It’s Still An N.E.W Day – the San Bruno Blast one year later and 9/11 Ten Years On

I wrote the following post one year ago and pretty much nothing has changed except that we have had plenty of other disasters for emergency workers to react and respond to. I can’t think of anything better than to repeat my post from last year and renew the call for a day to honor emergency […]

Almost Half of all Americans Will Experience a Mental Health Problem

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A new study from the CDC suggests that almost half of all Americans will suffer some form of mental health problem at some stage in their lives. The study specifically refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders which means anything from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder to suicide.

The study, […]

We’re Drinking Even More Soda

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I have written in the past about the dangers of drinking soda and other heavily sugared drinks. (And the danger of drinking diet soda as well). Apparently my nationwide influence isn’t quite as big as I thought because a CDC study recently released shows that half of all Americans are […]

Once Again Chocolate Found To Be Good For You

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Go ahead, have another piece. It really IS good for you. A major review of seven different studies, published in the British Medical Journal, has shown that eating chocolate is good for your heart – and not just on Valentine’s Day. This review looked at data from 114,000 participants and […]

If You Need A Cause To Support – The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship

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Many years ago, when I was finishing medical school, I got the opportunity to do something life-changing and life-affirming at the same time. I got the chance to have an Albert Schweitzer fellowship at the Lambaréné hospital in Gabon, West Africa. To get some idea of what it meant to […]

It’s No Surprise That Training Helps Doctors Communicate Bad News Better

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A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that training doctors in the delivery of bad news to dying patients significantly improves their ability to communicate this kind of bad news. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. What is a surprise is how infrequent and poorly conducted […]