When I published Notes from the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One’s End of Life Hospitalization in 2008 I included a chapter with proposals for medical system reform. Among them was something I called Communication Algorithms: Physician-scientists are trained in and use “decision trees” to arrive at diagnoses. The series of if/else questions is referred […]
I’m attending my first IHI/Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference. Along with 49 other “patient activists” I’ve been invited to attend as a guest of IHI in its inaugural outreach to citizens who have felt compelled to act to help all of us overcome medical error, safety lapses, and provider-centered treatment (distinct from patient-centered care). In […]
I’m driving through Wyoming, and the trip has gotten weird. Four months ago my soon-to-be 21-year-old daughter’s cute-Ute second-generation Rav4 got rear-ended and totaled on I-70 west of Denver. Now I’m headed back to Colorado’s Front Range, this time in a larger, third-gen Rav4. The market’s better for buyers in the Salt Lake corridor, Utah’s […]
In yesterday afternoon’s HARO (www.HelpAReporterOut) list I learned of Susanna Speier’s Huffington Post column, Politiku. Politikus are hiku’s (3-line Japanese poems or stanzas with a 5-syllable, 7-syllable, 5-syllable structure) focusing on all things political. Speier put out a HARO call for health care reform politikus. Right up my alley (I write poetry in addition to […]
Coupla nights ago I attended an evening hosted by the Boulder-based Men’s Leadership Alliance at the Boulder Shambala Center. Topic: dying and death. Attended by a mixed-gender group comprised of 20-somethings to 70-somethings. This was an interesting mix of people! I was curious as to what might transpire (I’m familiar with, tho not schooled in, […]
Some years ago I went to a concert by legendary Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin. I had an aisle seat near the stage. Two-thirds through the show Bobby came down into the hall with his wireless mic, approached an audience member, and engaged in an improvisational duet, leading his mate in vocalizing whatever riff […]
December 2010: Preface to this post, 1 1/2 years later What follows is, in part, a snide and angry post. It’s raw. In a Be Nice world, it’s risky of me to post it and keep it posted. The sorts of occurrences that give rise to patient advocacy are fueled at their outset by anger. That’s the […]
Yesterday Terry Gross (Fresh Air on NPR radio stations) hosted Dr. Robert Martensen, a well-rounded ED doc and bioethicist who’s authored a book about reforming how we approach dying and death: A Life Worth Living. Having read an array of books on end-of-life matters including a number by providers, Dr. R’s comments and viewpoints are […]
INAUGURAL BLOG POST: This weekend I attended the Colorado Independent Publishers Association annual College—the annual brain dump, er, conference. Saturday’s closing session, by distant past President Kenn Amdahl, titled My Obsession Your Obsession, was brilliant. A melange/collage of thought and expression, Kenn spoke over/while playing guitar, resurrecting and interpreting 200 year old unearthed Irish folk […]
