Hospital Consults — Are They Worth It?
I asked a number of the attending docs if they’d spoken with the patient about the problem, and was startled by how rarely the answer was yes.
Tag: physicians
All
Latest
Medical Relapse Trap
That is not the doc’s fault, and frankly, it isn’t really James’, either. It’s what happens where addiction rules. If not at that moment, then the next.
Read More
Opioid Evangelism
It’s these outdated attitudes towards addictions that enable the healthcare professional to ignore important information provided by the patient.
Read More
In the News: Pain Pill Busts
Think physician practices and pharmacies and specialty clinics who began with a lucrative sideline that may now be their main source of revenue.
Read More
The Pain Patients’ Dilemma
In the past, we’ve flung opioids at the problem, and haven’t developed alternatives.
Read More
In the News: Update on Prince
The real solution would have been for Prince to have received treatment for his drug problem, which by this time was a far bigger issue than his somatic pain.
Read More
Myth or Not?
Too many doctors worry about “those people” showing up in the waiting room. They don’t particularly want to be known as a resource for the addicted.
Read More
Opioid Vulnerability
There’s no blood test, no scan to aid diagnosis. Knowing intellectually that one in ten will succumb is very little help; it has no practical value in terms of predicting an individual outcome.
Read More
Getting Drugs From Docs Part Three: Prevention
Try thinking of the interaction between drug seeker and practitioner as type of negotiation where the two parties have very different goals.
Read More
Getting Drugs From Docs Part Two: The Targets
There are just too many different forms of manipulation for any of us to be uniformly good at identifying them on the fly.
Read More
Getting Drugs From Docs Part One: The Manipulators
One sign of vulnerability: the place tended to be too busy or too slow.
Read More
Doctors in Denial
Here was a physician who regularly committed an assortment of crimes without considering himself a criminal. To his way of thinking, he was the victim.
Read More
Stigma Behind the Stethoscope
There’s no shortage of stories among nurses and doctors about a friend or family member who went through treatment and relapsed, perhaps many times.
Read More