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Index 2004: Letters to the Editor

Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec - 2003 - 2005

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Dec. 27

• Consider longer residencies to reduce long hours and the errors they cause
• Want zero errors? Try zero residents
• Large group practice can have edge in providing patient-friendly services

Dec. 20

• Ophthalmology academy president: Scope-of-practice crisis threatens quality, and Okla. is on the front line

Dec. 13

• Illinois State Medical Society a leader in barring physician participation in executions
• Want a cheap, practical and universal EMR system? Ask for MOM
• Physicians were once "captains of the ship" but now routinely face defiance

Dec. 6

• Preauthorization ploy promises safety and savings but delivers hassles
• Advice to bright students: Don't go into clinical medicine nowadays
• Turn off the waiting room TV

Nov. 22/29

• Medicare management chief: Nearly all caller queries answered correctly
• Blaming the disruptive doctor ignores the causes of physician frustration
• "Walk in" cure for no-shows

Nov. 15

• AAOMS president: Most oral surgeons with medical degrees received their training in accredited programs

Nov. 8

• EMR goal should go beyond practice aid to extensive tool for patient care
• Make VA electronic medical record systems available to all physicians
• Doctors should respect the demands put on nurses' time and attention

Nov. 1

• KEMPAC: AMNews readers were misled on Senate candidate Dr. Mongiardo

Oct. 25

• Tax incentives for physicians would be effective in providing care for indigent
• FP recertification test lacks focus on what front-line doctors need to know
• If immaturity should preclude execution, then apply same standard to adolescent abortion decision
• Verdict a victory against sham review

Oct. 18

• Some doctors may lack manners, but also gone is respect they once enjoyed
• Is the AMA at long last ready to condemn all capital punishment?

Oct. 11

• Calif. approach on pain medication good for doctors and law enforcement
• Erectile dysfunction drug ads prompt abstinence from prescribing

Oct. 4

• Remembering Dr. Kubler-Ross as a pioneer in modern palliative care
• Certificate-of-need laws hamper physicians looking to expand services

Sept. 27

• Pay for e-mail consults? Consider insurers' history on dodging reimbursement for phone calls
• EMRs are yet another unfunded mandate aimed at physicians
• Gingrich's vision for electronic medical records spells trouble for physicians
• FPs interested in sleep medicine subspecialty should speak out

Sept. 20

• Reduce medical errors by identifying and modifying risk factors
• Blur of complicated mounds of medical records can lead to errors from lost information

Sept. 13

• Push for electronic medical records developing into yet another hassle for primary care physicians
• Gingrich's EMR vision raises questions of price, standardization and cost
• Paper kills? That tears it

Sept. 6

• Key ruling defined psychotherapist's role in averting patient's violent acts
• Gingrich's vision of EMR software priced at $105 is a fantasy

Aug. 23/30

• Edwards as VP would be a powerful ally to the opponents of tort reform
• Doctors would do better with a Kerry-Edwards victory in November
• Withholding dues to protest groups not standing up to government

Aug. 16

• Clock watching by residents shifts time burden to attending physicians
• Federal law protects volunteers
• Low-tech reforms would free physicians to treat the uninsured
• OSMA: Okla. now has two liability caps

Aug. 9

• Physicians have EMR wish list for health information technology czar
• Look beyond tempting SUV tax loophole
• Drug companies' reimportation resistance rooted in wrong attitude
• Time to rethink sleep apnea

Aug. 2

• IOM should study whether electronic medical records are worth perusing
• State societies wrong in attempts to judge expert witnesses
• Price regulation will decisively settle issue of drug reimportation

July 26

• The AMA should back movement to collect liability surcharges
• Liability surcharges will be seen as a physician "money grab"
• Use medical savings accounts to take back medicine from insurers, HMOs

July 19

• Practice guidelines a good antidote to forces of self-interest in medicine
• Okla. tort reforms not quite so rosy
• Public financing central to solving problem of the uninsured
• Tax credits must be paired with requirement to purchase coverage

July 12

• There are plenty of reasons why physicians should join the AMA
• Tax credit plan not market-based
• Tax credit plan not right for many
• Global tobacco treaty a chance for U.S. to demonstrate goodwill

July 5

• Better ways to address self-referral than impugning integrity of physicians
• Anthem contract clause underscores weak bargaining position of physicians

June 28

• One solution to liability crisis: Go bare everywhere
• OSHA offers guidance on avoiding needlestick injury
• Heavy-handed medical boards increase defensiveness among physicians

June 21

• Kennedy: The Senate should pass error reporting bill immediately
• Clinical skills exam not yet ready for prime time
• Physicians should cut the jokes, concentrate on good communication and being on time

June 14

• In calculating return on investment from educational costs, law and business trump medicine
• There is a place for humor in medical crisis situations

June 7

• Concierge-model practices may deliver better care while cutting costs
• Entrepreneurial imaging centers raise important issues about self-referral

May 24/31

• Physicians provide the counterpoint when hospitals too tempted by profits
• Hospitals are right to protect their viability to serve overall community
• Prescriber intimidation study underscores whistle-blower's role
• Pay for obesity prevention now or get bigger bill later for chronic diseases

May 17

• CMA doesn't speak for all its members on "partial-birth abortion" law
• State laws give patients options when applying advance directives

May 10

• Will genetic testing become the basis for a new caste system?
• Tax credits for health insurance not in sync with realities of low-income life
• "Gold" and "green" roads provide best paths for open access to journals

May 3

• Report puts added demands on already beleaguered family physicians
• Want to ensure family practice's future? Cut the hours, up the pay
• Bariatric surgery is only recourse for some patients and it must be covered
• ACGME: "Credible evidence" will drive any changes to work-hour limits

April 26

• Pay-for-quality concept deserves to be judged on its merits
• Take forward-looking approach in reducing nursing home liability risk
• 20 years without liability coverage

April 19

• Educate public about liability lottery -- before jury service begins
• Scope-of-practice fair play: Let paralegals practice law
• Embryonic stem cell research at odds with "Do no harm"

April 12

• Detailer visits long on numbers, short on good information
• HIV medicine academy opposes price increase for Norvir
• AMNews used the wrong word in reporting liability trial verdict

April 5

• Editorial was naive in arguing for absolute immunity in peer review
• Delays a sign of Medicare breakdown
• Serious consequences of making morning-after pill "as available as cough syrup"

March 22/29

• Pharmaceutical gift reporting is an example of intolerable micromanagement
• Drug company gifts should be low priority given medicine's challenges
• Physicians aren't what they used to be -- neither is a life in medicine

March 15

• U.S. report wrong in connecting tort reform to insurance premiums
• Realistic view of teen sex supports access to emergency contraception
• Problems of modern medical life prove younger doctors' dedication

March 8

• Many younger physicians less willing to get out of bed at 2 a.m.
• Superhero-style dedication not the only way to practice good medicine
• Work force planning requires looking at both the number and distribution of physicians
• Primary care doctors need to ask patients about restless leg syndrome

March 1

• Senior physician survey not a true reflection of younger colleagues' dedication
• Physicians can be put in difficult situations when parents refuse immunizations
• When speaking of transplant success stories, don't leave out developments with corneas

Feb. 23

• Diminished commitment can be traced to profession's diminished rewards
• Physician attitudes and work habits are changing, but then so is medicine
• Physician wellness under assault during residency

Feb. 16

• Drop current medical tort system in favor of arbitration boards
• Absurd tort system pushes physicians to countersue

Feb. 9

• Reduce problem of uninsured Americans through a volunteer medical corps
• Children and adolescents should not have access to morning-after pill
• Cultural competence and communications skills are best learned in practice

Feb. 2

• Government list of physician pay doesn't ring true to experience
• Let doctors deduct value of their unpaid time spent treating uninsured
• Medical tort system, compensation funds are answer to liability crisis

Jan. 26

• Show of hands suggests why to expect a physician shortage
• Violence and abuse are problems as significant as cancer or diabetes and must be addressed
• Alternative to interpreter mandate: Patients can learn to speak English, as others have for centuries

Jan. 19

• All physicians and medical students should write advance directives
• It's time to examine best approaches to physician-dentist collaboration
• AMA meetings helped this physician scale all 50 state high points

Jan. 12

• ECFMG: Quality controls ensure clinical skills exam is sound, reliable
• Happy to have left behind corporate practice for rural Minnesota
• Billing and coding are squeezing what must come first -- patient care

Jan. 5

• Med mal rate article does not reflect the reality of practice in Richmond
• Sample logs not a hassle, rather they are a patient safety measure

Last year's letters - Back to top

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