Posts

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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,…

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!…

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. …

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…

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…

On a recent trip home to England – long delayed by COVID – I was disturbed to see a trend in healthcare there. To see US healthcare being exported to the UK. Or British medicine being Americanized. Socialized Healthcare Healthcare in Britain has, until recently, been provided almost exclusively by…

The Virginia Senate recently denied the ability of terminally ill patients to foreshorten their suffering. This was the consequence of a recent vote on a bill proposed by Senator Ghazala Hashmi to legalize medical aid in dying (MAID). The bill failed to make it out of Committee.  I wrote about…

The guy I saw the other day was there with a twisted ankle. “So” he asked, “why did the nurse need to ask me about my blood pressure and if there’s diabetes in the family?”  It didn’t have much to do with his ankle it’s true, but what he didn’t…

Australians are confused when it comes to Christmas.  I know this because I was down-under once, doctoring at Christmas time – following my great grandfather’s footsteps, who was an Irishman/doctor who got a wild hair and emigrated to Australia in the gold rush of the 1850’s - on the same…

This is what I wrote for Front Porch for November The mantra for ‘The Table’ - a Fredericksburg program that provides free produce to whoever needs it – seems to be “whole person health.”  They are taking care of the spirit as well as the body. Run by St George’s…

In my role as medical director of the Moss Clinic, I present a “mission moment” case. This because these honorable volunteers on the board are mostly from other industries, and this provides some understanding of the kinds of issues our patients bring us. This case was C.M., a 45 year…

This is what I have written for Front Porch for October - but getting on people for not getting vaccinated is such an urgent issue, Virginia Grogan (the wonderful editor of Front Porch) gave me the OK to post it now. Wading in on a subject that has already received…

When my doctor told me my blood pressure and cholesterol are too high, and I jokingly told him “that’s a problem, because my three favorite food groups are salt, fat and alcohol,” he still rolled his eyes and looked disapproving.  Worse, he told me he wants me to take medicines. …

This was my latest column for the Free Lance-Star on Sunday June 27th. The FDA’s approval of a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s Disease has prompted a lot of hope. But also prompted three members of the FDA’s advisory committee to resign.  Aducanumab, marketed by Biogen and Eisai by the…

Never coy about running my mouth, and as someone involved in providing primary care to an underserved community through the Moss Clinic, I was pleased to be asked to participate in a panel discussion of problems with primary care access in “the time of COVID.”  A discussion that introduced me…

Life – or perhaps I should say death – was so much easier in the old days. As end-of-life researcher Joanne Lynn puts it, life threatening illness would “strike without warning and you get through it or you don’t.” Effective treatments were few. Doctors would often prescribe “remedies” like bloodletting,…