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Likes, dislikes and reposts: The new age of the vascular surgery influencer
The brave new world of social media, with its TikToks and Kardashians, has now invaded our once-sane specialty. No, this is not a veiled reference to controversial swim attire events in our past, but rather a totally new phenomenon. Whether…
Has the risk in the value-based payment model been sold as another ‘shiny new object’?
Value-based payments (VBP), or “volume to value,” was the new buzz word over a decade ago, promising yet another chimera in ways to reimburse physicians and hospitals based upon “value,” instead of fee-for-service (FFS). VBP models link payment or compensation to…
Envision, private equity and patient care: Substituted values 2.0
He was only 41, already burdened with multiple health problems. Diabetes, hypertension and renal failure had put him on dialysis, caused the amputation of his left leg, and now left him with poor circulation in his right leg. Signs of…
Vascular surgeons: The ‘oncologists’ of the surgical arena
Like any good presentation I feel obligated to start with my disclosures: 1) I am married to a woman who decided to pursue a separate fellowship in bioethics, even after a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia. This means that every time…
An open letter to the National Rifle Association
Hello, I think it is time we talked about guns. I know you don’t like to discuss these things after a school shooting, so I waited. It has been four months since Uvalde. It seems there have been three more…
No time like the present: The moral imperative for advocacy in vascular surgery
“I’m so sorry but we have to cancel your surgery”—10 words any warm-blooded surgeon dreads uttering. This time around, it was not for the typical reasons. Our patients’ blood pressure wasn’t sky high in pre-op, and our case wasn’t being…
Tying healthcare waste and spending to productivity incentives
A 74-year-old woman was recently hospitalized for a pulmonary embolus from acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the mildly edematous left lower leg. She had previous DVT in the same leg 10 years ago, wore stockings and was active. She…
Cognitive dissonance, unhappy physicians and burnout
Emotional intelligence has been widely accepted as an important element of leadership. The seminal work of Daniel Goldman informs us that the education of leaders involves the four essentials of emotional and social intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness and social…
A modest proposal: Let’s eat the trauma surgeons
Well folks, after more than two years of the pandemic, racial injustice, and medical misinformation, I have decided it is time to return to writing about what I truly love: fake feuds with other specialties. Remember the heady days of…
War in Ukraine: A tale of unspeakable horror, unprecedented unity and unquenchable thirst for freedom
This editorial was written in the days leading up to April 2. At about 4 a.m. (Kyiv time) on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation aiming to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” A few…