Hot MedFax

I remember nervously checking the box on my license.  Donate my organs?  Well. . .okay. Probably like most of us, it made me squeamish to think about someone digging in my body for my heart and lungs and kidney (I only have one functioning one!).  But then I realized, I'm dead.  So what does it matter?  And it might save the life of someone who really needs it. Now a new study has found the people who most often donate organs.  Wait for it.  It's doctors. According to newswise.com, a study that included about 15,000 physicians found that they were more likely to be registered as an organ donor compared to the general public. Sadly, less than 40 percent of the public is registered for organ donation in most countries with a registry. “One common fear is that physicians will not take all measures to save the life of a registered citizen at a time of illness. Showing that many physicians are registered for organ donation themselves could hel...

Here's a connection you may not have made in the past.  Doctors and guns. But a new survey of North Carolina doctors has found that many are concerned about the increasing number of requests they are receiving to assess their patients’ competency to carry concealed weapons. In particular, a majority of physicians who responded to the survey said they were worried about the potential ethical consequences in the doctor-patient relationship if they participated in the concealed-weapon permit process, according to newswise.com. “This is not a small problem,” the Web site quotes Dr. Adam Goldstein, corresponding author of the study and a professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “More than 20 percent of the physicians we surveyed have been asked to sign competency permits for concealed weapons, and a majority of them do not feel they can adequately assess the physical or mental competence of their patients to ...

I found this pretty amazing.  There's a poet lurking in almost every physician. According to newswise.com,  future physician Paul Rocco Allegra had this to say after encountering death in the anatomy lab, where he and his classmates dissected cadavers. Metal gurney against preserved flesh, maybe this isn’t the first time we’ve met … And this,  in imagining fleeting moments when, in life, the person whose corpse lies before him, might have crossed paths with him.  I hesitate to look at your face, because maybe, just maybe, you’ve looked at mine. The Web site quotes  Allegra, who says, “You see painted fingernails, or freckles or hair,” haunting signs that this preserved mass of organic material was once a person – a human being like him. “You need to stop and reflect and analyze, and poetry does that.” Writes another student,  My pronunciations are shameful. Erythematous. Blah. My cheeks burn. Will patients call me doctor if ...

So it was just decided by the American Medical Association (AMA) that obesity is a disease. Say what? The New York Times reported today that this move "could induce physicians to pay more attention to the condition and spur more insurers to pay for treatments," not just make fat people feel better. To me a disease is breast cancer, or anemia or diabetes, not something that you can control.  But then I suppose that's part of the argument (and I certainly know as well as anyone), that weight isn't always a matter of making it move up or down. But if we classify it as a disease, doesn't that give people who need to lose weight more of an excuse not to?  "I have a disease, so I can't help it," is the first thing that came to my mind. Now maybe that's just me.  But I know when I was really overweight, I tried to blame it on my under-active thyroid, my genetics, even my breast cancer, just so I'd have a reason to feel better about not ...

I suppose it's a no-brainer but obese people trust overweight physicians over normal-weight physicians on diet advice, according to a new study . Physicians' body mass indexes (BMIs) were measured to determine size.  But interestingly, doctors were on the scales for another reason in the study.  Patients also didn't like going to obese physicians. I can certainly relate to that.  One of my favorite GPs was a doc with a bulging middle, and though I really enjoyed spending time with him (more than five minutes, another fave), I couldn't help thinking how much it could possibly be helping me to see someone with health authority who was, well, fat.  How well was he taking care of himself ? On the other hand, studies have also revealed that many physicians who are normal weight look down their noses at overweight patients.  Studies have found that doctors are nicer to thin people, treating them with the kindness and warmth they don't feel for their heavier pa...