Does your baby need a bpa-free high chair?
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The evolution of the bisphenol A witch hunt is interesting. What started in bottles has evolved to toys, formula containers, and most recently high chairs. Sites and blogs are building reputations by being the ‘first to the press’ breaking resin disclosures on the latest products. While providing a valuable service in many cases, it runs the risk of creating unnecessary stress for parents desperate to do the best for their children. And the question of toxic high chairs represents a great example. To understand whether a high chair puts a child at unnecessary risk, we have to understand how BPA gets into children.
Eat...
Source: Parenting Solved - May 8, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Bisphenol A Source Type: blogs
Care for a drink? tonight's the night the fun begins
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My Dave's Mountain neighbors made the Courier today. I am very proud of them for standing up to the greedy bullies on the Asheboro City Council (Linda Carter being the notable exception - the only council member who cares enough to listen to sound arguments that have their basis in fact rather than fool-hardly fantasy).Of course, I protested long before protesting in Asheboro was considered "cool" . . . or newsworthy.I'm not newsworthy because (according to a little bird) the Editor of the Courier Tribune (who continues to leave just enough out of of his news stories to paint the Mountain crowd as greedy and selfish) canno...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 8, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Retail clinics officially circle the drain
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Here’s some shocking news: “Retail Clinics Likely to Slow Their Growth” according to today’s Wall Street Journal. Retail clinic operators from Wal-Mart to CVS are shuttering many of their clinics due to slow growth. Apparently the private equity firms and venture capitalists that backed this half-baked concept “failed to appreciate how complicated and expensive the clinics are to operate.” This is especially true when the patients never actually show up.
As I predicted in 2006 the retail model of health care delivery is appropriately doomed. If nothing else we’ve learned that for even their simplest health n...
Source: Parenting Solved - May 7, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Say "no" to lactose-free formula
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Let’s put an end to lactose-free formula. Babies just don’t need it
Here are the facts: babies go through a very transient period where their production of lactase (the bowel enzyme necessary for digestion of lactose) is subpar. Beyond this very early and temporary period, babies tolerate lactose just fine. There are a handful of babies in recorded medical history who have been born without lactase. And unless you’ve birthed one of these half-dozen babies, your baby shouldn’t need a lactose-free formula. One exception: viruses may injure the lining of the small bowel to the point where lactase can be temporarily l...
Source: Parenting Solved - May 7, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Infancy Infant Formula Nutrition Source Type: blogs
On motivation and incentive
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I am cheered today by (1) my Dave's Mountain neighbors who protested all over downtown Asheboro today (more on that later . . . we'll see if it makes the local newspaper), and (2) North Carolina voters finally seeing through a Clinton. I guess John Edwards now knows who he needs to suck up to in order to get appointed U.S. Attorney General (I rolled my eyes at that interview).Maybe the populace is clued into what I learned the hard way a long time ago. A Clinton is not going to fight for anyone but himself/herself. "The Village" is not all it's cracked up to be. And some of its citizens just play dirty.I guess Mike Easley'...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 6, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
How do bedroom televisions impact children?
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I knew there was a reason why our kids don’t have TVs in their rooms.
A study from the University of Minnesota published in the journal Pediatrics last month compared the characteristics of teens with televisions in their rooms to those without. Here’s what they found: “Adolescents with a bedroom television reported more television viewing time, less physical activity, poorer dietary habits, fewer family meals, and poorer school performance.”
Wow. The link is here but I think my cited conclusion is all you need to know. (Source: Parenting Solved)
Source: Parenting Solved - May 6, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Technology Teens Source Type: blogs
Not voting for any of the self-serving (insert derogatory explicative)s
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One of my Yas did the early voting thing. She voted for Hillary. For reasons well known to readers, I cannot go there (of course, there's the extra added "benefit" that Governor Sleazely supports her) . . . even if it conforms to a a right-wing conspiracy to keep the Dems duking it out until they kill one another's chances in November. Even John Edwards is keeping his mouth shut (just like years ago, when he was never going to ditch North Carolina to run for President, the trial-lawyer in John thinks we're all too stupid to figure out that he wants that AG slot REAL BAD - and he'll take it from whichever former opponent he...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 6, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Where are the doctors on bisphenol a?
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I love to learn where parents get their information. If you are in my office and you quote a statistic, I’ll ask where you got your information. Not in a confrontational way but in a curious way.
And when it comes to BPA, here’s what’s interesting: It seems everything parents know about plastic safety is from the Internet. Doctors, it seems, are less apt to confront the edgy material that parents buzz about. It’s Google, not Dr. Spock, that’s empowering this generation of parents. The handouts and instruction sheets on ear infections and constipation that have been disseminated in pediatrician offices for genera...
Source: Parenting Solved - May 5, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Bisphenol A Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
A filly falls
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Two years ago I fell in love with a horse. Today, I made a conscious decision not to watch the Kentucky Derby.I really cannot believe this. It is so sad. Breaks my heart. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 3, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Schmidly's list: on alcohol in asheboro - i love it when a conspiracy theory comes together
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For over a week, I’ve been pondering what to say about last Friday’s story in the Courier Tribune that the Father-Daughter lawyer team of Steve and Brooke Schmidly were going to ask for a special Asheboro City Council meeting in May to initiate the process that would put an alcohol referendum on the ballot. Steve says it won’t be presented as “new business” at the upcoming regular city council meeting (where the city will vote on the annexation of Dave’s Mountain) – because he doesn’t want to appear to be doing anything behind the Mayor Jarrell’s back (the last I heard, the Mayor opposes the sale of alcoh...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 3, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Video's worth seeing - paul vs hillary
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I have to say that the more I read about the Paul versus Clinton case, the more I think she needs to do what Obama has had to do with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. She has to address it. These You Tube pieces are incredibly damaging. Are they true? Clearly some aspects of this law suit are true. People within Hillary's senatorial campaign have already been found guilty of violating campaign finance law. And he has a tape recording that definitely puts her in the center of it, because of a phone call she made. Perjury. Tax evasion. Imprisonment of an enemy in a Brazilian prison to foil a law suit? It is pretty amazing if it is ...
Source: Tales from the Womb - May 2, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
The nc state bar cannot afford dirty lawyers
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You learn something new every day.According to this N&O article on Chapel Hill lawyer, John McCormick, who embezzled/stole over one million dollars from clients, the State Bar is obligated to pay debt accrued by the lawyer's indiscretions.The Bar has been settling with those tangled in McCormick's affairs. So far, it has paid $19,952 to six parties left with bills McCormick should have paid from his trust account.The Bar blew its annual fund dedicated to closing out the practices of misbehaving attorneys. The Bar budgets $25,000 annually. It paid $53,000 to hire a lawyer and paralegals to settle McCormick's affairs, sa...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 1, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
A non-profiteer bites the dust
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Tell me again that "non-profit" executives cannot be held accountable for their actions . . . that what I've been asking for since 2003 is impossible or not completely within the letter and intent of the law.Bob Morrison and Steve Eblin lied. Not just to me, but the community they bullied and swindled out of two good Pediatricians who wanted to stay. Neither they nor their hospital get a free pass. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 30, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
On alcohol & annexation: steve schmidly gets a reprieve from att.net
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Some folks say you should not blog when you're angry . . . or drunk (although I'll take a drunk Fec over some of the sober folks in this blogosphere any day). I'm one out of two today, and I'll let my readers figure out which one.Since I am on the road a lot, I pay several of my fixed-price bills 6 months to a year ahead of time. One of those bills was, until today, to AT&T Worldnet Service. My AT&T address has been my e-mail address since the day I brought my first Compac laptop home over a decade ago. I hung on to AT&T phone service way past the time it became practical or made any fiscal sense - simply out o...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 29, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Don't waste your pulpit
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(Source: Mavistown 3.0)
Source: Mavistown 3.0 - April 28, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
"twitter"
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From CNN, an inspiring story about what blogs can be and do for individuals.It's kind of what I had hoped to find when I answered the "citizen journalism" call and dived into the GSO blogosphere three years ago . . . people motivated to look beyond what they were being spoon-fed by the local MSM . . . people who could/would mobilize to inform the public and right wrongs.Notsomuch. But I plod on. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 26, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Watching and waiting on the nc medical board
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Earlier this month, I commented on "progress" in a case I reported to the NC Medical Board over two years ago - and alluded to the fact that the doctor involved would finally be doing the dance with the Board in a hearing later in the month.He's dancing now. No word up yet on the Board's website as to outcome. Still, I cannot shake the very sad, heavy feeling that, for some of the innocents who found themselves caught in the crossfire of dueling lawyers, whatever the Medical Board does now is too far little, far too late. The doctors on the front lines who want to help protect patients by taking on badness, can't.We get fi...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 24, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Tell me again, mr. clinton, that i need four more years
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In honor of Slick Willie's visit to Asheboro today, I am linking an oldie but goodie entitled "On Public Service in the Village."Bill and Hill have done very well for themselves $ince leaving the White House. This former indentured servant to healthcare under Clinton's administration notsomuch. After all, the fat-cat healthcare executives that the politicians generally cozy up to (for the lovely money) all think that good Pediatricians are "a dime a dozen". And the truth was (or is it "is"?) never a top priority for our Bill. He had no qualms about lying under Oath either. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 23, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Pb&n
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GirlTuesday may eat Oreo's for breakfast, but I prefer peanut butter and nutella sandwichs first thing in the am. Truth be told, I usually have coffee for breakfast, but when post-call, I need more sustenance. Luckily, our resident call room is stocked with huge tubs of peanut butter and, occasionally, a small jar of nutella. (For the uninitiated, nutella is chocolate hazelnut butter and the reason why so many girls from the U.S. gain 20 pounds when studying abroad in France.) (Source: girl MD)
Source: girl MD - April 23, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
How to explain breast implants to a first grader
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Concerned about how to discuss your tummy tuck, nose job, or breast implants with your son? Apparently you’re not alone. A plastic surgeon in Florida thought it would be cute to publish a book on how to discuss cosmetic surgery with kids. This self-published gem, My Beautiful Mommy, apparently caught the attention of Newsweek who, by some act of God, actually featured it. All of the requisite concerned experts are quoted to make the whole thing actually seem legitimate. Somebody pinch me.
Perhaps I’m alone on this but as a professional charged with the welfare of children, I find the whole matter disturbing. While pl...
Source: Parenting Solved - April 21, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Source Type: blogs
Canada bans bisphenol a - is the usa next?
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Watch your back, Dr. Brown. The world is going green and clean. Canada recently banned BpA and from the looks of it, the American marketplace isn’t far behind. While American pediatricians haven't exactly addressed the issue, I feel the evidence is compelling enough to raise questions. And for my kids and my patients it’s BpA free. Even Playtex is doing the right thing by frankly discussing their products and pledging to convert on a going forward basis.
If you want to know more I strongly suggest that you spend some time with Safe Mama. The thorough nature of her content is only surpassed by her crisp writing. Just l...
Source: Parenting Solved - April 20, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Bisphenol A Infancy Product safety Source Type: blogs
...and we're back
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1. No posts for a while, huh? A big shocker, I know. I expect to remedy that in the near future. I think I shall refrain from killing the blog.2. It looks likely that I will get a new job beginning the Summer of 2009. For the folks in Lex, sorry, it's not in Lexington. It will be in Greenville. I'm pretty attached to the Upstate of S. Carolina these days. I see myself staying here. Assuming I actually get the Greenville job, I'll be looking for a new job again during the summer of 2012... again, I see myself staying here but Lexington would be an option.3. I think I'm nearing the point of losing interest in baseball for go...
Source: Mavistown 3.0 - April 19, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Is crying in babies genetic?
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This study gets us a little closer to understanding the neurologic differences that may explain what’s been observed for centuries.
Perhaps this is all inconsequential but who knows where it’ll lead. While I don’t think we’ll ever see the day when we consider gene therapy for the high need baby, it’s encouraging to learn that when babies cry, it’s often for reasons other than “poor maternal adjustment.” (Source: Parenting Solved)
Source: Parenting Solved - April 19, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Colic Infancy Source Type: blogs
A letter to randolph county district attorney, garland yates
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In the midst of annexation wars . . . and as yet another North Carolina healthcare fiasco evolves, I am both inspired and disgusted by the lawsuit several major NC newspapers have filed against NC Governor Mike Easley (please note that for all of its high-minded rhetoric about "open government", the N&R did not join this party).I've lost count of the e-mails and letters I've sent to Raleigh - as a Pediatrician in public service burned by the Teflon-coated liars and cheats running a "non-profit" hospital. I have poured my heart and soul into a lot of that correspondence. Alas, I can count the letters that were answered ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 17, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
The last lecture - a must read for all parents
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My greatest fear as a father is that I won’t survive to see my children grow up. I guess I think that something terrible could happen to me before I see them get where they need to get. While it’s something I tend to keep to myself, it’s this fear that drew me to the story of Randy Pauch, a 47-year-old father of three with pancreatic cancer and only months to live. His book is The Last Lecture and it’s an adaption of his farewell lecture to students and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University where he taught.
While I tend to shy away from tragic memoirs, I found myself drawn to the experience of someone at a simi...
Source: Parenting Solved - April 14, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Fatherhood Source Type: blogs
Chapter 18 – delivery deja vu
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We're back. It seems only yesterday when we came in for Megan's birth; Sarabeth huffing and puffing with back labor. Fifteen hours later she was getting a cesarean section. I carry her bags as we walk from the elevator into labor and delivery. I haven't been here in 19 months, two days before my stroke when I attended a crash cesarean section. It was nine weeks after Megan was born.Labor and delivery has always been a place of dread for me. Every time I come to it, I sense the opportunity for disaster – a chance for a child to end up devastated, or dead. The fact that this is my child being born today weighs heavy in my ...
Source: Tales from the Womb - April 13, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Meet dr. mike - the world's only pediatric podcaster
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If you have the chance, tune in to Dr. Mike over at Pediacast. He’s an Ohio-based pediatrician who serves up the latest in pediatric health in podcast format. Where else can you hear a live discussion on bowlegged babies, community beds, soft spots, and chocolate milk all in under 40 minutes? And he’ll take questions as well. The quality of the content as well as the sound is outstanding. The rumor is that he has a guest/interview format in the works. You can find him on iTunes.
The beautiful images on his site are from vladstudio.com (Source: Parenting Solved)
Source: Parenting Solved - April 12, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Baby steps to real health change
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I see it all the time: Health problems that require change. Change in diet, behavior or the way we live. And people are always willing to change themselves or their children, especially when their health is at risk. The problem is, we can’t keep it up. Cutting calories, increasing exercise, minimizing sugar intake, and other lofty goals can be reached over the short term. Long-term change is hard to maintain.
But small changes are doable and they can have a real impact. The consumption, for example, of just 10 extra calories per day – that’s one stick of gum – over a one year period will make you one pound heavier...
Source: Parenting Solved - April 11, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Behavior & Discipline Source Type: blogs
My statement to the asheboro city council on the planned annexation of dave's mountain
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This afternoon I took a half-day off from work and drove home (from my current Locums assignment down East) in order to attend a public hearing held by the Asheboro City Council. I read a prepared statement regarding my feelings on the annexation of Dave's Mountain.I read my statement immediately after my former lawyer stood up to say that he supported annexation (no big surprise . . . progress and growth equals alcohol and I seem to recall he likes his alcohol). I thought it was very appropriate to speak immediately after he did. He's lucky I did not say anything about his "representation". But tonight it wasn't about him...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 11, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
My resignation letter to the north carolina pediatric society
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In January 2008, I got the following letter from Herbert W. Clegg, II President of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. Dr. Clegg works for a practice in Charlotte, (if I am to conclude anything from his e-mail address) apparently owned & operated by the medical conglomerate, Novant.Greetings and Happy New YearThe North Carolina Pediatric Society has not received your dues payment for 2007 - 2008. We don't want to lose you.Our goal at the NCPS is to be your professional membership society, providing fellowship, education and advocacy, and establishing a legacy for pediatricians and children in North Carolina. Our memb...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 10, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Happy trails david wray
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With a hat tip to Joe and Sam, David Wray is leaving Greensboro and North Carolina behind in the dust. He got a MUCH better job. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 9, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Your "right" to healthcare is my indentured servitude
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There is a great post (and some equally great comments) up at Dr. Joe Guarino's (emphasis on the Dr.) this week . . . that speaks to the extrapolated "right" to health insurance.Joe cited a spot-on Neal Boortz column that got it right in less than 200 words. I quote the zinger:Your “right to health care” would require some other person to give up a portion of their life or their property to either treat you or to provide you with drugs or medical implements. The Constitution does not provide for another individual to be indentured to you in this manner. Therefore, you have no “right” to health care.Roch Smith, Jr. ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 9, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Bang!
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I got this in an e-mail today. I post it in honor of MeB, who likes jokes.Are you a Democrat, a Republican, or a Redneck?Here is a little test that will help you decide.You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you. You are carrying a Glock 40 cal, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?Democrat's Answer:Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 9, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Charlton heston on civil disobedience
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Charlton Heston, like Jimmy Stewart, was somebody I could curl up on a couch with. They both were simply YUMMY.Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!The man who played Moses was no fool. I got this link to a 1999 speech Heston made at Harvard Law School in my "pseudospam" e-mail this morning. The speech, like the man, speaks for itself. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 7, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Gymnastics tops list of dangerous girls sports
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Hold on to your vaulting horse. In a study published in this month’s Pediatrics, researchers at Ohio State University reviewed U.S. gymnastics injuries in girls between 1990 and 2001 and found that it carries one of the highest injury rates of all girls’ sports. Some 27,000 gymnasts sustain serious injuries every year – numbers similar to ice hockey, soccer and (full-contact) cheerleading. Gymnastics would appear to be something of an athletic wild, wild west with no standards or rules for spotters, coaches and gymnasts.
So what’s a parent to do? While it may be difficult to prove compliance, parents should seek o...
Source: Parenting Solved - April 7, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Girls Teens Tweens Source Type: blogs
Sunlight peaks into the file cabinet at the nc medical board
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In the wake of a burst of blogging this weekend (unplanned - because I have wanted to slow down/take a break - but there is just so much stuff out there), I found an old post (linked in Saturday's post on the legal hatchet job currently being done on Dr. Melvin Levine) that I want to put front and center again.At that time, I was regularly reading Ed Cone's blog (I don't anymore and I'm happy to report that my blood pressure is way down). When this one flew out of my fingers, I remember that something he said (or the way he had said it) started the blood boiling.A story wafting all over the Internet this week also kind of ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 6, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Tarheels or invading space aliens? hummmmmmm . . .
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As a Demon Deacon Doctor whose Father attended NC State, I would pull for invading space aliens before ever cheering for Chapel Hill (my fingers refuse to even make the link) . . . or Duke. I did not watch "the game". In fact, I left a very nice restaurant in Eastern NC early so I would not have to listen to the rabid/smug/oh-so-assured-of-ultimate-victory Tarheels gathered around a full-stocked bar and big-screen. I finished my big salad at the house and went to bed. And I awoke this Sunday morning to hear the glorious news . . . it will be Kansas v. Memphis for the NCAA championship. I know my Memphis Tigers long-sleeve ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 6, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Nexium for kids - what does it mean for parents?
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AstraZeneca recently received FDA approval for the use of Nexium in children down to 12 months of age. We’re used to hearing about reflux in adults. What does this new approval mean for parents and kids?
Reflux is getting its due. While it’s hard to believe, there are holdouts who refuse to believe that reflux is an issue in children. Nexium’s approval is a boon for reflux awareness.
More options for treatment. While Prevacid has been approved for young children for some time, Nexium gives us another option. This is a good thing. As I suggest in my book Colic Solved, PPI medications are like shoes, no two 8 ½’s ...
Source: Parenting Solved - April 5, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. Tags: Reflux Source Type: blogs
On dr. melvin levine
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I've debated for a couple of days whether or not to post on this story . . . about UNC-Chapel Hill MD, Larry Levine . . . who has been sued by five former patients in Boston. The patients (all boys) allege that, as youngsters, they were fondled/groped during physical examinations.It's just an unpleasant subject. The initial impulse is to look away. But if one is going to talk about "transparency" and accountability in one's profession, this is a story one must stare at.Levine who retired a while back, but still does part time work at the Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning at UNC-Chapel Hill, voluntar...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 5, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
The plane! the plane!
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My Friday "dose of woo" was temporarily interrupted by a rant on "legal thuggery" (good term) by the amazing Orac. I love me some Orac and cannot do without my weekly "woo". But in the wake of Jenny McCarthy's performance on Larry King (covered on all the "Entertainment "news" shows I mindlessly - key word, mindlessly - watched this evening while blogging), Orac's rant is a particularly good one . . . directed against "anti-vaccination" litigator, Clifford Shoemaker . . . who has subpoenaed a blogger critical of his legal theories and tactics (today Overlawyered cites more reactions to the subpoena from the medical and leg...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 4, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Sayeth bev perdue, "i'll go after anyone who tries to harm a child"
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Really Bev?I guess that doesn't include lying, cheating hospital administrators who forced a Pediatrician to chose between her job and a child's life? Or the dirty lawyers that would cover and bury their crimes by turning the Ped's life into a living hell?I guess that e-mail I sent you (and the entire NC legislature) a while back got dropped into File 13? And maybe you just lost the certified letter?Because I never got a reply. And then you changed the law that the letter referenced. All it took was one crossed out word.Maybe you had to doge some sniper fire on the way to the healthcare debates too? (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 4, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Bad boards, bad boards, what'cha gonna do?
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There's an interesting article in the Asheville Citizen-Times (I've found that newspapers in Eastern and Western North Carolina do a much better job of taking hospitals and healthcare institutions to task for bad behavior) that takes apart the leadership at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde.The premise of the article is that the "oversight" provided by the prominent & "honorable" businessmen who served on Haywood's Board of Directors was non-existant . . . that board members were ill-equipped to handle the job and therefore ineffectual in their leadership . . . and that this led to very big problems . . . especi...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 4, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
On david wray and spag's lawsuit
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Joe directs us to a very nice, sympathetic post by Bill Knight on David Wray and his contributions, as police chief to the City of Greensboro. It's a good post with lots of good points about a man in public service who I believe was done fundamentally wrong - and who deserves (in addition to the other officers caught up in an incompetent and/or ethically-challenged GSO City Manager's web of deceit) to be vindicated and restored.Of course, I'm learning lots lately about battling City Managers who seem to have problems discerning serious/expensive conflicts of interest.I digress. A long time ago, I was one of the first in th...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 4, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Just in case you missed it...
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The man who started the craze is back. (Source: Mavistown 3.0)
Source: Mavistown 3.0 - April 2, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
A few thoughts
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1. Baseball has begun. Walk-off home run by EE tonight. Reds win 6-5. Strong work by the bullpen. I have hope for this season (but then again I have hope for every season about this time).2. I never would have thought I would see one T. Wehrle 2 out of 3 weekends in the SC. Nor would I have thought that E. Wehrle or J. Hobbs would ever sleep in my bonus room. I hope you guys enjoyed the church service on Sunday. What about that plane?3. Darrin Horn to U. of South Carolina? He was a year behind me at Tates Creek. I never really knew him but he seemed like a nice kid. I read in the paper today that every Western Kentucky bas...
Source: Mavistown 3.0 - April 2, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Codes of misconduct
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Joe Guarino sent me this link - from the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons - an article by Lawrence Huntoon about leveling the playing field between doctors and hospital administrators. In recent years, building on the "disruptive doctor" theme, physicians have been "code of conducted" to death . . . while hospital executives could/can do whatever they please to whomever they please with total impunity.Last August, Governor Sleazely signed a re-vision of the North Carolina Medical Practice Act into law . . and he did it (assuming that he got the e-mails and the certified letters) despite knowing that the changes ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - April 2, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Carnations and ashes
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March 30th was National Doctors Day.Today, a lovely square vase of red carnations was placed upon my desk (sent by some well-meaning someone who works for the hospital that currently contracts my services as a Locum Tenens).When I saw them, I began to cry. As I told a friend, they might as well have been a box of ashes . . . representative of what coming "home" to Asheboro did to every dream I ever had.I closed my office door and gave into the feeling for five minutes. Then I dried my eyes, patted my face with a cool towel and went back to work. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - March 31, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Ask skippy #16 - bill cosby n a gf?
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(Source: Mavistown 3.0)
Source: Mavistown 3.0 - March 29, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
For skippy
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See comment #1 from the last post. (Source: Mavistown 3.0)
Source: Mavistown 3.0 - March 29, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
Chapter 17: bloody sunday
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I am yawning in the step down unit. It is another Saturday morning, like so many I have pulled of late. I do every other weekend, three out of five on long months. Saturday and Sundays, to make up for the fact that I’m not doing nights. The weekends that I’m not in the unit, I do my best to let Sarabeth sleep. She get’s up early with Megan and doesn’t sleep well, now that the pregnancy is almost over. Basically, I never get to sleep late, unless I’m having a bad day – then I can sleep the whole day if I need to. Most days I go to bed at 10 pm to make sure I get enough rest, but it never seems like enough. I tak...
Source: Tales from the Womb - March 28, 2008 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs
