Demystifying drug development, clinical research, medicine, and the role ethics plays
This research ethics series uses the story of Dan Markingson’s participation in a clinical trial of anti-psychotic drugs at the University of Minnesota, his suicide 2004 while participating on the study, and subsequent events as a case study in which to explore various aspects of clinical trial conduct...
Just in time for “Get Smart about Antibiotics Week,” I had a refreshing experience recently, working in a different rural hospital. Over that week, I didn’t see one patient with “superbugs” other than the occasional MRSA...
When Danielle N. Lee, a PhD biologist, was likened to a whore last week for declining to work for free, I was furious. She and Scicurious proposed a series of posts on diversity in science and I reached out, asking if my perspective as a woman physician might be of interest...
ClinicalTrials.gov Atul Gawande has made human lapses more understandable, if not acceptable, reminding us that “We miss stuff. We are inconsistent and unreliable because of the complexity of care,” and making the idea of checklists mainstream, rather than a prop for failing memories...
Last night I participated in a requiem for St. Andrews Hospital in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and for the lost innocence of rural communities.
Food week on SciAm blogs would not be complete without scary stories. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 hamburger outbreak that sickened 623 people and killed 4 children...
Naegleria fowleri is a summertime villain, scary and sensational, the “Brain-eating Amoeba.” Even the name is villainous. It is an amoeba that lives in fresh water, especially warm water, and is a cause of brain infections, almost always resulting in death...
Remember the story of the elephant and the blind men? I feel I am revisiting it whenever I go back and work another stretch in the hospital as an infectious diseases physician.
uBiome's CEO, Jessica Richman, seems to me to be a great saleswoman who also excels at sounding innocent and playing the misunderstood victim in the ethical controversy surrounding her company...
I’m back in Boothbay Harbor for a much anticipated summer vacation, and have promptly become immersed again in the fight over Lincoln County Healthcare (LCH) and MaineHealth’s plan to close St...
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