am on a Friday morning, you will see a bunch of old farts, myself included, sitting around the table, shooting the breeze. And helping to make us “Super-agers.” A disparate group that includes retired college professors, civil servants, an ex-coastguard,…
Read MoreThere’s More Important Issues Than Methadone Clinic Location
![There’s More Important Issues Than Methadone Clinic Location](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/shutterstock_192285152-150x150.jpg)
I am prompted to weigh in in on the reaction of the residents to the idea of Concerted Care Group wanting to repurpose a Dollar General store in the Woodlawn Shopping Center in Stafford and make it a methadone clinic. We have read, here in the Free Lance-Star, of fraught…
Read MoreElectronic Medical Records – Made for Profit not for Doctors
![Electronic Medical Records – Made for Profit not for Doctors](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/shutterstock_2229414371-150x150.jpg)
I was talking to my sister on the phone the other day. I told her, “You know, even though I’ve been at it all these years, I still get a little spazzed out about going to see patients” – which I now do at the Moss Clinic. Then I thought…
Read MoreProfitable Patents for the Drug Industry
![Profitable Patents for the Drug Industry](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/shutterstock_621316742-150x150.jpg)
If you don’t have rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease or some other nasty autoimmune or inflammatory illness, probably the fact that Humira is losing its patent won’t excite you very much – but if you’ve ever complained about how much your medicines cost, it should. What is exciting is that,…
Read MoreAm I a Curmudgeon Because I don’t want to Declare my Pronouns?
![Am I a Curmudgeon Because I don’t want to Declare my Pronouns?](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/shutterstock_1043482492-150x150.jpg)
I’m worried that my curmudgeon is showing. That I’m being bad tempered and old fashioned because I’m having a bit of challenging being expected to tell people what pronouns I use. Declaring your pronouns seems to be the new expectation – or it is being encouraged at the Unitarian Universalist…
Read MoreDon’t Delay the Call to Hospice
![Don’t Delay the Call to Hospice](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/shutterstock_1979624261-150x150.jpg)
Two recent conversations with friends and a meeting of the End of Life Conversations (EOLC) group that I co-host, has got me thinking about end-of-life issues, and preparations. And when to call hospice in particular. One conversation was with a friend whose 93 year old husband was in hospital with…
Read MoreThe Patient Who Insists There’s Something Wrong . . . But You Can’t Find It.
Good friends Steve and Janet Watkins started 'Pi and Chi' - an on line publication. I was honored to be asked to write something for it https://pieandchaimagazine.com. I wrote about one of those patients with somatoform problems that can drive you crazy.
Read MoreChristmas Traditions
![Christmas Traditions](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_1253423467-150x150.jpg)
Traditions are a big part of many people’s lives. But during Christmas and the holidays this particular quirk of human nature is especially important. Growing up back in England a particular Christmas day tradition was for my sister Angie, and I, was to go with our psychiatrist father to do…
Read Moreinnovations and High Tech Gizmo’s in Medicine
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A new year prompts me to look at new medical technologies – high tech gizmos to keep us healthy. There are many innovations in many different fields but those likely to impact the most of us are: AI and ML Artificial intelligence and machine learning - in many ways mimicking…
Read MoreBiorhythm Blues
![Biorhythm Blues](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Picture1-150x150.jpg)
A visit to the Prime Meridian in London, and the consequent jet lag, has got me thinking about time zones and circadian cycles - and how when they’re out of sync it screws you up. A Mean Time Wife Paula and I are just back from a long-postponed visit to…
Read MoreCommendations for the Care Partner Project
![Commendations for the Care Partner Project](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/mail-150x150.jpeg)
As a doctor advocating for people to be able to optimize their own healthcare, I find The Care Partner Project really seems to stand out. Founder, Director and Certified Patient Advocate Karen Curtis, like so many other advocates who are prompted by personal experience of how healthcare can go wrong,…
Read MoreStop A Stroke
![Stop A Stroke](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/shutterstock_2122986569-150x150.jpg)
Every 40 seconds someone in the US suffers a stroke. About a fifth of those die. The others suffer what some might be considered a worse fate – like the 45-year-old guy I saw the other day, shepherded in by his brother because he could hardly walk. Unable to speak,…
Read MoreMedicine Safety Tips form The Care Partners Project
![Medicine Safety Tips form The Care Partners Project](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/shutterstock_1575688429-150x150.jpg)
This is a post from The Care Partner Project - a great organization that looks out for patients:, The World Health Organization is focused on medication safety this year. Why? Common medication mix-ups cause thousands of deaths every year in the US, alone! Let's keep you and your family safe!…
Read MoreAn Arrhythmic Coffee Klatch
![An Arrhythmic Coffee Klatch](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Klatsch-1-150x150.jpeg)
I am part of a group of old farts (the “Coffee Klatch”) who meet once a week to shoot the breeze. But being old, the topic often turns to health and the conversation degenerates into something of an organ recital. Prostate, bowel, joint or kidney problems – almost any organ. …
Read MoreThe American Gun Culture is the Problem
![The American Gun Culture is the Problem](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/shutterstock_1741493777-150x150.jpg)
The trouble with America is the Americans. Maybe that’s not a very gracious way to talk about the citizens of my host nation. But Americans, or their gun culture, is what I see as the gun problem in the US. It is the culture in the US that seems to tolerate school…
Read MoreShould the Beliefs of Pro-Lifers Control the Fate of the Fetus and Mother?
![Should the Beliefs of Pro-Lifers Control the Fate of the Fetus and Mother?](https://managingyourdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/shutterstock_1449337424-150x150.jpg)
I wrote a column about guns once - and my friends told me I was crazy and putting my life in jeopardy. Wanting to write about abortion may be the same. Another hot button issue – such that it has led to violence at abortion clinics and the murder of…
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