Here’s your multiple choice question to set the stage: what percentage of all physicians do you think should be sued for malpractice? Would you say one-in-ten doctors ought to be sued? Or one-third? How about every single one of them? Let’s make it one claim per doctor, nationwide. Does that sound reasonable? Keep in mind [...]

1. Superstitious Doctors–Part II
2. Superstitious Doctors–Part I
3. Sure, doctors feel targeted by…

It finally happened. Last night, in a close vote along party lines, the Senate failed to block a scheduled 21% cut in Medicare pay to doctors. While there’s nothing less appealing than a doctor whining about their pay, keep in mind that this Medicare pay cut now means that your primary care doctor will be [...]

1. Superstitious Doctors–Part II
2. Superstitious Doctors–Part I
3. What percent of doctors should be sued? One-tenth? Three-fourths? All of them?

With Dr. Oz being feted at a gala, and Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, weighing in on lactose intolerance, I got to thinking. Why the surgical media-monopoly?

Don’t believe me? Line ‘em up and take a count: Mehmet Oz, Nancy Snyderman, Manny Alvarez, Atul Gawande, and Sanjay Gupta (surgeon, surgeon, surgeon, surgeon, and…oh wait, what a [...]

1. A Celebrity At Doc Gurley!

Check out the Doc Gurley SFGate article on this topic, bursting with tips on how you and your loved ones can stay

healthy this holiday season. H1N1, food-borne illnesses, falling behind on your exercise, deep-vein thromboses, “staycation” issues – it’s ALL covered in this comprehensive round-up of practical health advice. Feel free [...]

1. 12 Ways to Cope
2. RT @joinourloop: Healthy Treat…
3. 10 Creative Ways To Get Your Doctor To Wash His Hands

Feeling annoyed, angry, confused, nay, veritably pissed off about how your breasts have become a punching bag for various groups? Are you wondering exactly what’s behind the battle of the sumo-sized egos when it comes to the new United States Preventative Services Task Force recommendations

to NOT screen women in their forties [...]

Check out the Doc Gurley interview over at D. P. Lyle’s website. For those who don’t (yet) know, here’s D. P. Lyle:

D. P. Lyle, MD is the Macavity Award winning and Edgar Award nominated author of the non-fiction books, Murder and Mayhem, Forensics For Dummies, Forensics and Fiction, and [...]

1. Yet Another Reason Why Money and Medicine Make Bad Bedfellows
2. H1N1 Updates – Or Why Britain Is Bad And Being Older Is Good
3. Go To Haiti With Doc Gurley!

Two articles (in a series of three articles) by Doc Gurley over at SFGate have now appeared. They are an expose into the world of hospitals and debt collection policies. Medical debt collection is a nasty underbelly of hospital practices in the U.S. – and, for those without government-sponsored healthcare (such as Medicare and Medicaid) [...]

In the news coverage of the massive corruption arrests in New Jersey, there was a little medical shocker – “Another man in Brooklyn, Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, was accused of enticing vulnerable people to give up a kidney for $10,000 and then selling the organ for $160,000. Mr. Dwek pretended to be soliciting a kidney on behalf [...]

There’s a great article in Psychology Today about why and how placebos work, including some amazing facts, such as the fact that there is a “placebo heirarchy”:

* Placebo surgery works better than placebo injections * Placebo injections work better than placebo pills * Sham acupuncture treatment works better than a placebo pill * Capsules [...]

It’s been a big week for celebrity sorrow. As you’re contemplating the loss of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, be sure to head over to SFGate to check out the Doc Gurley health tips we can all learn from celebrity health coverage.

1) First, there’s Farrah’s Gift: Outing the Tumor That Dare Not Speak Its [...]