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The problem is huge variation in care: some docs see a patient, treat her with oral meds, and get her home the same day, while other docs see a similar patient, admit her, put her on IV meds, do many expensive tests and keep her admitted for days. In my last post, I discuss another reason you should not assume a treatment is beneficial even if recommended by a doctor: too often, doctors accept treatments based on weak evidence. For every 10 women treated with the minimally invasive surgery rather than regular open surgery, one was harmed by having recurrence of cancer. For instance, the Cochrane Collaboration, a group of researchers the world over, cull evidence and publish what are called systematic reviews on medical/surgical treatments.

The reason I mentioned a trial comparing 2 types of hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) in women with early stage cervical cancer was not to opine on matters of cancer, but because the tragic story shows the harm doctors can do if we incorporate therapies without proper testing. The New England Journal of Medicine published a trial in which women with early cervical cancer were randomized to two types of hysterectomy: The results were shocking: 86% of women in the minimal-invasive arm were free of disease vs 96.5% in the open surgery. In the introduction of this paper, the authors write that current guidelines say either approach to this cancer is acceptable and “these recommendations have led to widespread use of a minimally invasive approach for radical hysterectomy, although there is a paucity of adequately powered RCTs.

Here are 600 words I wrote for Medium: I’m a Heart Doctor. Here’s Why I’m Wary of the New Apple Watch My colleague Patrice Wendling from theheart.org |Medscape Cardiology captured some of my positive comments on the watch: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/902018 If you like academic prose, here is an editorial I co-wrote on AF-screening for the influential medical journal, JAMA-Internal Medicine: Screening for Atrial Fibrillation Comes With Many Snags Also …

I could not remember the scenario but she said that my words had become part of her family’s stories. No matter the letters after one’s name (RN, APRN, PA, MD), the professional caregiver at the bedside can help or harm simply with our words. The person with the illness doesn’t know that we may be busy, or worried about our own children, or mad about administrative nonsense. Doesn’t the fact that our words have the power to influence people’s memories make this more than a job?