When I recently learned that a friend of mine, Miro Kazakoff, teaches Managerial Communication at the MIT Sloan School of Management, I thought, “Wow, what an interesting job” and “Why do they teach communication in business school but not medical school?” Miro was kind enough to take me through a crash course in communications, which I then tested out in…

There is a lot of evidence and belief that humor can positively affect health outcomes. In the medical environment when patients are anxious and fearful, humor can reduce anxiety. In fact it is thought that the very purpose of humor is to counteract the negatives that are thrown our way in day-to-day life, preventing people from descending into doom and…

“To see what is in front of one’s nose is a constant struggle”.  – George Orwell The United States is grappling with an epidemic of prescription opioid medications, and the statistics are frightening. Opioid prescribing remains higher in the United States compared with anywhere else in the world, and 80% of the world’s opioids are prescribed and consumed in this…

Since I was informed of New York State’s investigation of my practice in 2010, when a drug-seeking patient complained that I did not prescribe postoperative narcotics, I have had ample time for introspection and self-evaluation. Indeed, I have asked myself how such a “good physician” and “good man” could be shamed so mercilessly, particularly since I, like Mark Chassin expressed…