Elisabeth Potter, MD, is a breast reconstruction surgeon based in Austin, Texas, who's become an unexpected voice in the fight for insurance reform. In January, while performing her third breast reconstruction surgery of the day, Potter was interrupted in the operating room with a message from an insurer questioning the necessity of the patient's hospital stay.
In the noble pursuit of healing, physicians, especially those in pain clinics, are increasingly caught between the growing burden of patient expectations and a tightening web of regulatory scrutiny.
Melissa Geraghty, PsyD, a clinical health psychologist at the US Department of Defense, developed unexplained episodes of lower body paralysis at the age of 34. “I was told [by healthcare professionals] that it was ‘just anxiety.’ Throughout my life, I had been experiencing chronic pain and other odd symptoms but was told they were ‘all in my head,’” she said in an interview.
Gabapentin prescriptions for chronic back pain were linked to higher dementia and cognitive impairment risk. Risks were especially high for chronic back pain patients ages 35 to 64.
A surgeon and an anesthesiologist admitted to playing a game of music bingo during a routine cataract surgery that resulted in a patient’s death.
You may not have realized it yet, but we are full-on in the era of biofeedback. I remember a few years ago when my smartwatch started reporting on my heart rate variability during sleep.
One of the most important—and least discussed—truths in medicine is this: Feeling inadequate in medicine isn’t rare. It’s everywhere—quiet, lingering, relentless.
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