Commentary by Shrujal Baxi MD, NYU Chief Resident
One of the first things you learn about critically analyzing a medical journal piece is to go to the end and see who sponsored the study. Corporate financing is known to have subtle effects on research which can lead to an unconscious bias. Disclosure of funding is paramount for a researcher in order to remain above reproach.
In a recent New York Times article, the impact of such relationships is investigated. In 2006, Dr.…
Commentary by Parul Gandhi MD, PGY-2
Bad news can be defined as “Situations where there is either a feeling of no hope, a threat to a person’s mental or physical well-being, a risk of upsetting an established lifestyle, or where a message is given which conveys to an individual fewer choices in his or her life.”(1)
As residents, we spend our time caring for patients and their families. Despite all of our valiant efforts, though, there are times when we must deliver…
Commentary by Vlad Fridman MD, PGY-3
Futility is a topic which has been debated since the beginning of modern medicine. In Hippocratic times, medical practitioners were called upon to serve three purposes: cure, comfort, and refuse to treat those who were overmastered by illness. (1) The distinction was much clearer when things like CPR, ventilators, and dialysis machines were not yet available. These and other life-sustaining/saving medical techniques have blurred the line of when a person is “overmastered by illness” making it…
Commentary by Shrujal Baxi MD, Ethics Section Editor, and Joseph Lowy MD, Medical Director, Palliative Care Service at NYU Hospital
Mrs. Pleasant is an 85 year old woman brought into the ER by her son for poor appetite. Mrs. P is demented secondary to progressive Alzheimer’s disease and has had 3 hospitalizations in the last year for pneumonia, possibly related to aspiration. Upon physical exam, she is oriented to herself, but is unable to provide any other information. She denies pain and appears to…
Commentary by Sean Cavanaugh MD, Associate Editor, Clinical Correlations
Most doctors are aware that Domestic Violence, or Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), is a serious health care issue, but the statistics are still startling to most of us. Some surveys have reported that IPV affects up to 30% of women and up to 7.5% of men. These numbers are highly variable and depend on the type of survey being conducted and the population being surveyed. Actual report-statistics of IPV are widely acknowledged as…
A 76 year old man with a history of coronary artery disease, diabetes and hypertension was brought in by his wife with two days of lethargy, slurred speech and right arm weakness. On presentation, the patient was awake and intermittently involved in conversation. He was afebrile, with a pulse of 90 and blood pressure of 166/98 His exam was remarkable for dysarthria, orientation only to person, pinpoint pupils, left sided tongue deviation, 3/5 motor strength in the right upper extremity, 4/5 motor strength…
