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Medicine for People!

Medicine for People!

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Medical Costs 1940-2006

Part 1 With any job you gain a perspective that outsiders never gain. I have been "inside" the system both as a patient and as a doctor.

2026-11-15

Good Germs, Bad Germs

Doctors know antibiotics are overused, yet about a third of outpatient prescriptions, and half of those for respiratory infections, still offer no benefit and real risk: resistant infections and C.

2026-11-15

Flu, Travel, Seasickness

In 2026, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) has replaced amantadine (Symmetrel) for the flu. The seasickness remedy is still effective and available only by prescription because not everyone can safely use it.

2026-11-07

Dealing With Addiction

Drug court is still transforming lives here in Jefferson County. It's become clear that the officials involved and named below play a key role, without which the program suffers.

2026-10-26

Make Our Roads Safer

Over 60 years of driving, I've been stopped for speeding several times and ticketed about half of those times. I have never contested a ticket Here's why.

2026-10-12

Check-List for Elder Health Care: Looking Ahead

Recently a patient consulted me about her 93 year old mother, crippled with painful arthritis. No ordinary pain medication allowed her mother to move comfortably.

2026-10-05
  • Medical Costs 1940-2006
    27 min read 2026-11-15

    Part 1 With any job you gain a perspective that outsiders never gain. I have been "inside" the system both as a patient and as a doctor. My years inside the system have colored my views, so let me tell you about them. All my life I'd been about the smallest kid in my class at school.

  • Good Germs, Bad Germs
    6 min read 2026-11-15

    Doctors know antibiotics are overused, yet about a third of outpatient prescriptions, and half of those for respiratory infections, still offer no benefit and real risk: resistant infections and C. difficile. What I wrote in 2009 holds up.

  • Flu, Travel, Seasickness
    1 min read 2026-11-07

    In 2026, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) has replaced amantadine (Symmetrel) for the flu. The seasickness remedy is still effective and available only by prescription because not everyone can safely use it. There are more ways to prevent the "flu" than a flu shot.

  • Dealing With Addiction
    8 min read 2026-10-26

    Drug court is still transforming lives here in Jefferson County. It's become clear that the officials involved and named below play a key role, without which the program suffers. The intervening years have shown that the people involved matter.

  • Make Our Roads Safer
    1 min read 2026-10-12

    Over 60 years of driving, I've been stopped for speeding several times and ticketed about half of those times. I have never contested a ticket Here's why. One night in the 1970s, in the emergency department at Burien General Hospital, a young man hit by a careless driver died while I worked to save him. I couldn't.

  • Check-List for Elder Health Care: Looking Ahead
    7 min read 2026-10-05

    Recently a patient consulted me about her 93 year old mother, crippled with painful arthritis. No ordinary pain medication allowed her mother to move comfortably.

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