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Index 2000: Letters to the Editor

Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec - 2001

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Dec. 25

• Many insurers won't pay for colorectal cancer screening
• American Cancer Society guidelines reported incorrectly
• U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines also reported incorrectly
• Add abortion to list of things a physician should not participate in

Dec. 18

• Like a single-payer system? Check out England's waiting times
• Canada proves single-payer's faults
• Government, not physicians, should pay for medical interpreters
• Report both sides of debate on global warming

Dec. 11

• More should have been done earlier to redirect scarce flu vaccine
• Health system problems rooted in reliance on third-party payers
• C.R.A.C.K. program allows addicts to make a constructive choice
• System hinders primary care doctors screening for colorectal cancer

Dec. 4

• AMA president-elect: HealthCarePro Connect empowers physicians

Nov. 27

• Advice from a doctor who did: "Throw off the chains" of third-party payers
• Samples can be a lifeline for patients
• The "killer app" for doctors is likely to be mobile
• It will take time for doctors to adopt and adapt to the Internet

Nov. 20

• Drug sample ban "yet another step taken against physician autonomy"
• Sample ban hurts patients
• The cure for case review: A quick insult followed by hanging up
• Medicine now just a job; we're all just cogs in the machine

Nov. 13

• Banning free drug samples is not the simple solution it appears to be
• Patients should be notified when physician leaves a group practice
• Single-payer system is likely the best path to universal coverage
• E&M documentation requires physicians to "act again as novice medical students"
• Medical students get on the SCHIP

Nov. 6

• Academy president: There are three obstacles to up-to-date pain control
• How should doctors bill for services? Follow the example that lawyers set
• To find killer app, look deep into how physicians practice

Oct. 23/30

• HMOs don't have to file antitrust lawsuits when FTC does it for them
• "Yes, we are 'undercoding' "
• "Lawsuits against firearms manufacturers are ridiculous"

Oct. 16

• State eager to act against angry doctor, but not solve the real problem
• Internalizing anger at HMOs can take a toll
• Why doctors undercode
• Include herbal use in patient history

Oct. 9

• U.S. Pharmacopeia is setting standards for dietary supplements
• "When adults stop being violent, children will no longer feel the need to learn violence"
• Not all doctors play by CME rules

Oct. 2

• "Medicare terrorism" is why physicians undercode
• Stress relief: Imagine punching bag is a managed care administrator
• Laws that allow for saying "sorry" signal how bad system has become
• Insurers will rise to challenge of zero tolerance on late payment

Sept. 25

• Physician and wife face future -- with advance directives in hand
• No sleep lost over a schmoozing, lobbying pharmaceutical industry
• Don't scapegoat drug companies

Sept. 18

• Hospitals dropping HMOs could be cure to managed care pressure on medicine
• Office based e-health systems effective, even as Web ones lag
• Message in buy-backs
• Nursing shortage could be averted by use of nursing technicians

Sept. 11

• Forgiveness essential to healing profession
• The gut has a "powerful role in influencing systemic health"
• Don't trust HMO group's offer
• Don't ignore a request for hormone therapy simply because it is the patient who requests it

Sept. 4

• Transplant coordinators want to work with physicians to increase donations
• Article should have pointed out ethical concerns on physician-run day spas
• Participation in executions is collusion with "judicial murder"
• "Feeding tube" creates false image

Aug. 28

• Boot the OSHA inspector
• Consumer group: Profiling legislation "a step in the right direction"
• "Medicare has improved the quality of life for every beneficiary"

Aug. 21

• Physicians are being "driven," not "enticed," into retirement
• There are limits on CME credit from writing, teaching, board certification
• Supreme Court ruling on late-term abortion a new low
• New specialty for doctors who sell
• Court was right to limit EMTALA

Aug. 14

• Christian Scientists: Can we agree at least on spirituality and health?
• Constitution does not mandate separation of church and state

Aug. 7

• 34,000 pages down, 76,000 to go
• Physicians do have proper role in capital punishment

July 31

• Some uninsured can pay for care, but help is needed for those who can't
• Who will help those uninsured without financial resources?
• Don't say "drug" when you mean "medication"
• It is time to expose the enormous waste in our health care system

July 24

• It's managed cost, not managed care
• IPAs also practice harmful deselection
• The case for board certification in primary care
• Sterilization destroys normal function

July 10/17

• Some abuse spirit of disability law
• Solution for uninsured: Give provider a tax break for uncompensated care
• Give doctors tax credits when they absorb the cost of ADA rules
• Insurers undermine parity law to discriminate against psychiatrists

July 3

• The uninsured? There aren't enough of them
• Proposed legislation would provide defibrillators for rural areas
• Complex forces cause IPA failures
• A threat to get the state involved helps in getting claims paid

June 26

• Government betrayed GIs
• Doctor and patients happier after opting out of Medicare

June 19

• Medical informatics specialists are denied leadership roles

June 12

• Marketing not key to doctors' future
• Beware unregulated herbal care

June 5

• Physicians tolerate treatment by lawmakers that others would not
• Small-town setting keeps this family practice alive and well
• It's primary care, not unneeded care

May 22/29

• Congress should unhinder medical savings accounts
• Don't assume physician extenders are not qualified to prescribe
• Medicare's single-payer solution works well for patients and physicians
• Tired of HCFA fraud rhetoric? Consider opting out of Medicare
• Hemlock Society: Physician not needed in assisted suicide

May 15

• It's time for a specialist in men's health -- the andrologist
• Don't claim skills are equivalent between PAs and physicians
• Disingenuous to pretend that PA care equals that of a physician

May 8

• Pay issues must be addressed honestly in health system debate
• AMA should stay away from technology ventures
• Don't open data bank
• Focus on rebuilding medical team, not on error-reporting policies
• No to universal health insurance coverage, yes to a free market
• Paper or electronic, all medical records require protection

May 1

• Take television cameras out of the emergency department
• Concern over drug reps targeting PAs is "unwarranted and premature"
• Drug reps give PAs useful information
• Don't forget emergency department's role in health care safety net
• American medicine R.I.P.

April 24

• Montana Medical Assn.: We support Dr. Vargo
• Reject masochistic role in health care
• Little to learn from humiliation

April 17

• Where will incentive disclosure end?
• Patients should know how contracts affect care and physicians should be the ones to tell them
• To cut prescription errors, drugs should have a name and a number
• Letter criticizing PAs was "alarming and inflammatory"
• Long overdue paycheck makes Medicare claims sound hollow

April 10

• AMA Young Physicians Section took a leadership role in the fight against limiting hospital privileges
• Hospital privilege restrictions keep patients from seeing doctor of choice
• Consultant got it all wrong about physician "gravy train"
• Examine credibility of Institute of Medicine report on patient safety
• Physicians should stop taking on role of drug plan administrator

April 3

• Indiana's share of tobacco fund to go toward health care, not "up in smoke"
• What's a level-four visit? One physician explains how he codes and, just as key, how he documents
• Embattled doctor's colleague: Dr. Vargo passed regular audits for cost effectiveness and efficiency

March 27

• "Tort reform needs to be a top priority in health care"
• It's a rough world in medicine; get used to possibility of bruised ego
• Report on future of pediatric education sought wide input, not just views of a single organization
• Teen STAR: Condoms are not the only way to prevent premarital pregnancy
• Unimpressed by British poll placing NHS as top achievement
• Whistle-blowing rewarded, but not physicians who put patients first

March 20

• PAs are not seeking to take over role of physicians in patient care
• Simple and free cancer screening test exists in form of the "MVROCST"
• Care compromised by PA sites only remotely supervised by physicians
• Tired of health plan telephone troubles? Bill plans for lost time

March 13

• Computers work. So when will doctors get the message?
• Nonphysicians are simply not qualified to prescribe
• Physicians have valid reason to bring own staff along to hospital
• Next time just skip the Bill Clinton photo (and Al Gore, too)
• What New Jersey Society president really meant by "real doctor"

March 6

• Does "ER" raise wrong expectations about who can be saved?
• This physician staying with managed care in order to help patients

Feb. 28

• New flu drugs not really needed to take on the A strain
• A nurse practitioner responds to physicians who cite quality concerns over independent practice
• Two letters sound sour notes on how to approach era of change

Feb. 21

• The physician role in primary care is slipping away
• Anesthesiologists were first to establish patient safety foundation
• Start a practice for $20,000? You could in 1983
• Physician freebies are also a drain on the health care system

Feb. 14

• IOM: AMNews erred when describing our position on preventive care
• mportant to enjoy life and medical practice on a daily basis
• A 37-minute lesson on how health plans should not handle a call

Feb. 7

• "Assisted suicide is a matter of individual conscience"
• Physicians must demand "what is scientifically and morally right" and reject expediency
• There are several paths to managed care's "doctor hell"

Jan. 31

• Limits on coverage undermine the value of medical savings accounts
• Looking back fondly over 20 years of service in AMA house
• CPR missing a beat on "ER"
• "Entrepreneur physicians" to blame for scope of practice problem

Jan. 24

• Care should be supervised by allopathic or osteopathic physician
• Question prescriptions that are illegible or nonsensical
• Likely byproducts of safety report will be more bureaucracy, less care

Jan. 17

• An 81-hour work week for surgical residents? Not very likely, based on his experience
• Too much potential for physician labs to serve interests of the doctor and not of the patient
• "Paperwork has become more important than the human being"

Jan. 3/10

• Medical savings account well worth the effort required to set up a plan
• Too many medications on too-messy prescription

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In 2008, 88 patients in Oregon received lethal prescriptions, and 60 died after ingesting the drugs. Read more

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