Straight Talk Md: Health | Medicine | Healthcare Policy | Health Education | Anesthesiology

The worsening of symptoms overnight may be bad omens for COVID-19 disease progression.

With the COVID test positive, Frank and Maryam are in quarantine. New symptoms appear. The source of the COVID infection is contemplated; treatments options are considered.

COVID test results return. Many questions remain unanswered.

The development of new symptoms warrant further investigation...

We pick up the story on December 7th, 2020, Pearl Harbor Day, “a date which will live in infamy.” The pandemic is raging out of control while COVID-19 vaccines are awaiting approval. It’s a day I’ll never forget...

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I pick up the story where we left off three months ago... At the end of the first week of December 2020, in the middle of COVID Hell.

Today’s episode was originally released in March 2017 during the attempt to “Repeal and Replace” Obamacare with TrumpCare. The Allegory of the Bus was a cautionary tale about the potential consequences of the deep division in Washington politics on the health and security of the nation. I’m re-releasing the Allegory of the Bus because it’s even more relevant today with the even deeper divide in Congress- and the Nation- as we collectively confront far more ominous threats.

I am re-releasing this episode on the one-year anniversary of the first U.S. case of COVID-19. Since then, 2 million people have died worldwide from COVID-19, and we still don’t have a credible explanation of how it entered the human reservoir. There is abundant evidence of a concerted effort by the Chinese Authorities to conceal what was really going on in Wuhan since the last week of December 2019. They took active measures to suppress and destroy the overwhelming evidence that SARS Coronavirus-2, aka COVID-19, was rapidly spreading from human-to-human in Wuhan for almost a month before they finally acknowledged it to the world on January 21st. During that time, the WHO didn’t challenge or confirm the veracity of the official Chinese narrative that there was no evidence that the novel coronavirus was spreading from human-to-human. Instead, they echoed the false narrative, giving it credibility while COVID-19 spread around the world. “Seeds of Destruction” takes a hard look at the evidence in plain sight of

The World Health Organization is just now investigating the origins of COVID-19. Last May, I published this podcast with an alternative theory of the origin of the SARS Coronavirus-2 (aka COVID-19) based on facts in plain sight. My theory contradicted the Chinese Government’s narrative and was dismissed as “conspiracy theory.” Based on the WHO’s investigation, this podcast is now proving prescient. The Caption for the May 4, 2020 Episode: Knowing how a pandemic started is the key to stopping the next one. A novel bat coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China in late November of 2019. This family of coronaviruses normally reside in bats living in caves 1000 miles south of Wuhan. Understanding where the virus came from and how it entered the human reservoir will help prevent a similar pandemic in the future. No matter what you may have heard, no one has produced evidence to prove exactly where or how the virus entered the human reservoir. There are two possible theories to explain where this virus came from a

We have entered COVID Hell. The novel coronavirus has returned with a vengeance. In the U.S., new cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions have already exceeded all-time highs from last spring, and we’re just beginning the exponential phase of the third wave. Hospitals in 18 states are already overwhelmed, and the vaccines cannot be deployed in time to avert the darkest winter in a century. With increased holiday travel and indoor congregation, combined with pandemic fatigue and pandemic anger, this is the most dangerous time we have faced yet in the pandemic.

COVID has returned with a vengeance. Dr. Paul Offit is back in the virtual studio for a COVID-19 update. We discuss the vaccine, new anti-viral therapeutics, herd immunity, the Barrington Declaration, and how to avoid another complete shutdown.

On the eve of the election, I perform a post-mortem on the second Presidential debate, and compile closing arguments from Joe Biden and Donald Trump discussing their healthcare plans, the COVID-19 response, and the pandemic looking forward. This is the final episode of the Healthcare 2020 Series.

The post-mortem on the Harris v. Pence debate is here! Mike Pence defends his COVID-19 record, the White House Super Spreader Event, and dodges questions on the Trump healthcare replacement plan. Before November 3rd, tune in for the full analysis of the candidates’ claims, with fact checking, and the crucial backstory that the candidates left out.

In the third episode of our Healthcare 2020 series, I perform a post-mortem on the first Biden-Trump debate, the “worst Presidential Debate ever,” on all healthcare-related issues. I present the clips, the commentary, and the analysis of what the candidates said, and failed to say. I also fact-check each candidate’s claims, their misstatements, and their comments on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ron Howrigon is back in the virtual studio to analyze Donald Trump’s 4200-word “doctrine” for a new healthcare system, created by Presidential Executive Orders [his words, not ours.] We also look at Biden’s “Strive for Five” healthcare tweaks to Obamacare and beyond. Lastly, we discuss how both candidates may have to modify their healthcare platforms based on the fate of Obamacare in the Supreme Court. In this episode, we lay out the two most likely scenarios…

Just five weeks out from the Presidential election, there are more questions than answers about both Presidential candidates’ healthcare plans. In this series, we examine each candidate’s plan to reform healthcare, and how it will impact the rest of us. In this episode, we take a look back at how we got here, and get a glimpse of where we’re headed.

In our haste to get a surgery started, sometimes we do things we shouldn’t do. Other times, we don’t do the things we should do. In the operating room, either error can have serious consequences. Today’s episode is about the real life consequences of skipping a single, seemingly insignificant, step in safety procedures.

Medical Reversal happens when doctors start using a medication, a procedure, or a diagnostic tool without solid evidence that it’s effective. Then, after finding out the medication, procedure, or diagnostic tool doesn’t work or even harms the patient, they eventually stop using it. Today, I interview Dr. Adam Cifu, author of the highly acclaimed book “Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives.” We discuss the most controversial current examples of medical reversal, why it happens, and why it takes so long to de-adopt ineffective medical procedures, treatments, and medications. He also shares his prescription for how to prevent it. Medical reversal is far more common than we think, and causes far more harm than we admit.

With the COVID-19 shutdown leading to over 10% unemployment and adding 2 trillion dollars to the national debt (from the “stimulus package”), the U.S. has entered “uncharted economic waters.” No major country in the world has ever been this upside down on debt-to-income ratio. All metrics point to a fiscal disaster much larger than the 2008 mortgage crisis, and substantially worse than the “Great Depression” of 1929. Today, health care economist, Ron Howrigon, author of Flatlining: How Healthcare Could Kill the US Economy, breaks it down by the numbers. Buckle up folks, winter is coming.

The most cynical surgeons describe anesthesiology as 99% boredom, and 1% sheer terror. Crepitus is about the 1%. In this true story, a 57-year-old woman is administered general anesthesia for a “routine” knee arthroscopy, and the case rapidly devolved into the 1%. How can a routine knee arthroscopy go so wrong? In about a million and a half different ways. This is one of them. Crepitus was originally released on our Strange Daze Podcast.