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                                                                        October 2019 The rather scrawny marijuana plant in the Poison Garden at Blarney Castle attracted a lot of attention – but this, and the other medicinal and intoxicant plants in the garden made the point that drugs and poisons aren’t so different.  My wife Paula and I were on what…

It's good to come across some basic, low-tech, common sense medical care that has the potential to save a lot of morbidity and mortality in this day and age where everyone seems obsessed with the latest high-tech gizmos – the latest surgical robot that the local hospital has acquired; the…

Currently in London, and yesterday made a sortie to the Welcome Institute.  Went to Misbehaving Bodies– an exhibit bringing together the works of photographer and film maker Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, “two artists who whose work explores chronic illness and experiences of care” A no-holds-barred and confrontational look at how…

One of the cheesy maxims I lay on my patients all the time is “information is everything.” For you to be able to oversee your medical care, you need to know what you’re dealing with. You need to know about your disease (the other vital information is for you and…

You could say I got lucky the other day. It was time for my colonoscopy – which bawdy comedians talk about as “the garden hose” (it maybe about the same thickness, but is not actually50 feet long).   This was a routine screening, done at the Surgery Center of Central Virginia (SCCV)…

A seemingly irrelevant organism may be our savior.

A study by the University of Newcastle, in Australia into the whole business of contamination of the world by plastic microparticles claims we ingest around 2000 a week – which is the equivalent of a credit card. Commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund, it was a worldwide study to assess…

Are schools in the US making kids psychiatrically incompetent?

Diets can make you overweight in the long term

“Like drinking from the fire hose” was how Scott, the second year medical student from UVa who was precepting with me last week, described life in the real world

This was the last column I wrote for the Fredericksburg, Virginia, Free Lance-Star: To celebrate March being National Nutrition Month, the Fredericksburg Food Coop and Mary Washington Healthcare sponsored a recent seminar on ‘Food As Medicine’ at Stafford Hospital.  Six local dietitian/nutritionists described the importance and scope of the nutritional…

Screen time may be messing up your kids.

The industry is supporting its price hikes with bogus numbers it would appear.

This great article in The Atlantic magazine exposes the dishonesty and manipulations of the drug companies who claim they have to charge so much for their medicines. I hope a lot of politicians read it and then have the testicular fortitude to stand up to the Big Pharma lobby for…

Changing kids eating habits can literally save their lives. Dr Yum is working on it.

Akratics - and maybe you - have trouble changing bad habits - but there's a whole science out there to help.

Adverse Childhood Experiences I was not giving much thought to the childhood experiences of the disheveled old guy I was treating for emphysema and excess alcohol consumption at the clinic the other day – but I should have been. This realization was brought home to me by a presentation at…

How academic wizards can be doozie doctors.

Is depression commoner over the holidays? Who is more vulnerable? it has a beneficial side. My own experience of Blue Christmas prompts me to explore the why's and wherefores.

Getting medical screening tests must only be a good thing, mustn’t it? It might find some cancer or other condition that would be missed otherwise? What this idea doesn’t take account of is that testing can lead to, not only pain, anxiety and expense, but lethal complications.     Colonoscopy…