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Dr. Reuben deeply regrets that this happened!

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...

Let’s hear it for the d-patient e-patients. :-)

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...

Participatory medicine might have reduced this tragedy

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...

In the Spin III: The Smart Resident

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....

Patient Voices at CHCF’s Chronic Disease Care Conference

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...

In the Spin II: You and Your Billing Code

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...

Internet diagnoses: Trust them or toss them?

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...

How We Die

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...

In the Spin: Death by Referral

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,...

Wall Street Journal goes e-Patient

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...

All MRIs Are Not Created Equal

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...

Extending Your Healthcare Dollar

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...

Blogging to Save a Father’s Life

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...

Patient Power: Andrew Schorr

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...

Please vote for GlobalCures

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...

Monique tells why she doesn’t see herself as “e”

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...

e-Patient finds henna relief for Hand-Foot Syndrome

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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