Diet and Nutrition. Natural Health, and Healthy Living

If the world is really bigger, if you can find the best in the world to do what you want, no matter what it is you want, does that change things?

If I need heart surgery, I can find the world's best heart surgon. If I need an actinic keratosis looked at, I can find the best dermatologist. If I need SEO help, get me the world's best SEO person. If I need breast implants, I can find the best breast implanter in my area. Not the second-best or someone who will try really hard or someone who is pretty good at that and also good at other things. Sure, there are times when a diagnostician with wide-ranging experience is important (but I'd argue that that's a specialty in and of itself).

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Insurance for Medical TouristsJust a brief backgrounder first. Sometime back, I contacted BUPA International, a worldwide health insurance company. I asked them whether they allow their members to travel abroad specifically for treatment, to a specific country. Their response ( with a lot of caveats and ifs and buts (more...)

Do you think it there should be more medical marijuana clinics across the world?

Or would this unnecessarily promote smoking marijuana to everyone?

We especially would like to hear from medical marijuana patients, who have been given permission to buy medical marijuana from legal marijuana clinics.

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MedBlog Power 86/18/2008 - 6/25/2008
Next revision: 6/25/2008

(Key: Rank, Blog name, Last week's rank, Post of note)

1) Rural Doctoring (3), Rural's Schedule: How to Have a Life

2) Health Beat (2), Do We Need to Ration End-of-Life Care? There Is a Better Way (Part I)
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Over at the incomparable Health Beat Blog, Maggie Mahar does an excellent job summarizing the implications of severalnewarticles published in PLoS Medicine on the woeful state of media coverage of health care and biomedical research.

We've noted our concern with these issues on severaloccasionshere on MH Blog. Mahar writes:

the journal’s editors summarize what the Health News Review has discovered over the past two years while evaluating medical stories about new products and procedures throughout the mainstream media.

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CALPIRG Expresses Deep Disappointment in Senate’s Failure to Pass Health Care Reform We are deeply disappointed in the lack of action by the Senate Health Committee today. The failure to vote for health care reform was in effect a vote for the status quo. Our current health care system, with skyrocketing costs and six million uninsured Californians, is unacceptable and unsustainable. To add to current problems, today the Senate Pro Tem and (more...)

There are lots of hangover cures reported by many people. Some are old wives tails and others are brilliant helping you through the difficult sick feelings. I have used marijuana a number of times to relieve the affects of the hangover.

Do you think marijuana could be used as medicine to fix hangovers?

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The low adoption rate of electronic recordsAn early-release NEJM study is getting some much-needed airplay in mainstream media. About time they caught up to what's been discussed on the medical blogs for some time now.

Here's one reason why physicians aren't implementing electronic records:
Unless electronic medical records are fully funded, the majority of independent practicing physicians do not have any incentive to make the switch.
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Stuart Sutton: Supplementing the primary care incomeThe following is a reader take by Stuart Sutton.

The U.S. Dept of Labor says that the number of people working 2nd jobs is the highest in 15 years. The motivation is, as would be expected, not just more income for enhancement of lifestyle, but a need for such to stay financially afloat.

There is often debate about whether doctors are paid a reasonable amount for their work. This is especially true with primary care, which, for many reasons has been less well reimbursed than other specialties.
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