From the machine learning algorithm this morning, culled from over 3,000 new abstracts posted overnight.

1: Refractory rickets in the tropics.

2: "Functional food" for acceleration of growth in short children born small for gestational age.

3: Changes in opioid use and healthcare costs among U.S. patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain treated with duloxetine compared with other therapies.

1: Discontinuation of Cholinesterase Inhibitor Treatment and Determinants thereof in the Netherlands: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

2: Low-dose doxepin: in the treatment of insomnia.

3: Borderline personality traits and disorder: Predicting prospective patient functioning.

However you feel about the guy, you gotta admit "You Don't Know Jack" was a well-done movie.

Certainly Jack Kevorkian is a controversial guy, and there are strong opinions on either side.  

I can imagine they'll be watching this movie in "Medical Ethics" classes in med schools for years. 

Lotta items today in the news about an impending doctor shortage in America.  Ok, so the implicit message is good for medicine: not enough people in a field is good for the people already in the field, right?

I just got back from Costa Rica.  There aren't many hospitals, doctors offices, or pharmacies once you get out of San Jose, the capital.

So you figure the people are facing a lot worse life expectancy, right?

This from Community Oncology Feb 2010.  The idea is that a community oncology practice reported 6% of their patients referred for BRCA testing reported a positive result.

I get this question at least a few times a day.  Patients want to know.  My father-in-law asks.  Casual acquaintances ask me, "Whaddya think about the health care reform?"

Podcast file: 

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HealthCareRight.mp3

Is health care a right? Would any personal responsibility be required?  Would folks who drink and drive, race motorcycles, skydive or skip their high blood pressure medicines enjoy the same right to health care as the rest of us? Would this be fair?

There are not too many drugs that improve overall survival in prostate cancer.  Right now, the list is pretty short: Taxotere.

So the announcement that researchers have survival improvement with a new drug, cabazitaxel, is pretty exciting for us oncologists.

It's easy to become discouraged, but once in a while we get something to be happy about.  Today is one of those moments.

Not that I'm ranting, but the two week delay CMS has instituted for Medicare claims doesn't really help us docs much.  the issue is that Congress couldn't reach an agreement to reverse the cuts scheduled for March 1, so CMS holds the claims until there is some sort of agreement.  It's easier for them to retoactively pay claims than it is for them to figure out how to make a cut whole again after p

Podcast file: 

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Defensive Medicine and Gallup Poll.mp3

Is defensive medicine as prevalent as physicians claim? How many health care dollars does defensive medicine cost? Why should patients care about this issue? Much more on tort reform at www.MDWhistleblower.blogspot.com