I turned 50 today

Some reflections on the first third of my life.

I’ve been blessed with people in all stages of my life who supported me, and even when situations didn’t warrant it, they kept believing. My parents are alive and healthy, three terrific kids, two grand kids, a most excellent and accomplished son-in-law (and another in the wings).

Professionally I’m on plane, and keep finding new things to be curious about, and sometimes fix, the lifelong learning continues.

My wife deserves the majority of the credit for survival to this point. She kept me from dying of malnutrition in med school, and refrained from killing me when I gave her the opportunity, and she’s The Best.

So, here’s to more 50 year BDay celebrations!


Our unrealistic attitudes about death, through a doctor’s eyes

We all die. Here's just a snippet from this doctors' experience: ...Sometimes an estranged family member is “flying in next week to get all this straightened out.” This is usually the person who knows the least about her struggling parent’s … [Continue reading]

Zachary Quinto vs. Leonard Nimoy

It's been a while since I posted something fun:   … [Continue reading]

Is farting in the OR transmitting germs?

From the BMJ: “It all started with an enquiry from a nurse,” Dr Karl Kruszelnicki told listeners to his science phone-in show on the Triple J radio station in Brisbane. “She wanted to know whether she was contaminating the operating theatre … [Continue reading]

All health-care systems have ‘death panels’ of one sort or another | Full Comment | National Post

Via @medskep on twitter: Many scoff at the term “death panel” — Sarah Palin’s morbid, if misleading description of the powers contained in U.S. government health-care legislation back in 2009. Yet there was a grain of truth in that infamous … [Continue reading]

iPhone: turn off Amber Alerts

iPhone: Notifications -> Government alerts

Yes, I'm a terrible human being. I turned off my Amber alerts.  (You can too). Here's the thing: If I were on the road a whole lot, Amber Alerts would be much more relevant: X is missing in Y vehicle from Z town. As I'm nearly always a) asleep or … [Continue reading]

GruntDoc.com turns 11

11 years of nothingness, punctuated by inanity. Thanks to my 11 readers. I appreciate nearly all of you. Here's to twice the fun for the next 11 years! … [Continue reading]

An open letter to central line packaging engineers

Dear Sirs, First, thank you for putting all the tools I need into one sterile package, minimizing the amout of running around finding little pieces to start central lines on my patients. (A central line goes into the central venous circulation, … [Continue reading]

What to Say to a Friend Who’s Ill – WSJ.com

Well done. 'A closed mouth gathers no feet." It's a charming axiom, but silence isn't always an option when we're dealing with a friend who's sick or in despair. The natural human reaction is to feel awkward and upset in the face of illness, but … [Continue reading]

Health-Care Costs: A State-by-State Comparison – WSJ.com

Nice graphs of spending by state, then another breakdown of where the money goes per state. Click through and enjoy the graphics. Health-care spending in the U.S. averaged $6,815 per person in 2009. But that figure varies significantly across the … [Continue reading]

Physicians: Don’t take UAE jobs

Via @Skepticscalpel on Twitter: JOHANNESBURG — For Dr. Cyril Karabus, it was a routine job, albeit in an exotic location. For six weeks in 2002, he filled in for another doctor in Abu Dhabi, lured like many other foreign professionals by the big … [Continue reading]

An open letter to UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley about my family’s canceled COBRA insurance | Mike Holden’s blog

It's stuff like this that makes even trying to support the idea of private insurance untenable. Mr. Stephen Hemsley: I made an honest mistake, wasn’t given a fair opportunity to correct it and now my family’s COBRA coverage has been canceled … [Continue reading]

Obamacare Incompetence | TIME.com

I link to Ezra Klein approvingly about one a decade, so... Let me try to understand this: the key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care superstores — called … [Continue reading]

Bubba Watson’s Hovercraft Golf Cart Will Fill You with Intense Jealousy | Bleacher Report

They've made a hovercraft golf cart. Very cool. Bubba Watson, owner of brilliant pink golf clubs and provider of epic shots around trees, has a hovercraft golf cart. Yahoo! Sports spotted this video of Watson hanging out on the course in his very … [Continue reading]

2013 Top Docs | FWTX.com

TopDocTopper

Yours Truly shows up on this list, for the first time.     Fort Worth, Texas magazine sent more than 4,500 local physicians a survey, asking them to voluntarily rate their peers and name the best doctors in Tarrant County. Medical … [Continue reading]