tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076734524754832002024-03-05T00:01:51.069-08:00Above All, Do No Harmmerlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-19232791587556501302017-08-02T01:50:00.000-07:002024-01-02T00:52:06.632-08:00Truth-telling and Disclosure In MedicineFive years ago, a dear friend passed on. I did not even know she was sick. She was only 46 years old and stayed for a month and a half at the intensive care unit because of post-operative complications. She underwent major abdominal surgery after she was diagnosed with a malignant growth in her stomach. The surgery took 11 hours to finish. A few hours post-op, she developed respiratory failure merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-69891567652904436302015-09-07T23:17:00.002-07:002015-09-07T23:17:33.104-07:00What Is So Funny About Death?
As health professionals and workers, death and suffering is a natural occurrence that we deal with everyday. So much so that many of us have developed a callous and apathetic attitude towards it, even to the point where we make fun and laugh about it. Just this morning as I opened my Facebook, the first thing I saw was that of a status post about the "heavens opening" and following that, merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-85599898048018112592015-06-11T00:21:00.000-07:002015-06-11T00:21:22.678-07:00When No One Grieves...
In the hospital, we experience death and dying daily but because we are
so used to seeing it everyday that it has become "ordinary"...in other
words, a part of our daily routine, so that hospital workers are
perceived to be callous to pain and suffering. How often do I get
complaints about how our emergency room staff behaves while the dead
patient is still in the ER...like how merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-26115659760826197452014-03-27T01:05:00.002-07:002015-10-14T21:34:35.433-07:00Why I Do Not Support the RH Bill
This post first came out in my other blog Politika-et-Kultura on February 23, 2011. The original RH Bill discussed below had revisions since then, but the current version that was eventually passed as The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (informally known as the RH Law) by Congress and the Senate, is for me just as unsatisfactory as the original. I believe it's merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-61729734177151979922012-08-05T09:26:00.001-07:002014-03-27T00:37:00.048-07:00Stop The Debates: Pass The Freakin' RH Bill >:(
The past few days, there has been so much debate on the Philippine Reproductive Health (RH) Bill both in mainstream and social media due to the fact that this week Congress will be voting on it. For the record, I am an Anti-RH Bill advocate, BUT I realized that the only way to conclude this never ending debate that is not doing this country any good, is to PASS THAT FREAKIN' BILL!
merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-3322668417405910702012-07-15T10:43:00.001-07:002012-08-10T20:16:20.335-07:00The Dying Patient
The Daily Telegraph, a UK paper has this health article posted on their website. The title is Hospitals "letting patients die to save money". It should not surprise me since euthanasia seems to be a desirable option now-a-days for people in more developed countries who does not want to suffer from a debilitating or terminal illness. But still, news like this continue to merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-61649514235672473682012-05-25T10:08:00.003-07:002012-07-11T08:11:22.426-07:00The Filipino Patient's Rights
All of us at one time in our lives will experience some sort of illness and become patients. But, does every patient know their rights? Beginning in 2010 hospitals in the country were required by the Department of Health (DoH) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) to post these rights prominently around their premises, particularly in the emergency room, clinics and wards.&merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-56404003445149954092012-05-04T11:17:00.000-07:002012-06-23T07:56:57.570-07:00Rational Drug Use
The Philippines, compared to it's neighbor countries has the highest drug prices in Asia next to Japan. Medicines are priced way too high beyond the reach of
ordinary Filipinos so much so that many patients die, not because medicines are unavailable but primarily patients cannot afford to buy them. This high cost is due to an unregulated free-market forces that
wreak havoc on the merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-76490109988801553252012-04-19T19:03:00.000-07:002012-06-23T07:57:22.736-07:00The Health Risks of Oral Contraceptives
I do not know if the non-medical advocates of hormonal contraceptives for birth control
have their information wrong or they are just like those health professionals who are succumbing to pressures from health policy makers and government. I say this because it seems to me that there is a continuous refusal to see the facts
that indeed there have been many documented adverse reactions merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-73749378785201546202012-04-19T10:07:00.001-07:002012-06-23T07:57:38.071-07:00Teaching Empathy In Health Care
As a member of the medical profession, it is painful to see a
progressive decline in empathy and conscientiousness in recent years
among healthcare providers especially among new doctors. Medicine is a
service career and what the patients need are compassionate,
conscientious and caring doctors who will be role models for all other
health care providers. The noble dictum of service merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-2325818828371991692011-12-28T03:43:00.000-08:002012-06-23T07:57:50.209-07:00Virtues Of A Healthcare Professional
Virtues are defined as positive traits of character to think and act in ways that are good. It is to do what is morally right. I will not attempt to discuss the concept or philosophy of virtues as a whole, that is not my area of expertise. But I have been in the health care industry and teaching profession long enough to know that the character of a person is not given much weight merlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807673452475483200.post-78198184436351534082009-08-13T23:03:00.000-07:002015-06-10T23:21:20.214-07:00Damn If You Do, Damn If You Don't!
I have been feeling really down the past few days.
I now know what it
feels like to be hated and maligned. In my adult life, in spite of my candid nature, I have tried to
make a conscious effort not to offend people...unfortunately,
inadvertently in my work and the position I hold I cannot totally avoid
it. I am often misunderstood and my good intentions become suspect. I know that whatmerlmdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07407286481553054112noreply@blogger.com1