December 2014

FECKLESS

Feckless By Leonard Zwelling          First, a small apology. Some of you know that I have been an in-patient at Hermann after some pretty major surgery on December 9 and am just crawling back to the keyboard.          Second, I have been wanting to write this one for a long, long time and I believe

FECKLESS Read More »

In the Race for an Elusive Metric of Medical Quality, Are High Hospital Readmission Rates Really Valid Reflections of Poor Quality?

In the Race for an Elusive Metric of Medical Quality, Are High Hospital Readmission Rates Really Valid Reflections of Poor Quality? By Leonard Zwelling          By now, we all know the mantra. Health care reform means lowering costs, improving access and improving quality. This should not be mistaken for what the ACA is. It is

In the Race for an Elusive Metric of Medical Quality, Are High Hospital Readmission Rates Really Valid Reflections of Poor Quality? Read More »

TORTURE

Torture By Leonard Zwelling          There really wasn’t a whole lot new in the Senate report on enhanced interrogation techniques used by the US CIA against our enemies in a non-declared war in Afghanistan and other sites. Many people behaved badly and though there is some debate about whether these inhuman methods unearthed any actionable

TORTURE Read More »

Bonnie, Bette, Cyndi, Rosanne, and Me: My Intimate Relationships With Four Pop Music Goddesses

Bonnie, Bette, Cyndi, Rosanne, and Me: My Intimate Relationships With Four Pop Music Goddesses By Leonard Zwelling          Those who know me well know a few invariables about me. I love my wife, would never dream of having a close relationship with another woman, and haven’t since I met her, even in the lonely days

Bonnie, Bette, Cyndi, Rosanne, and Me: My Intimate Relationships With Four Pop Music Goddesses Read More »

One Reason the Faculty Are Ignored : Leadership Acts Like It Is Acceptable To Do So

One Reason the Faculty Are Ignored : Leadership Acts Like It Is Acceptable To Do So  By Leonard Zwelling http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/opinion/sunday/adam-grant-and-sheryl-sandberg-on-discrimination-at-work.html?ref=opinion&_r=0          In this short op-ed in Sunday’s (Dec 7) NY Times, Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton School at Penn and Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, write about real research into the nature

One Reason the Faculty Are Ignored : Leadership Acts Like It Is Acceptable To Do So Read More »

Oh Medicine, My Medicine

Oh Medicine, My Medicine By Leonard Zwelling (For the late, great Dr. Bruce W. Dixon, a great mentor to hippie interns) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/health/private-oncologists-being-forced-out-leaving-patients-to-face-higher-bills.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A9%22%7D&_r=0          This is one of many articles published of late that addresses the issue of cancer drug costs and prices or reimbursement rates (There’s a difference. The cost is what the doc pays,

Oh Medicine, My Medicine Read More »