Second Opinion

Preliminary studies suggest that for at least some people high stress jobs can cause harm to DNA.

What we seem to have lost in our discussions on health care is bipartisan moral compass to tackle some wicked problems. 

Why can’t we be as committed to providing all evidence-based health care to Americans as we are to caring for those with end stage renal disease?

Do we want health professionals to dress similarly, just as flight attendants, or should attire be an individual choice?

When people feel sick from minor illnesses, an ambulance and a trip to the ED is not in their best interest nor is it in the best interest of the public.

Know how much a medical service costs could be important in making medical decisions.  But, new regulations that require this information be provided to the public have created databases that are simply unusable.    

When sick and needing surgery do patients want to make decisions themselves or have an expert make the decision?

Improved work-life balance is an important goal, but do workplace wellness programs help us live healthier more balanced lives?

Long grueling work hours and pharmaceutical gifts are still part of medical training.

Medical decisions are complex and we often rely on our values and preferences rather than exclusively on the science.

By messing with the largest and one of the highest functioning health care systems in the nation we are putting our vet’s health at risk.     

Woman’s bodies have long been proxy for politician’s power and control – often under the guise of “morality”. Today access to pregnancy termination is in the news, but before that it was contraceptives.

T he data on serious mental illness is surprising and we do not have an adequate response to address the problem.  

This week has been a bad one for woman's reproductive rights and the health care providers who care for them. 

While ordering genetic tests directly from a company seeks to empower patients and puts them in control of their own health data, the test results that are returned are often confusing and leads the person to make incorrect assumptions about their health risks.

When it error occurs it’s easy to blame an individual but its often important to looks at systems causes.

Some experts claim America needs more doctors -- what is far clearer is that we need different doctors practicing in different locations working with different communities

Social psychologists and economists are working from all sides to figure out how to change doctors' prescribing behaviors, but it is not always about what’s best for patients.

Past reasons that people suffered in silence, including stigma and price, are changing meaning more options to assist those with hearing loss.

No longer is being average acceptable.

There’s lots we still don’t know about older antidepressants and now were starting the process all over with an entire new class of drugs.

It behooves us to approach problems with a systems based orientation.

Medical Professionals unconsciously hold biases and stereotypes that impact the care they provide to different type of people.

For a variety of different controlled drugs, such as opioids and stimulants, prescriptions are more common in majority white areas. What is the impact of this disparity?

S exually transmitted diseases and mesentaric adenitis.