When did employers, or government agencies become doctors? In Idaho with the changes that were made in the Professional Practices Act and the Medical Practice Act during several legislative sessions in the early two thousands is the answer. It used to be that only doctors could prescribe medicine or procedures or order a radiologic test. […]
I have mentioned before that in my forty-four year career in Medicine and Surgery in both the military and in private practice in Boise I have been blessed to have been surrounded by doctors, nurses, technicians, Catholic Sisters and even a few administrators whose dedication every single day to sick patients remained an inspiration to […]
When Idaho was still a territory and was applying for Statehood many people in the State wanted Idaho to be known as the ‘PIONEER STATE”. Many Idahoans I know are direct descendants of the early pioneers. The 1st patient I ever attended to in Idaho was a 91-year-old lady. I asked her if she was […]
While I don’t believe we are heading for what Aldous Huxley described in his book “Brave New World”, I do believe that if Joe Biden is installed as the 46th president of these United States, we will see the beginning of the end when it comes to our constitutional freedoms. We saw the beginnings of […]
No matter what the project—a business venture, a scientific experiment, government funding of grants or infrastructure, or one’s own family, it is always wise to take a deep breath and look at what our original goals were, and to see if we are marching toward those goals, see what changes need to be made—adopt and […]
We are now at the stage in the COVID-19 Pandemic where we can look at the responses of different countries and the impact that different designs in health care systems have had on outcomes. Just like in our country Europe is experiencing a second surge of COVID-19 patients testing positive and in some places hospital […]
There was an old saying in Ohio when people would keep doing something wrong or stupid, the act would be described as “fig plucking” The term came from the ditty with the refrain: “I’m not a fig plucker or a fig plucker’s son, but I’ll pluck figs till the fig plucker comes” Seems like there […]
The Common Good and Individual Self Interest have oftentimes been portrayed by modern-day academics, politicians, and media experts as being on opposite ends of the political and economic spectrum. History dating back to the ancient Greek Philosophers and up to the Fathers of the Enlightenment and through the Industrial Revolution and attempts to redefine the […]
As we approach the “peak of the curve” in Idaho and as our Governor will be coming down with his decision about extending “stay in place” policies for the whole State of Idaho early next week I believe a few observations are in order. First of all, I believe the Governor’s instincts have served the […]
We are now a couple of months into this Coronavirus Crisis and each day we learn more about how dangerous it might be and how contagious it is but all of our decisions as a country revolve around assumptions. The reactions by our leaders have been run more by the press than the data provided […]
Immunizations continue to be at the forefront in federal government programs and in states that create legislation with mandates for vaccine compliance. Each state has vaccination requirements for children entering kindergarten, including Idaho, with some states requiring more vaccines than others. While all school immunization laws grant vaccine exemptions for medical reasons, many states are […]
Where has $45 million of our tax dollars gone? In the Wall Street Journal was a very interesting article identifying a problem that conservatives anticipated prior to the implementation of Medicaid expansion. The per capita increase in spending nationwide on the Medicaid expansion population patients is 16% higher over the past 3 years than on the […]