An introduction to medical-legal consulting [PODCAST]

“There is a unique non-clinical consulting opportunity any physician can learn to do full-time, as part of your existing practice, or in lieu of retiring.  I’m Dr. Armin Feldman, and I’m a full-time medical-legal consultant in legal cases.  A little over 13 years ago, I started and now, through the years, have been refining a…

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The impact of COVID-19 on those with disabilities and mental illness

As early as April 6, 2020, the New York Times (NYT) published an article revealing early pandemic statistics that showed the death rate for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) who received residential services in New York State (NYS) was double that for the general population. As difficult as the pandemic has been for…

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COVID-19: Looking into the future and healing

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a toll on its health care workers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 340,000 cases of COVID-19 among health care personnel have been reported, and it is estimated that these numbers are grossly underreported. It is estimated that more than 1,700 health care providers…

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My COVID-19 vaccine story –– and what happened next

Like most healthcare workers, I was thrilled when I was eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. I’ve been involved in COVID-19 patient care since the very start of the pandemic in the US, and I had seen what this virus can do to people. We all felt incredibly helpless against this incredibly contagious bug. With…

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Perfectionism is your nemesis, not your superpower

Ballet dancers and doctors are essentially the same people. Long before I entered medicine, ballet taught me the skills that made me successful in my clinical practice.  I was a life-long learner.  I improved my skills with daily practice. I was creative with limited resources. I strived for excellence and was rewarded for these efforts. …

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Improving end of life care from the start of training

Physicians have gone toe-to-toe with death since the earliest days of the profession, even knowing that our efforts would often be futile. Over the past century, dramatic technological advances have nearly doubled the average American lifespan, and modern practitioners have a level of control over mortality previous generations could scarcely have imagined. But medicine has…

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Health care from the trenches: Change must come from us [PODCAST]

“We, as a profession, must accept some blame for many of the developing problems in health care delivery. No, I am not suggesting that we caused the problem. I am stating that we have had ample opportunities to manage the debacle and even to reverse some of the disturbing trends, yet we rarely allow our…

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The COVID-19 vaccine from the South African frontlines

I have been distracting myself since the second wave. Our hospital has quietened down as far as COVID-19 cases go, and we started doing limited planned surgeries. After my last post, which detailed the overwhelming and horrific difficulties we faced during the second wave, a friend of mine suggested my next post should be about…

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