12/7/2012 For the GP who emailed me that he hated medicine, I had some final advice: I told him to get his children involved and hire some help for the chores. When he said he couldn't afford it, I pointed out that a divorce would cost him half his assets, plus alimony. Lawyer's fees are $300 per hour—much dearer than the guy who cuts the grass.
11/21/2012 In my last blog I spoke of a doctor who hated medicine. Working long hours and constantly running late were making him stressed and unhappy. For starters, I asked him to phone me at a time when he and I had an hour to talk.
11/15/2012 I recently had a doctor from northern Canada email me saying he had lost the joy of being a doctor. He was 10 years post-graduation and used to love his job as a family physician in a mid-sized city, working with 30 colleagues. Now he is just going through the motions. He can barely pull himself out of bed every morning and dreads the hospital and worse, his office.
11/8/2012 I have been an expert witness in more than 200 malpractice cases. Here are some tips to avoid ending up in court.
10/26/2012 Here is a good handout for your seniors who are starting to wobble before their wheels fall off. My handout is also available to download.
10/18/2012 Your secretary/office assistant/administrator is your number one ally in treating patients and running your office efficiently. Here are some tips to help with hiring and retaining this all-important staff member.
10/5/2012 As snowbirds get ready to fly south to escape another cold, dark Canadian winter, they are buying health insurance to avoid being bankrupted by the American system. So if they come in for a blood pressure check and it’s up, they will often say, "Don't change my meds or I can't get insurance."
9/28/2012 Here are a few things I have learned about seniors and their care over the past 40 years of dealing with them. They make up half of my general practice of 1,400 patients. I care for patients in two nursing homes and I have a 93-year-old mom in a retirement home, a 91-year-old mother-in-law in her own home and a 94-year-old uncle-in-law in a nursing home, so I have a lot of experience. The situation needs some help.
9/17/2012 Here are some ideas for family physicians on how to treat patients with insomnia, from psychiatrist Dr. Rachel Morehouse, head of the departments of psychiatry at Dalhousie University in Halifax and Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L. She is also medical director of the Atlantic Health Sciences Sleep Centre in Saint John, N.B.
8/30/2012 When they see doctors coming, bankers rub their hands with glee. How can they not get a better client? Doctors are well-paid, responsible, hard-working and never unemployed. And there is enormous stimuli for us to spend.
8/23/2012 I have 14 PIN numbers and they are driving me crazy. Why don’t I have them all in my iPhone? I do, but it’s a pain to look them up when standing in the rain. Recently, I accidently erased my iPhone.
