Jacob M. Appel, M.D., J.D. The past thirty years have witnessed an “apology revolution” in medical practice. Prior to the 1980s, the prevailing approach to medical errors in clinical care favored concealment: If patients or their survivors did not discover medical mistakes on their own through legal discovery and litigation processes, self-interest discouraged physicians from […]
Dilip KC, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. We all know that lithium has important pharmacological properties (1). Most famously, it can provide mood stabilization in patients with bipolar disorders (2). Lithium reduces the risk of suicide in individuals with depression (3). Indeed, it may be helpful in mitigating depressions and possibly in other psychiatric disorders. It […]
Raymond Pary, M.D., Simrat Kaur Sarai, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. CLINICAL Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by persistent, excessive worry. To confirm a GAD diagnosis, it must persist for over half a year, be present much of the time, and on most days. Those affected frequently express concern about apprehensiveness and/or irritability. Anxious elderly […]
Jacob M. Appel, M.D., J.D., M.P.H. Hedda Martin, a sixty-year-old Michigan woman, has attracted national attention after posting online that her healthcare provider urged her to raise $10,000 on GoFundMe, a popular online fundraising platform, in order to be eligible for a life-saving heart transplant. Martin, a former dog walker and pet sitter, suffered doxorubicin-induced […]
Teresa Kay Jones, A.P.R.N., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Introduction There is a shortage of providers for psychiatric services in America (1). Nurse practitioners (NPs) can deliver mental health services to help overcome the inadequate number of psychiatrists (1); yet, there are too few educators to train nurses at filling this gap (2). Most psychiatrists trust that […]
Tejaswini Doifode, M.D., Raja Mogallapu, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Introduction Do you have patients addicted to shopping? Is it an addiction? Compulsive buying exists in nearly 6% of our population, predominantly among women (~80%) (1). Oniomania is the term that clinically describes compulsive shopping; it originates from Greek and comes from ṓnios- for “sale”, and […]
Tallat Sultana, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Lofexidine Lofexidine is a newly released drug indicated for attenuating opioid withdrawal in the United States (1). A clonidine analogue and alpha 2-agonist, it has been prescribed in United Kingdom for this indication for decades (2). It reduces the signs and symptoms of withdrawal in animals and humans. With […]
Jacob M. Appel, M.D., J.D. Since Thomas Starzl performed the first successful hepatic transplant in 1967, these transplants have become the intervention of last resort for a wide range of patients whose liver failure would previously have led to certain deaths. Since 1988, when the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) began reporting data, more […]
Mitesh Patel, M.D., Henry Duong, M.D., Kavitha Srinivasan, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Introduction Suicide is a frequent cause of death, especially among males and military veterans. Kentucky has a higher suicide rate, at 14 per 100,000 persons, than the USA average of 12/100,000 people. Currently, military veterans have a much higher rate of killing themselves […]
Amy Bischoff, B.S., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Introduction Suicide by young people is a serious, widespread problem. It is the second ranked cause of death among people ages 15-24 and the third one between ages 10-24 years (1). Suicide is of greater concern in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB), or sexual minority youth (2). A 2015 […]
