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Most of us who write about health believe that knowledge can make a difference. But is the primary health issue facing us today a lack of knowledge? Or is it, instead, something I’d call the tenth-patient-of-the-day challenge? Here’s what I mean: You pick up a chart and head to Exam Room B, reading as you […] The most costly user of publicly financed emergency health services in San Francisco – a “frequent flyer†in emergency room parlance – is 49, Caucasian, schizophrenic, and addicted. He has been listed in at least two concurrent city systems as homeless (either continuously or episodically) for 16.6 years. He’s a frequent caller of ambulances (more […] What happens when someone dies who has no assets – or friends or relatives – to pay for his burial? As our society becomes more and more fragmented, and the economic crisis worsens for more and more people, your jurisdiction may be struggling to pay for the disposition of bodies of indigents. Or, perhaps you’ve […] “The red/blue/green/yellow pants were cut prior to examination, revealing blue/red/white underwear. Black/white/green shoes were removed.†“On the left dorsal hand is a monochromatic tattoo stating ‘kitten’ with an abstract design.†These are the kinds of phrases that greet me every time I pick up an autopsy report. I have the job of […] In today’s hyper-evolving social media, with GPS mapping and crowd-sourcing of vast amounts of information, it might seem quaint, if not downright foolish, to believe that old school journalism’s low-tech and low-cost approaches — a pen, a pad, and shoe-leather investigation — could result in an article that ignites a global furor. We’re talking about […] Sam is infamous. Nurses groan when they hear he’s at triage. He only has two states of consciousness — drunk or withdrawing from alcohol. Literally. Sam usually comes to the ER or clinic by ambulance, often because a good Samaritan thought he wasn’t breathing as he lay in a soiled pouf of tangled blankets on […] |
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