by Gilles Frydman | Mar 23, 2009
This is the third post in the unfortunate series about conflicts of interest. You must be kiddin’! That’s all Scott Reuben, MD, the doctor Scientific American calls “a medical Madoff”, had to say after putting the last two handful of nails into...
by e-Patient Dave | Mar 19, 2009
Update 3/21: For easier reference, I’m editing this to incorporate some goodies from comments below. Here’s a little game that just might turn into something transformational. Since I started learning about this world of participatory medicine, I’ve...
by e-Patient Dave | Feb 25, 2009
Healthcare is complex. Worse, our healthcare delivery systems are immensely complex. Sometimes things go wrong. The long and difficult story below was submitted to me by a stalwart former member of my kidney cancer group on ACOR.org. I’m reproducing it here with...
by e-Patient Dave | Jan 18, 2009
This topic isn’t directly in our wheelhouse here in the e-patient movement (“empowered, engaged, equipped and enabled”), but as I continue one patient’s odyssey in learning about healthcare, a discussion on Paul Levy’s blog has taught me...
by Christine Gray | Jan 13, 2009
My quest for a second qualified opinion on an abnormal mammogram (microcalcifications) began in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Two days before the end of the year, a sharp surgical resident put an end to the spin. The solution was simple – and not high tech....
by Susannah Fox | Dec 29, 2008
This is the second in a series of posts about the California HealthCare Foundation’s Chronic Disease Care conference (the first was Happy Dogs in a Pile of Sticks). Patient Voices: Managing Chronic Conditions, Living our Lives Ted Eytan snapped a photo that captured...
by Christine Gray | Dec 27, 2008
Are women dying of cancer in the same way they die of heart disease, because physicians trivialize their complaints and they are powerless to get second opinions? How many decades has it taken for cardiologists, practitioners at the apex of medicine, to acknowledge...
by Christine Gray | Dec 23, 2008
Pass the Valium! Previously on e-Patients.net I recounted the crazy-making quest for a second opinion on an abnormal mammogram (microcalicifications) as per the advice of New York Times health columnist Jane E. Brody, a breast cancer survivor. The gynecologist who...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 5, 2008
This guest post is an article written by Lisa Neal Gualtieri, published in her local paper. It’s an example of widening distribution of principles and practices documented in the e-patient white paper. I’m grateful to Lisa for sharing these true stories of...
by Christine Gray | Dec 4, 2008
This is what I know about death. Admitted to a nursing home with a broken hip-dehydration, my ninety-eight-year-old grandmother awoke from a deep slumber, laughing and clapping her hands when my five-year-old daughter played the violin. A week later she had a stroke...
by Christine Gray | Nov 6, 2008
In October I recounted how my daughter was put through a spin cycle of referrals and medical misdiagnosis that nearly got her killed. The lump on her forearm that looked like a cyst was instead a deadly cancer. The nightmare began at the local radiology practice,...
by e-Patient Dave | Oct 28, 2008
Where have we heard this story before? A friend of mine slipped on the sidewalk recently and broke her hip. She had surgery in one of the best hospitals in the country. But it [wasn’t their staff, it] was her grown daughter who noticed that she was having an...
by Christine Gray | Oct 20, 2008
Gina Kolata’s must-read article, “The Scan That Didn’t Scan,” in last week’s Science Times points out vast differences in the quality of MRIs as well as vast differences in the expertise of the radiologists who interpret them. Patients...
by Gilles Frydman | Oct 18, 2008
50 Ways To Squeeze Value From Your Healthcare Dollar Without Killing Yourself. An interesting list from one of the main websites specialized in frugal living. There is not much about patient empowerment but there are many interesting bits of advice. The comments...
by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. | Oct 15, 2008
Yesterday, RocketBoom founder Andrew Baron took to the blogosphere to round up support in his efforts to get a rare drug approved for use in treating his father. His father was diagnosed with a very bad form of cancer called multiple myeloma and his dad’s doctor...
by Susannah Fox | Oct 6, 2008
Andrew Schorr’s recent comment also merits a separate post: I am a 12-year leukemia survivor and very grateful to the ACOR community members who helped me numerous times along the way. I have dedicated my life to creating community online and also, in a...
by Susannah Fox | Oct 3, 2008
Christine Gray’s comments on the New York Times open thread merit a separate post (updated on 10/7/2008): Five years ago, when many pediatric hospitals were unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge the capacities of online medical support groups, my...
by e-Patient Dave | Sep 27, 2008
Update: voting ends midnight EDT Monday 9/29. Great post Friday on John Halamka’s GeekDoctor blog. It’s about GlobalCures, an entry in MembersProject, an American Express contest that has $2.5 million in prizes for proposals to make a positive change in...
by e-Patient Dave | Aug 7, 2008
I’m delighted to present a guest post from cancer patient Monique Doyle Spencer, whose husband found the henna relief for hand-foot syndrome we mentioned yesterday. She is a stitch. To me she’s about as empowered as they get, but she says she’s...
by e-Patient Dave | Aug 6, 2008
Update 8/9/08: Monique posted the detailed instructions she uses at the blog she started for Xeloda side effects. Monique Doyle Spencer, author of the fabulous book The Courage Muscle: A Chicken’s Guide to Living with Breast Cancer, is on Xeloda, and is...
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