This news is not completely unexpected. I was thinking about Krauthammer the other day, who has had undisclosed but obviously serious health problems for almost a year, and wondering how he might be and when we might be hearing from … Continue reading →
There have been two suicides of prominent celebrities in the news in the past few days: Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. I’ll talk about them a bit later in this post, but I want to start with something more general—this … Continue reading →
One can hope. Regular readers of this blog may recall that I’ve written several times about sepsis. It’s a topic I really knew nothing about until I lost a loved one to it, and then I lost another. They both … Continue reading →
Yes, I’ve noticed all the talk about HIllary’s odd covered-up garb and whether she’s wearing a back brace underneath. Lately, her sartorial choices feature a lot of heavy garments and drapes and scarves, and there’s a bulge near the top … Continue reading →
It’s because I’m too introspective. Introspection is a no-no for extreme athletes, according to this article on the subject. Oh, there are a few other reasons, too. One is that I’m not crazy, and another is that I don’t like … Continue reading →
This article about how head injuries sometimes (although very very rarely) lead to savant powers made me think (once again) of the Jorge Luis Borges story “Funes, the Memorious.” Fortunately, the work appears in its entirety online, so if you … Continue reading →
I was away in New York for a few days and came back last night with a cold. So this morning I canceled a bunch of things I was supposed to do and just crawled back into bed, hunkering down. … Continue reading →
Basically, it was part of the anti-vaccine hysteria. Where I live, Lyme disease is a very real possibility if you go outside in the countryside or even suburbia. People have to dress with great care to avoid it, and I … Continue reading →
The true costs are mostly hidden: Let’s start with how much Canadians actually pay. The OECD arrives at its figures by the hopelessly simplistic method of dividing a nation’s total health care expenditure by its population. Thus, Canadians pay about … Continue reading →
I’m so old I can remember when you had to wash and dry lettuce by hand. What a pain in the neck that was. Then came a fabulous invention: the salad spinner. Salad spinners may seem pretty primitive to you … Continue reading →
Like Charlie Gard before him, British toddler Alfie Evan’s situation highlights not just questions of medical ethics, but the power of the state over the individual. I wrote about Charlie here. Alfie Evans’ situation differs in some details, but it’s … Continue reading →
This is an important and sobering article about brain function. Here’s an excerpt: At TIRR, [Kothari, an assistant professor of rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine] estimates nine out of 10 patients who come to him with a vegetative label … Continue reading →