"When many cures are offered for a disease, it means the disease is not curable" -Anton Chekhov
''Once you tell people there's a cure for something, the more likely they are to pressure doctors to prescribe it.'' -Robert Ehrlich, drug advertising executive.
"Opinions are like sphincters, everyone has one." - Chris Rangel
Rodney Dangerfield Medicine:Family Medicine Notes, the oldest of the active medical blogs (And the second blog in medical blog history. The first one is dormant.) says family medicine don’t get no respect. I’ve experienced the same thing he describes. Even worse, I’ve seen specialists ignore the advice of the primary care physician to the detriment of the patient. Just last weekend I was covering for a colleague who explicitly told the cardiologist that a patient had a history of bad reactions to beta-blockers and that he should avoid them. He was brushed off, and sure enough, the patient tanked over the weekend, with no cardiologist in sight. I suspect all generalists have experienced this form of prejudice. But like all prejudice, it’s really just a form of egotism. I’ve noticed that the best specialists - those who are good at caring for patients - don’t seem to suffer from it.
