Free Republic

Primary-care shortage is growing especially acute in rural areas and in parts of some cities. The doctor is disappearing in America. And by most projections, it’s only going to get worse — the U.S. could lose as many as 1 million doctors by 2025, according to a Association of American Medical Colleges report. Primary-care physicians will account for as much as one-third of that shortage, meaning the doctor you likely interact with most often is also becoming much more difficult to see. Tasked with checkups and referring more complicated health problems to specialists, these doctors have the most consistent contact...

The doctor is disappearing in America. And by most projections, it’s only going to get worse — the U.S. could lose as many as 1 million doctors by 2025, according to a Association of American Medical Colleges report. Primary-care physicians will account for as much as one-third of that shortage, meaning the doctor you likely interact with most often is also becoming much more difficult to see.

A “large number” of doctors in certain EU member states still view homosexuality as a disease, a report has revealed. Euroefe reports. “The research also shows that there are still quite a number of healthcare professionals in several EU member states who believe LGBT people suffer from pathological diseases,” said Michael O’Flaherty, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). A recent FRA report found that Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia are the EU countries where this misconception is most widely held. This negative view of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people held by groups of professionals...

The Eleventh Circuit court of appeals, in an unusual decision, has decided to hear the case of Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger, et al. v. Governor State of FL, et al.  in the matter of the Firearm Owners Privacy Act (FOPA).  The FOPA provided that doctors and other health care professionals could not use their professional position of power in order to collect private information from firearms owners, and potentially make that information available to third parties and numerous government agencies.  FOPA had been struck down by the district court, then upheld in three different rulings by the three judge panel...

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama began peddling his national healthcare system. On more than one occasion, he pointed to Canada and the United Kingdom as examples of a workable national healthcare system. When I first heard him point to them, I instantly thought of Rachel, a work acquaintance who lived and worked in the United Kingdom. She was experiencing abdominal pains and having problems eating for months before England’s National Health Service doctors finally diagnosed the problem to be her gall bladder. The doctor said it needed to be removed. However, from the time they wrote the...

Two months ago, we posted a story describing how three healthcare-related non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are conspiring to undo hard-fought improvements in work rules, pertaining to surgical resident physicians. The NGOs in question are the American Board of Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Leading the pack in this endeavor is ACGME, which just five years earlier did cut the number of allowable hours that these residents could put in. As it happens, the cut in hours was forced on the industry, based on outrageous violations in which the stated hours were...

Nearly 3,000 operations have been canceled as junior doctors in England take part in a second 24-hour strike over pay and conditions. Checkups, appointments and tests are also set to be disrupted as a result of the walkout, which began at 08:00 GMT. Formal talks broke down in January and there is mounting speculation ministers may soon seek to impose a new contract, potentially inflaming the row further. The key sticking point appears to be payments for working on Saturdays. ...

All adults, including pregnant women and new mothers, should be screened for depression as a routine part of health care, a government advisory group recommended Tuesday. Depression is a common public health problem, and screening simply involves health workers asking about certain symptoms even if patients don't mention them. The second part of the recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is more difficult — ensuring systems are in place to properly diagnose and treat people identified through screening. And the guideline, published by the Journal for the American Medical Association, couldn't determine how often adults should be screened....

At least five people have been killed in a missile strike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres medical facility in Yemen. The organization 'strongly condemns this', while adding that 10 people have been injured in the attack. 'We can confirm five dead people; we have transferred several injured to our other hospital in Sanaa, some of them are in critical condition,' MSF director of operations Raquel Ayora told RT. "The hospital is no longer functioning. It's been decreasing its services to the civilian population over the last months, only running life-saving and essential services. And right now there is no capacity...

Angry over pay and working conditions, British doctors are threatening to go on strike next week. This is the sort of disaster that can happen only when physicians are government employees. As many as 37,000 "junior doctors, or doctors in training who represent just over half of all doctors in the National Health Service," Reuters reports, have said "they would stage a 24-hour stoppage next week, followed by two further 48-hour strikes." A walkout of disgruntled doctors, the first in Great Britain since 1975, would affect nonemergency care and cause surgeries to be canceled, leaving many Brits, who rely on...

Obama gun control executive order compromises doctor-patient confidentiality for "mental health" issues In 2nd Amendment by Poor Richard January 5, 2016 Comment Once again, President Obama is circumventing Congress and the Constitution by issuing decrees and implementing them as if they are law. This time, he's going after a fundamental civil right protected by the Constitution: our right to keep and bear arms. Much of the media focus on Obama's executive orders thus far has been on the background checks provisions that would require private sellers of even a single firearm to register with the Federal Government as a "firearms...

The 11th Circuit has struck a resounding blow against the medicalization of gun control and in favor of the Second Amendment.As criminological research has shown that infringements on Second Amendment rights either increase violent crime and murder rates, or have no effect, those that push for a disarmed public got creative in finding a way to justify their desire.  They settled on the medicalization of guns, or as they say, framing the debate as a public health concern.   The purpose is simple.  Define "gun violence" as a disease, and guns become something that the government can regulate without worrying...

A narrow majority of physicians say Obamacare has a negative impact on medical practice, including on the quality and cost of health care, according to a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association.The report found that 52 percent of physicians look on Obamacare as unfavorable to the general medical situation, while 48 percent say it is favorable.According to the report, 36 percent of physicians said the Affordable Care Act had a negative impact on the medical practice overall. Only 23 percent said it had a positive impact. Thirty-one percent physicians said the healthcare law had no impact, and...

Back in the middle of November we covered the announcement that one of the largest New York health insurance providers under the Obamacare co-op umbrella was in trouble. Health Republic had jumped on the Affordable Care Act bandwagon and signed up nearly a quarter million new subscribers, offering cut rate prices and surging to the top of the market in that area. Unfortunately, the expected cash bonanza from the government program failed to live up to expectations and the company quickly ran out of operating capital. Yesterday was the end of the line for Health Republic and they closed...

Many articles have appeared in this column questioning the conventional wisdom on matters ranging from infection control practices; to the validity of established (yet oft-changing) guidelines on diet, and “healthy” blood titers for a host of substances; to suitable blood pressure numbers. The implication is that such wisdom is subject to influence by sundry commercial and political forces. While most people are familiar with the CDC, FDA, and NIH, in many cases, so-called non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are involved. These can be trade associations such as the American Heart Association and American Medical Association, as well as consensus standard groups such...

Three doctors of a Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) hospital were killed as an air strike targeted the MSF medical facility in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz city on Saturday, the MSF said in a statement. "Three MSF staff are confirmed dead and more than 30 are unaccounted after (MSF) trauma center in Kunduz was hit at 2:10 a. m. local time on Saturday (2140 GMT Friday) several times during sustained bombing and was very badly damaged," the statement said. The medical team was working around the clock to do everything possible for the safety of patients and hospital staff, the statement said....

Expectant parents wanting the best for their babies typically focus on the best strollers, cribs and cost-effective diapers. But they might want to consider where best to have their baby. That place may not be Pennsylvania, with its low number of pediatricians, obstetrician-gynecologists and parental-support groups, and the lack of a “baby-friendly environment.” Pennsylvania actually ranked next to last, ahead of only Mississippi, based on health care costs and available services and resources for babies and parents, according to WalletHub.com’s 2015 rankings of the best and worst states in which to have a baby.

Médecins Sans Frontières in West Africa “2015 was a very busy year for emerging infectious diseases.” - Steven Hatfill, MD Dedicating his lecture to Médecins Sans Frontières, for their heroic actions in West Africa, Dr. Hatfill spoke to a captivated audience at the 33rd Annual Conference of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in California about the 43 newly emerging infectious diseases that jumped to a larger geographic area from their wild animal hosts to human populations in the past 30 years.

Of the many lessons to be learned from the undercover work of the Center for Medical Progress in regard to Planned Parenthood and organ harvesting, one is that abortion not only destroys babies and their mothers; it destroys the doctors who perform it. Many observers of the undercover video of Dr. Deborah Nucatola have marveled at how she can sit casually at lunch, eating salad and sipping wine, while talking about crushing the bodies of babies from whom she needs to extract livers and hearts to fill orders from medical researchers. How can Dr. Mary Gatter talk about wanting...

Sad news for our patients and friends Dear Patients, Family, Friends, and Colleagues: It is with great sadness that the office of Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D. relays news of his untimely death on Tuesday, July 21, 2015. The cause of death was cardiac related, it appears, as he suddenly collapsed and was unable to be revived. Dr. Gonzalez was in excellent health otherwise so his passing is quite unexpected. Currently, his family is taking care of funeral arrangements and Dr. Linda Isaacs and his office staff are tending to patients. In the interim, please know Dr. Gonzalez’ office will keep...