New York Times Articles

LETTERS : An Insidious Infection in Indiana
Published: March 18, 2009

To the Editor :

“Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health,” by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, March 12), addresses a topic of paramount importance, the epidemic of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in our community.

Mr. Kristof draws an association between the occurrence of community-acquired MRSA in a farm town in northwestern Indiana to the death of a family doctor. From the facts presented, there is no evidence that the doctor died of MRSA. Without a proper investigation, such anecdotal information may deter doctors from caring for MRSA patients. Recall the early stages of the H.I.V. epidemic.Read More

The Germs Are Potent. But So Is a Kiss.
Published: August 05, 2008

“I have been waiting to see you, and I want answers now,” my patient said angrily as I entered her hospital room.

Like a silent guard, her husband stood three feet from her, costumed in olive-green gloves and a bright yellow paper gown. Read More

Essay : Putting Pay on the Line to Improve Health Care
Published: September 04, 2007

Every quarter I get together with my partners to review the performance of our medical practice. Like a manager of a car dealership, I bring out the numbers. I show them how many patients we saw in the previous months, what we billed, how much we collected.

Yet too often we fail to answer some crucial questions: What is the quality of our care? How well or poorly are our patients doing? When it comes to those with pneumonia, for instance, did we deliver an appropriate antibiotic in a timely fashion? At the hospitals where we practice, is the mortality rate for congestive heart failure higher or lower than the national average? Read More

Recognizing a Sacred Bond Sometimes Obscured
Published: January 23, 2007

I carry the card in the glove compartment of my car. It is not a Valentine’s card from my wife, or a graduation card from my mother. It is a simple greeting card, with a cheerful watercolor of wildflowers, sent to me by a patient I cared for after moving to Memphis.

She was an attractive 34-year-old medical detailer who was engaged to be married until she became inexplicably short of breath. First her doctors thought it was asthma, then bronchitis. Read More

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