The mother, clearly agitated, came to my office holding a bottle of liquid antibiotic prescribed for her daughter’s ear infection. She asked, “How the hell am I supposed to get this into her ear?” She could not read the directions, which said to give the medication by mouth. A survey conducted between 2008 and Read more
Primary Care
Editor’s note: A recent post on The Doctor’s Tablet concerning the communication gulf between patient and doctor about sexual activity generated a lot of interest. Why is it so difficult for doctors and patients to discuss the topic openly? Here, we explore how medical education plays a key role is setting the stage for these Read more
“Fragile: This Side Up.” Few of us find much ambiguity when faced with a mail parcel marked with those four words. Yet the related word “frailty” often causes confusion among doctors and patients alike. The word “frail” applies to people, not things—and that’s where the topic becomes tricky. Merriam Webster defines frailty as “being physically Read more
I thought the financial barriers to intrauterine device (IUD) access would disappear on August 1, 2012, with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which stipulates that all “FDA-approved contraception” will be covered without copayments. I was wrong. Since last summer I have often felt that helping my family-medicine patients get IUDs—the most reliable, reversible Read more
Reflecting on the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it is clear that there’s now a law in place as significant as the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The ACA or “Obamacare” is not just an expansion of healthcare to the uninsured but a plan to Read more
One year ago I began my journey from medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine into residency training at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Having grown up in the South Bronx, the opportunity to practice family medicine in my hometown was a challenge that I welcomed, though the responsibility to care for the Read more
