Filed under Government, News, Research by on Oct 31st, 2013. Comment. 
When I’m not on the internet, I generally catch the latest news on the car radio, like lots of other folks tied up in California freeway traffic. Yesterday the question had been raised whether Foster Farms chicken was in some way associated with a salmonella outbreak. The company suggested that improper preparation of the raw chicken was responsible.
Not so. Now the news reported by USA Today, whom I applaud for picking up this story, says that Foster Farms was also the origin of a salmonella outbreak in 2012 in Oregon and Washington that sickened 134 people in 13 states.
It is reasonable to ask, “What the hell is going on?” Read more on Playing Chicken With The Gvt. Shutdown…
Filed under Government, News by on Oct 9th, 2013. Comment.
Alright, so I am a cynic. It seems like the very public change of position of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a mainstream doctor who presents mainstream medicine in the media is on the level with religious conversion among the missionaries.
Read more on Like Me — More Experts Are Changing Their Mind About Medicinal Marijuana…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Government, News, politics, Research by on Aug 12th, 2013. Comment.
This story does not start with “I was minding my own business, surfing the internet.”
I was seeing a deeply suffering patient with terminal cancer and I was sneezing. I have a bunch of seasonal allergies and I treat them naturally with Quercetin and related compounds, a bioflavonoid, unpatentable, because I would have to eat a lot of oranges to get enough. Still, I will admit to the occasional sneeze, followed by the use of a tissue. She stroked my arm. “I hope you take good care of yourself, you are such a sweet lady. Maybe you need some Tamiflu or something.” I promised her I would look into it, taking her concern for my well being as a sign that she liked me. When people like me that much, it gratifies me and tells me I am doing the job of doctor pretty well, or at least better than the generally non-emotional most, and I am happy. Out of sheer curiosity, I actually checked into Tamiflu. Read more on Why I Have Not and Will Not Take Tamiflu…
Filed under Government, medicine, News, prescription drugs by on Jul 31st, 2013. Comment.
I kind of like ABC news, since they at least reported the news about azithromycin and a lot of other folks didn’t.
For more information, here is the original article, and here is the FDA safety announcement (this link leads to a PDF which will load in a separate window, but you must have the Adobe Acrobat reader – free – installed). Read more on Azithromycin Scare…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, FDA, Government, medicine, News, prescription drugs by on Jul 22nd, 2013. Comment.
So who is or is not going to pay for contraception under Obamacare? And this is a religious question?
The truth of the matter is that even though the United States has promised religious freedom from the very start, they have not done a very good job, historically, of delivering on this promise. Read more on Whose Birth Control is it, Anyway?…
Filed under Contraception, Government, News, politics, Religion by on Mar 8th, 2013. Comment.
I used to say I was not a political animal. Pharmacology has become political. Not my fault; that’s for sure.
Marijuana has suffered a legal setback. This has not been covered by a lot of the media. I had a heck of a time finding it. Read more on Rescheduling of Marijuana Suffers Legal Setback…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Government, News, politics by on Mar 7th, 2013. Comment.
I’ve got my outrage in motion and I’m blowing the whistle on one of the dirtiest tricks the big pharmaceutical companies play on us.
They have a technique called “Seeding Trials” that masquerade as drug testing (clinical trials) but are really nothing more than marketing surveys they can use to get around government regulations about promoting their drugs for alternative uses (also know as “off-label” uses).
But I’m printing this news in my private newsletter — not in my public blog.
The good news, you can read this for free. All you need to do is sign up for my free newsletter (that means “free of charge” as well as “Spam-Free”).
Just type your name and email address in that little box in the upper right hand corner of this page to opt-in. Of course, you can opt-out at any time also.
But I’m hoping that you find me so fascinating that you will continue to read.
The news I print in this blog is pretty general and the items in the newsletter are more personal and specific.
I think you will find it fascinating to see into the world of medicine, science, politics, government and even culture.
The newsletter will go out by email in a day or two … so please sign on now and take this journey with me. I promise to make it worth your time.
Take care and be happy!
Dr. G
Filed under Government, medicine, News, politics, prescription drugs by on Feb 27th, 2013. 1 Comment.
I worked in prison situations, where inmates complained about everything and sometimes I even agreed with them. Invariably, some older world-weary inmate would say: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” When spoken by a muscled, or at least strong and/or angry looking inmate, I have seen that shut people up. Let’s try this one when it’s time for troops to deploy: “Don’t appear, if they ain’t got the gear.” Read more on Look Mom, No Gear…
Filed under Government, military, News by on Feb 25th, 2013. Comment.
At some time in our lives, we all need to be told we’re good or shown the way. A simple story about giving kids from Oakland’s toughest neighborhoods a chance to rise above the violence in their communities strangely touched me and compelled me to write. As I do this, I am not that far from Oakland. I have heard enough to tell you that the culture of violence described is not exaggerated. Patients who see me for marijuana permission are happy and delighted they do not have to drive there.
So there are children who grow up in a culture of violence. I see adults. Not too long ago, I was seeing adults for social security evaluations in Los Angeles. Many of them had been caught in crossfire, perhaps shot on their way to the supermarket or even in front of their own homes. They told me they did not know why or by whom, and sometimes they still had bullets in them somewhere. Other times it was just a memory that so overwhelmed them that the quality of their post-traumatic stress disorder was like the sort of thing that you see in Vietnam veterans. Read more on It Takes So Little…
Filed under Family, Government, News, PTSD, Violence by on Jan 25th, 2013. Comment.