Women’s History Month–Boycott Menopause!

How did we get stuck with menopause? I don’t mean the whole evolutionary argument about surviving-until-your-ovaries-quit-working. What I’m talking about, instead, is the label. Menopause has to be about the biggest downer of a name in the history of the world.

The thing that really sticks in […]

What It Feels Like…To Put Your Doc On The Spot

It’s a busy Tuesday, so I grab a chart and speedwalk to the next patient at the homeless clinic. On the table sits a woman with this huge stiff tent of hair and a bad case of body lice. She’s rocking with her arms across her chest. She’s hearing voices. She hasn’t bathed in […]

Black Future Month

Instead of Black History Month (which I love) I’m going to kick off something new–Black Future Month, focussed on the future health of African-Americans. As part of Black Future Month here at Doc Gurley (the only place it exists, so far), together we’re going to launch the 2008 Black Future Month Campaign. Read on for […]

It’d Save Us A Lot Of Cash If You’d Just Drop Dead, Please…

Ah, the seamy underside of cost-effectiveness research. Doc Gurley has done cost-effectiveness research, including published studies, in one of her many previous careers (Doc G assessment: not as interesting as waitressing, fewer tips, more messes, fewer laughs). There is a nasty, secretive part of cost-effectiveness health research that no one publicly discusses which (shockingly!) made […]

Was Heath Ledger Snoring? Or Was It Something Worse?

There’s only one way to feel about the sudden death of Heath Ledger–what a tragic loss of youth, life, and talent. While we may never know what actually happened, the story about his death raises some important opportunities to learn, and, hopefully, prevent future deaths like this. First point: the medicines that were found in […]

How To Break Bad News

Dr. Judah Folkman died this week in Boston. News organizations used the occasion to report on his decades-long cancer research career. Given his status as a distant, non-celebrity, non-Nobel surgeon, you may be asking yourself why you, personally, should care about his death. Here’s why.

We were in our second year of medical […]