Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Why is the show called Monday Mornings when the conferences happen at random times?


Quick first impressions of TNT's new medical drama "Monday Mornings" (Monday nights at 10p/9p central)...


http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TNT/Images/i108/mm_home_main_slide03.pngIT'S LIKE AN ONLINE RANT IN ALL CAPITALS!!!!!!! The rapid-fire death and calamity makes me wonder if Fast & Furious 6 might seem a bit quiet by comparison.

Monday, February 04, 2013

Who cares if TNT's "Monday Mornings" isn't realistic?

TNT's new drama "Monday Mornings" (about the grillings doctors can get in peer reviews of complications and errors) is just a TV show, right? Yes, but...

My first book comparing a medical TV show to reality, The Medical Science of House, M.D., got some strong, even unprintable, reactions. So when I returned with House, M.D. vs. Reality, I thought about those responses... and why we should care about fictional portrayals of health care:

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013

Inaugurations & Uninsured - Four Years Later


On Inauguration Day 2009, I watched the ceremony and parade from an operating room. On the table was a woman without health care insurance who had delayed treatment for fear of bankrupting her family.



http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_img_full/image/image_file/p012013lj-0022_1_0.jpg
whitehouse.gov
As some monitors displayed a bulging mass pushing aside organs in the patient's abdomen, other screens showed the then-new President, Barack Obama, taking his oath and watching the parade. As the surgeons and nurses worked to help one woman without health care coverage, some of them donating their time, the plight of millions of other people in similar situations was on their minds.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The media are influential... on everyone else, say Alzheimer's specialists


A new survey of dementia specialists caught my eye for two reasons.


One, most said they intend to use a newly-approved $3000 test for anyloid deposits in the brain, even though they concede the results can be misleading (for instance, while a lack of amyloid found on this test means a person probably doesn't have Alzheimer's, many people have the deposts, but not Alzheimer's, so the meaning of a positive result is unclear).

Two, half of them "felt media coverage of testing would influence whether amyloid imaging became commonly used in clinical practice." But not a single respondent (0 of 135) "felt their decision to use amyloid imaging would be influenced by media coverage."