Category: Health Care Reform

The Best Doctors are in the Czech Republic!

A sign said so!sign-photo

Last Fall I got way behind on my writing and have still not caught up. The proximate reason was a road trip, or rather a riverboat cruise behind the former Iron Curtain down the Elbe River from Prague to Berlin. On the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, and the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the trip was informational as well as enjoyable. Although I (and my spouse) was looking forward to a holiday from my writing, it proved impossible to avoid thinking about health policy. Allow me to share two examples of how I was hit over the head by medical advertising.

America abroad.
Imagine my surprise as I rounded a corner in the small riverside town of Litomerice— whose name I could not pronounce, let alone spell— to be confronted by the sign below. I was stunned to the point that during the subsequent arranged tasting of truly excellent Czech beer, rather than enjoying the moment, I pressed our English-speaking host for information about the sign. Continue reading “The Best Doctors are in the Czech Republic!”

Ebola in America Exposes Weaknesses Of Healthcare System.

American medicine and public health fail their Ebola stress-tests.

A reader asked me why I was not writing about Ebola. I considered doing so, but I have no special expertise in the disease itself. I had concluded that there are enough experts– self-professed or otherwise– churning the waters. I could have used the opportunity to reinforce my feelings about how badly information about medicine or other science is communicated to the public by some sensationalistic commercial news industries. I was embarrassed at how some public health officials violated one of the first laws of medicine taught to medical students– “never say never or always.” Much credibility was lost when it was inappropriately claimed that “it can never spread here,” as the number of Ebola contacts that needed to be followed rose to triple digits, the number of cases acquired in America went from one to two, and as those with incubating disease or risky exposures walked, flew, or sailed among us. American medicine is infrequently humble and Americans don’t like to be told what to do. Continue reading “Ebola in America Exposes Weaknesses Of Healthcare System.”

Crunch Time for UofL Bone Marrow Transplantation Program.

bmt-ky-1999-2012For the 30 years in which I have been associated with the University of Louisville, it’s bone marrow transplantation program has been a feather in its cap and that of the James G. Brown Cancer Center. The University of Louisville Hospital holds the Certificate of Need (CON) for adult bone marrow transplantation in Louisville – one of the tiny handful of programs that other local hospitals could not take away or did not want. Therefore I was concerned when I began to hear of doctors-lounge gossip that the program was going through a difficult patch. Unfortunately, a review of publicly available information validates my concern. Continue reading “Crunch Time for UofL Bone Marrow Transplantation Program.”

Why Is There Only One NCI Cancer Center in Louisville?

In Reporter Michael McKay’s account of the UofL Board meeting earlier this month when progress towards the University’s 2020 Plan was summarized, and when the post-fraud “Audit” was formally presented; President James Ramsey commented on the University’s failure to earn a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation for its James Graham Brown Cancer Center. Dr. Ramsey stated that it was unlikely that UofL would receive an NCI designation because the UK program is so close. (The Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky was designated as an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2013.) Dr. Ramsey is said to have implied that UofL had been in talks for some sort of “partnership” with UK before that institution went on its way alone. These comments sound more to me like excuses than explanations. I found nothing in the NCI application documents that would indicate that distance from another center would be a factor. Indeed, depth of collaborations with other research and clinical centers is highly desirable if not essential.

Continue reading “Why Is There Only One NCI Cancer Center in Louisville?”