America Out Loud PULSE: Hacking Electronic Health Records, Medicare Dis-Advantage, and Measles with Twila Brase, RN, PHN

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Twila Brase, RN, PHN –https://www.americaoutloud.news/hacking-electronic-health-records-medicare-disadvantages-and-measles/

Hacking into electronic databases has become child’s play. Since 2018, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights tracked a 256 percent increase in large data breaches involving hacking and a 264 percent increase in ransomware. With ransomware, the database owner must fork over a ransom in order to get cannot get access.

On February 21, 2024, United Health’s Change Healthcare was hacked. Change Healthcare processes 15 billion healthcare transactions annually and touches one in every three patient records. The outage has multiple drug stores and health systems and affected billing and physician payments, electronic medical records retrieval by insurers, verification of insurance eligibility, prior authorization requests, and prescription processing. Health systems are having difficulty billing for most hospital services. Some pharmacists are charging patients the full price because they are unable to access the co-pay information. According to an estimate from a digital health risk assurance firm, First Health Advisory, the outage is costing health care providers over $100 million daily. The American Hospital Association president and CEO said, “We cannot say this more clearly — the Change Healthcare cyberattack is the most significant and consequential incident of its kind against the U.S. healthcare system in history.”

According to a March 4, 2024 Wired magazine article, one of the partners of the hackers known as AlphV or BlackCat revealed that the hackers received 350 Bitcoins in a single transaction worth $22 million. On March 3rd, someone describing themselves as an affiliate of AlphV posted to the cybercriminal underground forum RAMP that AlphV had cheated them out of their share of the Change Healthcare ransom. Change Healthcare did not confirm or deny the ransom to Wired, commenting that “we are focused on the investigation right now.”

UnitedHealth apparently is offering paltry sums to physicians who have not been reimbursed for their services or in some cases, costly cancer medications.

There is nothing more private than our personal health information. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is erasing what little privacy we had left in the era where mot doctors’ offices use electronic health records (EHRs). This brings up another issue on the horizon is something called ambient artificial intelligence. It listens to your “private” patient-doctor conversation and processes information, then writes a clinical note summarizing the visit. More than 3,400 physicians at Kaiser Permanente Medical Group of Northern California have been using this since October 2023. Some positives include the physician being more attentive to patients since they are not writing notes. The automatic transcription lessened the up to six hours a day spent on electronic medical records. The question is obvious: who controls this information and what else will it be used for?

We’ll talk about this and so much more with my guest, a nationally recognized expert in the field of medical privacy.

Bio

Twila Brase is President and Co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF), a national patient-centered, privacy-focused, free-market policy organization established 25 years ago in Minnesota to support health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy. Her efforts led to a national law requiring parental consent for research using newborn DNA.  Ms. Brase is author of the eight-time award-winning book Big Brother in the Exam Room: The Dangerous Truth About Electronic Health Records.

Ms. Brase’s “Health Freedom Minute” is heard weekdays by more than 5 million listeners across the United States. She provides testimony at state legislatures, meets with members of Congress and health care policymakers, and has been featured in major news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Citizens Council for Health Freedom website: https://www.cchfreedom.org

The Wedge of Health Freedom (independent physicians) website: https://jointhewedge.com

Big Brother in the Exam Room: The Dangerous Truth About Electronic Health Records. https://www.amazon.com/Big-Brother-Exam-Room-Electronic/dp/1592987060/ref=monarch_sidesheet

America Out Loud PULSE: Doctors and Patients or Bureaucrats: Who’s in Charge of Our Medical Care? with Andy Schlafly, JD

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Andy Schlafly, JD – https://www.americaoutloud.news/doctors-and-patients-or-bureaucrats-whos-in-charge-of-our-medical-care-2/

Political persecution through the legal system has become the new American justice. But it can work both ways – if we have the courage.

President Calvin Coolidge, a strong proponent of limited government, believed that “in order for the Constitution and self-government to survive, the people had to be vigilant in its preservation.” Covid-19 started a government and media censorship juggernaut. It is imperative that we all join to stop it in its tracks. The case currently being argued in front of the Supreme Court, Murthy v Missouri arose from – you guessed it – Covid. Missouri and other states assert that the government’s attempts to suppress so-called Covid misinformation went beyond mere public health information to suppression of speech via social media. At oral arguments, Justice Jackson seemed to feel that suppressing speech is the government’s job. To quote: “My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways.”  The First Amendment to the Constitution says the government cannot abridge freedom of speech. As Justice Brandeis wrote in the 1927 free speech case, Whitney v California, free speech is at the heart of a democratic society and the answer to alleged falsehoods is “more speech, not enforced silence.”

Medical freedom for doctors and patients is becoming a distant memory. Physicians are afraid to go into pain management for fear of being labelled a pill pusher. Patients with chronic pain are resorting to getting heroin on the streets rather than be put in a government database. Physicians are bullied by medical boards with the specter of losing their licenses for having valid alternative views regarding medical treatment plans.

Lawyers—who we all know can strike fear into our hearts—can be a big part of preserving our liberty. The legal fights to reign in government overreach are about more than Covid. Lawyers are here to help protect the rights of the individual citizens. They are our last defense against government oppression and corporate corruption. Lawsuits can amplify a few lone voices and let those in power get the message: Our bodies and minds belong to us, not to the government.

I love quotes. Let me give you a few of my favorites on this topic:

“Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.” Graham Greene

“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”  Albert Einstein

“All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions.”  Adlai Stevenson

“The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.”  Carl Sagan

“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”  Thomas Jefferson

Attorney Andy Schlafly a wonderful friend of the show and general counsel to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is here today to discuss freedom of speech and a recent case headed to the Supreme Court.

Link to amicus brief PDF: https://aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-amicus-murthy-v-missouri-2-7-2024.pdf

Bio

Andy Schlafly is general counsel to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. He received a B.S.E. in electrical engineering and certificate in engineering physics from Princeton University. After graduating from Princeton, Mr. Schlafly briefly worked as a device physicist for Intel, then became a microelectronics engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He then attended Harvard Law School along with Barack Obama. For two years Mr. Schlafly was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, Mr. Schlafly served as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School and worked for a large law firm before beginning private practice. Mr. Schlafly created the wiki-based Conservapedia in November 2006 to counter the apparent liberal bias in Wikipedia.

America Out Loud PULSE: From Physician to Activist with Dr. Jane Hughes

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Dr. Jane Hughes – https://www.americaoutloud.news/from-physician-to-activist-meet-jane-hughes-md/

There was a time when patients sought medical care from a physician, not a “healthcare system.” Now there’s over-priced health insurance that falls short when you actually need it; Medicare Advantage plans that trap you like a roach motel and then don’t provide care when you actually get sick.

Rather than going after flash mob thieves, the government eyeballing parents who have the audacity to actually go to PTA meetings. Schools are supporting so-called gender affirmation without parental notification or consent. Physicians are acquiescing to government, corporate, and political pressures rather than individualized patient care. What’s a person to do?

Almost 50 years ago, an iconic speech in a critically acclaimed film written by Paddy Chayesfsky expressed it better than I ever could: (Peter Finch as Howard Beale, Network, 1976.)

I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be!

We all know things are bad — worse than bad — they’re crazy.

It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.”

Well, I’m not going to leave you alone.

I want you to get mad!

I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.

All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad.

You’ve got to say, “I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!”

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell:

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!!”

I recently heard someone say that there are three kinds of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. We must be the people who makes things happen. No act is too small. As Sir Edmund Burke said 200 years ago, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”

My guest, Dr. Jane Hughes has put the act in activism and will share her thoughts about medicine, our health care “system,” and the government’s role in our lives.

Bio

Dr. Jane Hughes is the current president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. She is a board-certified ophthalmologist and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. She received her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio where she also completed her residency. Dr. Hughes is co-founder of American Doctors for Truth and serves on Congressman Chip Roy’s Physician Advisory Council for Healthcare Policy.

America Out Loud PULSE: DEI Meets Antisemitism Meets a Lawsuit

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Tammy Weitzman – https://www.americaoutloud.news/dei-and-antisemitism-meet-a-lawsuit-with-tammy-weitzman/

What strange times we live in now. We have gone from the era of Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, brilliantly exploring what it means to be socially or racially invisible to almost every ad on television including a person of color. Segregated army barracks, motels, restaurants, clubs, entertainment venues were socially and politically acceptable even after integration became the law of the land. And as time passed, people realized that they were missing out on a whole side of life by closing the door on meeting new and interesting people. We were organically moving to a blended society where people were looking at one another just as people, judging them by their job or hobbies but not by their race. Now we have segregated college dorms, dining halls, and so-called affinity groups. What happened?

After years and years of progress we have a sick regression into separatism. Instead of “if you are white, you’re all right, if you’re black, stay back,” all white people are inherently evil deep down inside and should flagellate themselves for the sin of being born white; all black people should be forgiven for any anti-social behavior because they can’t help themselves. How racist is that supposedly progressive mindset?

This new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) crusade is yet another elitist movement that does nothing to help the people they movement portends to help. The DEI movement is stripping mainly blacks, but ultimately all people of their dignity. When we lose our individuality, we lose our true selves, our souls. Human nature being what it is, people do not want to be labelled as victims. But propaganda and indoctrination being what it is, anyone can be demoralized into—as the Soviets would say—ideological subversion.

Yes, racism exists. Racists exist. But the DEI cure is worse than the disease. (One of my dream conversations is asking a professed racist in kidney failure on dialysis if he would accept a kidney transplant from a black person.)

Students in as young as kindergarten are being taught to judge others by their race. In reality, most children do not focus on their differences but wonder whether their classmate likes the newest video game. How could someone think that it is acceptable to poison young minds? The same young minds were told in Brown v the Board of Education in 1954 that separate is inherently unequal. Instead of learning the necessary skills to race to the top of the ladder of success, children have the tools to win the victim triathlon. The prize: dependency on government resources. What a waste of government money. This money would be better spent on junior science fair projects or field trips to the museum of science and technology.

Schools at all levels now have institutionally supported affinity groups that are the Newspeak word for segregated groups. The DEI adherents are echoing the rhetoric of the opponents to integrated schools: people of different races learn better in separate environments where they can be their true selves. Some schools have separate times for black and LGBT students to use the swimming pool. How is this diversity and inclusion? It seems like grouping together children with the same interests, like math, science, sewing, music, or sports would be a more enriching program.

It doesn’t stop with the unsuspecting children. Corporations have devoted time and money into DEI trainings. Let’s have a re-education session and tell people they are a racist and tell them how to be an anti-racist. How? Don’t be a racist.

And of course, I wonder about the effect of DEI on medicine. There is no question that there are racial disparities in many aspects of life in the United States, including medical care. It seems that instead of doing the hard work of getting down to the root of the problems, academia has taken the easy way out by declaring that racism is the cause of health care disparities. The solutions start with racism and end with indoctrination into reverse racism.

The DEI focus on the oppressed and oppressors has fostered antisemitism as well. After all, despite the history of Jewish slavery, oppression, and genocide, they are deemed part of the oppressor class. This is a logical outgrowth of the DEI mindset that focuses on differences rather than our shared humanity.

The deafening drumbeat of race, racism, and more race is leaving its mark. The workplace has turned into a minefield. Some wokenistas cannot see that denigrating others does nothing to advance the group they purport to uplift. When reason fails, we have to turn to the law. Sometimes lawsuits are the only way we can get people to wake up.

My guest is a social worker who despite the presumed empathy and compassion of her colleagues was caught in a workplace web of wokeness gone amok and antisemitism.

Bios

Tammy Weitzman is a child of an Israeli mother and Canadian father. After her father’s death from cancer, the family lived in Israel for 3 years before returning to Toronto, Canada. She completed graduate work in social work at Yeshiva University in New York City. She spent 23 years in oncology mental health at large academic hospitals and has presented her work with oncology patients nationally and internationally.

Peter Barwick is the general counsel for the Coalition for Liberty, https://www.coalitionforliberty.com. Coalition For Liberty is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose central mission is to promote the right of all Americans to exercise their freedom of speech, expression and thought; and support the establishment of new classical model apolitical schools, while also supporting efforts to have existing schools move back to this tried-and-true model, which has been proven to obtain superior results for children.

America Out Loud PULSE: Employer Based Health Insurance

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Matt Ohrt –https://www.americaoutloud.news/matt-ohrt-healthcare-policy-from-an-insurance-agent/

Medical care is expensive. Hospitals can cost anywhere from $1,305/day, to $4,181/day depending on the state where you live. The top reason that non-elderly adults do not have health insurance is that they cannot afford it. Worse, half of insured adults say they have trouble affording health costs. To save money on prescription drugs, 20 percent of folks either don’t fill the prescription, use over-the-counter medicines, skipped doses, or cut pills in half.

Two-thirds of Americans have private health insurance and the remainder have public health insurance. Nearly half of Americans receive health insurance through an employer. According to Aon, a business consultant, projects that the average healthcare costs for U.S. employers will increase 8.5% in 2024 to more than $15,000 per employee. Aon suggests that given the tight labor market, employers will absorb the increased cost rather than raise the employees’ contribution – that is already several thousands in premiums, deductibles, and copays. But we are asleep at the wheel. According to Forbes, employees spend 18 minutes selecting their benefits, and 42 percent wait until the last minute to enroll.

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban , the co-founder of the discount drug program, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., “[CEOs] waste a sh-tload of money on less than quality care for their employees, and more often than not it’s their sickest and lowest paid employees that subsidize the rebates and deductibles.” Until we can move to a system where financing healthcare is not tied to the employer, employers have to take the lead in reducing costs.

Bio

Throughout his career, Matt Ohrt has served as an influential executive leader, working for companies such as Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Badger Mining (#1 Great Place to Work in America awards), and as the Vice President of HR for Merrill Steel in Schofield, WI. While at Merrill Steel in Wisconsin, he led the company on a healthcare transformation journey to implement a multitude of healthcare services at no cost to employees and their families, such as onsite clinics, a mobile clinic (converted ambulance), physical therapy, chiropractic, MRI, bundled orthopedic surgeries, and a world-class wellness program. He has received numerous awards for his healthcare innovations. In 2018 Matt founded the Healthcare Best Practice Group. He has written a book about his plan, Save Your Company, Don’t Feed the Beast – The Employer Healthcare Success Formula.

Relevant Websites:

America Out Loud PULSE: The Highs and Lows of Medical Cannabis with Dr. Dustin Sulak

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Dr. Dustin Sulak – https://www.americaoutloud.news/the-highs-and-lows-of-medical-cannabis/

Pot, Mary Jane, weed, grass, and reefer are among the many names for marijuana. Marijuana is one strain of cannabis, the plant species that includes hemp. Hemp contains low levels of the psychoactive compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and marijuana has high levels. Another active compound in cannabis is cannabidiol (CBD) and it is non-psychoactive. Any Baby Boomers who indulged can confirm that the amount of THC in marijuana has increased over the last 25 years. In the mid-1990s, the average THC content of confiscated weed was roughly 4 percent. By 2014, it was about 12 percent, with a few strains of pot containing THC levels as high as 37 percent.

Cannabis was a key crop of the early American colonists. Indeed, one of our first president, George Washington’s main crops was hemp. In fact, the Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut colonies were required to grow it. Hemp was used for fabric and rope. It wasn’t until the mid 1800s that cannabis was sold in doctors’ offices and pharmacies for medicinal purposes in the United States, mainly for stomach problems.

Cannabis had been used medicinally and recreationally for thousands of years, with artifacts from China suggesting it was used for malaria, poor memory, gout, and rheumatism. Immigrants from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900 were primarily responsible for the start of recreational use in the U.S. Unfortunately, during the Depression and the Prohibition era, the focus shifted to outlawing cannabis as an evil brought here by Mexican immigrants. By 1931, 29 states had outlawed cannabis. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 made selling, possessing or transferring hemp products for anything but industrial use a crime. The first person to violate the Act was sentenced to 4 years of hard labor.

Although the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 repealed the Marijuana Tax Act, the law made marijuana a Schedule I drug, meaning it had no medical use and the potential for addiction. This is the category that includes heroin, ecstasy, and LSD! But things began to change when California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 legalized marijuana for medical use by chronically ill persons. Today medical marijuana is legal in all but 11 states, although it remains illegal under federal law.

Recreational marijuana has been gradually moving from the culprit in “Reefer Madness” to a mainstream indulgence. However, many fear complete legalization as cannabis – thanks to its narcotic Schedule I status – has not had the research it deserves. (Fortunately, the Department of Health and Human Services has recommended to the Drug Enforcement Administration that the cannabis be downgraded to the class of drugs with more safety and lower potential for abuse.)

Many doctors are not familiar with the types of cannabis and the various uses. It can sometimes help patients when other more mainstream medications and treatments have failed.

My guest today is an integrative medicine physician and a highly regarded national expert in the use cannabis.

Dr. Sulak’s website: Healer.com; HealerCBD.com

Bio

Dustin Sulak, D.O. is a renowned integrative medicine physician based in Maine, whose practice balances the principles of osteopathy, mind-body medicine, spirituality in healthcare, and medical cannabis. Dr. Sulak educates medical providers and patients on its clinical use. Dr. Sulak excels in the treatment of patients with conditions that have not responded well to conventional treatment. Dr. Sulak received undergraduate degrees in nutrition science and biology from Indiana University, a doctorate of osteopathy from the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, and completed an internship at Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency.

America Out Loud PULSE: Opioid Addiction and Settlement Funds with Dr. Molly Rutherford

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Dr. Molly Rutherford – https://www.americaoutloud.news/its-2024-what-is-happening-with-opioid-addiction-and-the-settlement-funds/

In 2020, 54 million U.S. adults were living with chronic pain. Management of non-cancer pain went through a slow evolution starting in 1980 to include opioids. While opioids are indicated in many types of pain, they carry potential risk of addiction and overdose. The National Institute on Drugs Abuse data in 2019 revealed that 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them; between 8 and 12 percent of people using an opioid for chronic pain develop an opioid use disorder.

In 1995, the pharmaceutical companies insisted that their new opioid pain relievers, particularly OxyContin, were safe and effective and not addictive. Not true. Worse yet, an April 13, 2022 congressional oversight committee report revealed that at least 22 McKinsey consultants were simultaneously working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on opioid safety and advising Purdue Pharma on how to influence the regulatory decisions of the U.S. FDA, as well as how to maximize sales. The bad behavior travelled down the food chain. For example, an email in the records of distributor AmerisourceBergen revealed during a state trial last year in West Virginia described their addicted consumers as “pillbillies” and referred to OxyContin as “hillbilly heroin.” Distributors also sent massive quantities of OxyContin to small rural communities clearly disproportionate to the population.

Now many of the major players in the prescription opioid debacle are paying the piper. Several physicians have been prosecuted – some unjustifiably – for overprescribing, others were a frank embarrassment to the profession by operating pill mills.

The national opioid settlement resolved thousands of civil lawsuits by state, local, and Native American governments. The lawsuits alleged that the sometimes sketchy business practices of many firms in the chain of commerce contributed to the opioid crisis. The national opioid settlements are the second-largest public health settlement of all time, following the $246 billion tobacco master settlement of the 1990s.

The largest pharmaceutical opioid distributors, (McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health) will pony up $21 billion and one manufacturer (Johnson & Johnson) will contribute $5 billion as well as cease manufacturing prescription opioids. Teva, Walgreens, and Walmart and several other smaller companies add to the financial mix.

The creator of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma (not to be confused with Perdue, the chicken supplier) entered into a separate settlement for $6 billion as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. While 60,000 vocal victims approved of, and were awaiting the funds, the federal government decided the terms immunizing Purdue’s owners, the Sacklers, from personal liability was not consistent bankruptcy law since the Sacklers did not declare personal bankruptcy. The case is currently in front of the Supreme Court and no ruling is expected until June 2024.

Who will control the funds? Currently several states have created councils that vary in their make-up but generally include health professionals, law enforcement, and victims of addiction. Importantly, where will the money go?

These councils are deciding on where to allocate the funds and are now the objects of multiple companies pitching their products. Most agree that the biggest portion should go to treatment by building treatment facilities and increasing access to medications for opioid use disorder, including for the uninsured, and providing naloxone to reverse overdoses. Some local governments want to use the funds to purchase law enforcement tools. Despite usefulness in curbing drug trafficking, as you can imagine, many groups are unhappy with this option. Additionally, many worry that as with the tobacco settlement, monies would go to unrelated projects.

My guest will share her expertise in addiction medicine and public policy.

*Dr. Rutherford’s website: Blue Grass Family Wellness: https://bluegrassfamilywellness.com

*To find how the settlement funds will be used in your area go to:

https://www.naccho.org/uploads/downloadable-resources/OpioidSettlementsPDFFinal.pdf

Bio

Molly Rutherford, MD, MPH is the founder, medical director, and physician at Bluegrass Family Wellness—a direct primary care clinic in Kentucky. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine, and employs a holistic approach to her patients’ physical health. She has more than a decade of experience treating opioid addiction.

America Out Loud PULSE: Do We Really Need to Take So Many Pharmaceuticals?

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Richard Amerling, MD – https://www.americaoutloud.news/do-we-really-need-to-take-so-many-pharmaceuticals-richard-amerling-md/#

The second opinion is—or should be—a staple of medicine. Second opinions can help you make better decisions about your health. In one large national survey, one-fifth of patients who saw a doctor in the past year sought a second opinion. According to one study, a second opinion affected treatment plans for 37 percent of patients and changed diagnoses for almost 15 percent.

And why should you get as second opinion? Sometimes your insurer requires one, especially for surgery or expensive treatments. I doubt they are looking out for you. They are likely making sure they can save a few bucks. If you have an unclear diagnosis or want an expert on your condition, you should definitely talk to another physician. It may turn out that the recommendations are the same. If you are still uncomfortable, get a third opinion.

One very important reason for getting a second opinion is that your current treatment is not working, is risky, and/or you have major side effects. You may wonder if such drastic treatment is actually necessary. On the flip side, always get a second opinion if your doctor tells you that you have no options. And remember to ask if waiting is an option.

I have a few personal rules about treatment. The doctor is not always right. In a trusting relationship, your doctor will welcome your questions and offer that you get another opinion. He or she will not be insulted if you ask whether the treatment is really necessary. Never feel rushed unless a real emergency. It’s your body; the final choice is up to you.

One of the things I can thank Covid for is that it exposed the flaws in the “follow the science” mantra. It got many doctors asking, whose science? Does anybody really have the last word in how to treat patients? Remember statins, low fat diets and countless other differing and changing opinions in medicine?

Unfortunately, during Covid, many doctors were whipped into submission by fear and intimidation. But standing your ground works. Physicians filed lawsuits against California’s AB 2098 (Sec. 2270 of Business and Professions Code). This was the “misinformation” law that threatened physicians with the loss of their licenses if they disagreed with the official “scientific consensus” on Covid-19. Then magically, this Covid misinformation law was quietly repealed by a late amendment provision (sec. 19) to Senate Bill 815.

In today’s episode, my guest and I will talk about medical opinions, medical consensus, and your overall health.

Bio

Dr. Richard Amerling is a board-certified internist/nephrologist with over 35 years of clinical experience, mostly in New York City.  In 2016, he took a position at St. George’s University and taught there until July 2021, when he refused the Covid vaccine. Dr. Amerling is Past-President of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. 

America Out Loud PULSE: The Impact of Social Justice and Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Medicine

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Elaina George, MD  – https://www.americaoutloud.news/the-impact-of-social-justice-and-artificial-intelligence-in-the-future-of-medicine/

After many years in medicine, I am amazed at all the new advances and that as clinicians we are in a constant state of learning. I think back to medical school and the rigorous science courses and long hours I put in to learn the skills to give great care patients.

It’s sickening that medicine is now burdened with an increase in violencefive times more than employees in all other industries. This is not just at the hands of the mentally ill. Patients are also frustrated by difficulty in getting attention due to staffing shortages and a variety of social issues. According to a JAMA study nearly 24 percent of physicians have endured “occupational distress” by verbal insults and harassment by patients and visitors.

According to a survey of medical students in 91 countries, 21 percent are considering quitting. A whopping 60 percent are worried about their current mental health. Some contributing factors include financial and academic pressures, and the worry of future shortages and burnout. In spite of the negatives, 89 percent of the students are devoted to improving patients’ lives.

Organizations are trying to improve the well-being of health care personnel starting with the medical students. The majority of medical schools have joined many universities and instituted pass-fail grading systems. Removing grades is meant to allow students to focus on studies, not grades. Additionally, the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 (basic science) score reporting shifted from a three-digit score to a simple pass-fail.

The AMA views this licensing exam grading change as a chance to improve student well-being. However, 86.2 percent of residency program directors listed the USMLE Step 1 score as an important factor in deciding which applicants to interview. The program directors are now looking for other attributes by which to judge applicants and to look at the student more holistically. They have to rely more on letters of recommendation and personal statements.

I do believe a well-rounded person is good for communication with patients and the ability to see the patient as a whole person. But will future doctors be taught more social justice than science? After all, they can look to Chat GPT for a diagnosis.

My guest, Dr. Elaina George, and I will discuss the changing face of medicine – in education and how it is practiced in light of the social justice movement and artificial intelligence.

Dr. George’s website: http://drelainageorge.com

Living in the Solution podcast: http://drelainageorge.com/podcast-2/

Book: Big Medicine: http://drelainageorge.com/product/big-medicine/

To find an independent physician go to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons website: https://aapsonline.org/direct-payment-cash-friendly-practices/.

Bio

Dr. Elaina George is a Board Certified Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, and Throat physician). She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Biology and received her Masters degree in Medical Microbiology from Long Island University. She earned her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr George completed her residency at Manhattan, Eye Ear & Throat Hospital. She is the author of Big Medicine: The Cost of Corporate Control and How Doctors and Patients Working Together Can Rebuild a Better System, a book which explores how the U.S. healthcare system has evolved and explains how patients and doctors can create a healthcare system that is based on the principles of price transparency with the power of the doctor patient relationship. She currently also has a radio show, Living in the Solution.

America Out Loud PULSE: Indoctrination, Antisemitism, and Empowering Humanity

From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Diana Blum, MD and Jason Littlefield – https://www.americaoutloud.news/indoctrination-antisemitism-and-empowering-humanity/

“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”  Harriet Tubman

One of the most important things we can do is keep trying. Sometimes it seems humanity and common sense has left the building.  Schools have allowed politics to infiltrate education. I’m not talking about a seminar or class in political science or a balanced discussion about history or current events. Now we see teachers openly announcing their political persuasion in class. Some go so far as to tell students for whom to vote. That’s not the civics class I remember. Even the Mayor gave no hint of his political party when he came to our class to encourage us to be involved in our city and to vote when we were old enough.

Ethnic Studies in high school. Now that’s a good educational idea gone bad. This was meant to teach students about history, cultures, struggles, and contributions of minority groups in our country that were sorely lacking in textbooks for years. But now, in the name of equity some schools have stopped academic honors programs. This is perverse. Clearly, the way to push lagging students forward is not by holding others back. Now some of the curricula are preaching a particular point of view. With the current Palestinian conflict, the perpetrators of barbarism and savagery upon babies are presented as resistance fighters, rather than terrorists in a conflict with an extremely complicated history.

I’ve lived through unfair housing, segregated school dances, and participated in sit-ins at Woolworths. There was a time when mean-spirited ethnic jokes were socially acceptable. But such racist behavior organically faded over the last 50 years and racial equality was on the rise. Diversity meant we interacted with all sorts of folks as fellow human beings. Now racism is being re-introduced.  The schools teach that the most important attribute of a person is their ethnicity, not their character. It is no wonder that we have a new wave of antisemitism running rampant in our schools and spinning out of control across the country.

We have to work to stop this dangerous trajectory. We all—especially children—need ways to strengthen our most positive traits and deal with our negative emotions. We need to learn how do we learn to live in a space grounded in human dignity rather than fear.

My guests will discuss what is happening in schools and how we can work to raise our children with a mindset of common humanity, not divisiveness.

Resources regarding antisemitism:

Bio

Dr. Diana Blum is a board-certified neurologist who completed her medical school training at the University of Chicago, Pritzker school of Medicine and her Neurology Residency training at Stanford University Medical Center. She is currently in private practice in Silicon Valley, California where she focuses on the chronic management of patients with Parkinson’s Disease. When not practicing clinical medicine, Dr. Blum is a fierce patient and physician advocate, defending Hippocratic oath medicine and the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship through education and activism.

Bio

Jason Littlefield has been an educator for over 20 years. From 2014 to 2021 he was a Social and Emotional Learning Specialist for the Austin Independent School District. In 2017 he established EmpowerED Pathways and co-designed the Empowered Humanity Theory, a framework for life, leadership, and learning. He recently has written a book, Empowered Humanity Theory, A Framework or an Empowering and Dignified Life. Jason has also served students and families from around the world, including Taiwan, China, and Benin, Africa.

1 2 3 11