Did you have a good Thanksgiving?
I had a good Thanksgiving. In fact, I had a really good Thanksgiving – maybe my best ever. Saturday afternoon, we were walking around town, doing a little shopping, and I felt so happy. I was giddy – like I was high.
It might have been the weather, and it might [...]
Mon, November 30 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Last night I got around to watching this week’s House, MD – the link and the rest of this post contain spoilers, so be warned.
House is one of my favorite shows, maybe my favorite. I know some real docs – eg Kevin, MD – have problems with the show, but I know better than to [...]
Thu, November 19 2009 » Uncategorized » 1 Comment
Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed a bit earlier than usual, so I could walk to the community center where the country was running its H1N1 vaccination clinic. I got there 30 minutes before the clinic started, and there were already 500 people in line. I stood in the rain and cold for [...]
Tue, November 17 2009 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments
This month is National Blog Writing Month, or some such, but I’m not participating. You probably already knew that, as sporadic as my posting has been.
The thing about being sick is that even though it forces you to take time off to care for yourself, the stuff that you’re not doing doesn’t magically disappear. It’s [...]
Tue, November 3 2009 » Uncategorized » 1 Comment
You know the one: “How Drug-Industry Lobbyists Got Their Way On Health Care“, by Karen Tumulty and Michael Scherer. It’s worth reading if you’re not familiar with the issue, but there are a couple of aspects important to patients that the authors don’t quite spell out. First, this bit:
But there’s a dilemma: policymakers want to [...]
Thu, October 22 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
I realized after I wrote the title for this post that I can’t explain the joke without ruining the ending of the movie Serenity. So if it doesn’t make sense, don’t worry about it.
Where was I? Right: I went to my primary care physician last week, and we talked about a few things that are [...]
Wed, August 19 2009 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments
If you take Humira, Remicade, or any similar biologic drug, or if you have any illness that might need to be treated with a biologic, you might be interested in this post from the Wall Street Journal. Look at these numbers:
J&J is already a big player in the market with Remicade, which brought in $1.1 [...]
Thu, July 16 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
This is Senator Dodd (D-CT), from a Politico story on pending health care legislation:
“There are some gaps. But there are no gaps in our determination, my determination and that of my colleagues to have a public option, pay-or-play, or biologics,” Dodd said.
The public option I get; that’s the proposal to a have a government-based insurance [...]
Tue, June 9 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
One more post on Virginia Postrel, and then I will let it go. First, at the risk of being too macabre, Postrel is only two years out of her cancer fight; as far as I know, most epidemiologists would not consider that “survival”. So, yes, Herceptin might have help put her in remission, but she’s [...]
Tue, April 21 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
In the April issue of the Atlantic Monthly, Virginia Postrel published a love letter to the pharmaceutical industry. In the May issue, she gets a couple of letters back, which I have taken the liberty of excerpting:
No society can afford to give every one of its members every available medical treatment. Society has to make [...]
Mon, April 20 2009 » Uncategorized » 1 Comment
A novel crime against decency by Duncan Cross
