Medical

As if it were a typical Monday afternoon, my anatomy instructor asked my medical school classmates to lean in a little closer. “Do you see the left gastric artery?” He asked, as he zoomed in on a 3D online visualization of a stomach. Instead of leaning over the body of a donor, we leaned closer…

Telehealth has come into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic as physicians face an immediate need to reduce exposure by providing care—or at least triage—remotely when appropriate. Under usual circumstances, telemedicine is comparatively low risk. That said, telemedicine does bring specific risks to patient safety and physician/practice liability. Minimizing those risks calls for adapting daily practice…

It’s time for some good news and hope about life during and after COVID-19. You may be frantically racing from room to room in your house, and from role to role to keep everything together during this unprecedented time. You’re a doctor, parent, teacher, partner, chef, housekeeper, and business owner, to name just a few.…

Fraud in the health care industry is a fact of life.  In 2016 alone, the federal government estimated that improper payments by Medicare and Medicaid totaled about $95 billion.  And that’s only a single year’s amount for just two of the government’s many health care programs.  With an aging population, increased health care spending, the…

“We are all in this crisis together, but we are not all experiencing this crisis in the same way.” That was how Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot described the jarring data from Chicago’s public health agency that showed black residents accounted for 72 percent of COVID-19 deaths in a city whose black population make up only…

COVID-19 changes everything — even, or especially, love. It demands that we love differently and in new ways. For me, this is what #loveinthetimeofcovid19 looks like. My husband, Lunan, and I are both doctors. Lunan, a urologist, is completing his final year of training in New York City, and I am a family-physician educator at…

The coronavirus pandemic has incited the necessary fear amongst the public and health care workers. This fear is a positive driver of social distancing and other precautionary measures that assist in protecting health care workers and patients. However, when this fear becomes blinding, patients may be more harmed than they are helped. Last week, I…

The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally changing medical practice across the country by allowing telemedicine reimbursement, where it was previously limited, and by leveraging video conferencing technology to conduct business and educational meetings in order to comply with social distancing guidance. Necessity is resulting in innovative ways to interact with patients, colleagues, and now with prospective…

Three resident physicians died last week from COVID-19 and are the first known deaths of medical trainees in the United States. Dr. Chris Firlit, a 37-year-old oral surgery resident from Detroit, died from complications of COVID-19. He leaves behind his wife Sylvie and three children, Alexander, Viktor, and Katerina. Sadly, we know residents like Dr.…