McCarthy Orchitis

As of this morning there were 23 cases of mumps at Ohio State University with the epidemic expected to increase as the result of so many students that have not been vaccinated.  I wonder how many of them are also following Jenny McCarthy's other areas of advise and smoking E cigs?

Going Postal

I had to renew my passport and went to the Post Office where I thought I could get the picture and mail it right away as that is where I got the last one.  When I got there a sign was posted that said they had met their passport quota for the day and  were now closed.  I went to a  nearby shop that took the photo and I attached it to my application and went back to the post office to mail it.  When I got there, the passport window was now open!  I asked the person, "I thought that you had met your quota for the day?".  He said, "Oh, we put that up when we go to lunch".  I was about to ask "why don't you put a sign that says gone to lunch" but then the answer hit me.  People would line up and wait for them to come back.  By saying "quota met", people would just leave.  Gotta to love the Federal work ethic!

The Sound of Silence

I was called to a code last night, luckily everything turned out ok but it was one of those things that make me just wonder about the people.  A patient with bad lungs secondary to COPD was in the hospital secondary to an exacerbation.  He was on oxygen and a pulse oximiter.  The patient had a family member who decided to stay with him that night but they couldn't sleep because the oximeter alarm would go off if the patients sats dropped below 89%.  So they could sleep better, they silenced the alarm on the pulse ox.  Luckily for the patient, the nurse saw the sats go to 70 and she was able to get him on 100% O2 about the time he went brady.

Obama Math

In our area we had a huge increase in the cost of health insurance and big changes in health care plans as the insurance companies prepare for the costs of Obamacare.  As a result, we are seeing patients come to the office where their office copay is more than the cost of the visit! Talk about a disincentive to seek medical care!  Some insurances allow us to then refund the difference to the patient but if the insurance is one of the "Obama Compliant" plans we have to send the difference to the insurance company!

As near as I can figure it the math works this way "The Affordable Care Act saves you money by costing you more!"

F20.1

I saw Harry Reid's take on Obamacare and I was relieved.  Did you ever notice that his affect is getting more and more flat with fleeting of ideas?  Anyway, It let me tell the patient who cant have his surgery because his insurance premiums, deductible and out of pocket costs have tripled that its "all a lie".  I was able to tell the uninsured patient that he really has insurance, that its "all a lie".  I was able to tell the patient who had their policy cancelled and now they can no longer afford insurance, its "all a lie".  I was able to tell the college student that he is covered by his parents insurance but their costs have went up so much that none of them have insurance, that these problems are "all a lie".  I was able to tell the medical oncology nurses, physical therapists that they are not being fired because of the medicare cuts, that its "all a lie".  I'm glad all these Obamacare horror stories are lies.  Oh, wait a minute, it may just be Harry Reid's schizo/delusional disorder.

Molly, molly, molly get your adverbs here!

Looks like we have another of Darwin's herd culling drugs.  Sooner or later the IV drug shooters die of ODs and endocarditis, the crack addicts die of MIs and stokes and the meth heads fry their brains.  All of which serve to self limit the epidemic.  Molly seems to be doing the same thing.  These users show up hypermetabolic in renal failure and seizing,  permanent brain damage occurs and they end up in a SNF where they slowly die of aspiration and bedsores.


Here are molly's adverbs : stupidly, hastily, fatally, painfully, hopelessly, violently and permanently

Unsolicited Medical Advice

I cant imagine being a pharmacist!  It must be horribly boring and tedious and I am so grateful when they catch a stupid mistake I made regarding a dose, allergy or interaction.  They drive me nuts though when they starting suggesting other medical treatments.  One of my patients recently had a script filled for flagyl.  The pharmacist asked her what it was for, and the patient replied that it was for some problems she had "down below".  The pharmacist then suggested several vaginal douches and also recommended that the patient be tested for other STDS.  The patient was horrified that she might have something else and called the office upset.  We had to explain that the flagyl indeed for her antibiotic induced diarrhea and not for the vaginal issue the pharmacist was discussing!