Q: How have physicians tried to determine if someone is suicidal?
A: In really primitive ways. We basically ask people: Are you going to kill yourself? If they say yes, we lock them up until they can convince us they are no longer at risk. But we can’t rely on what patients tell us.
Levi Brown
A Matter of Taste
Science is unraveling the biological factors that determine food preferences. Next: making people like what’s good for them.
Somber Questions
Though critics call them overprescribed, ineffective and worse, the real story on antidepressants is more complicated.
Enter Hospitalists
Becoming ubiquitous, these on-the-spot physicians provide immediate care and may cut hospital costs. The jury’s still out on quality.
Care on the Street
Homeless patients suffer multiple afflictions that most doctors never see. Innovative programs are reaching and helping them.
The Timekeepers Within
Clock genes keep circadian rhythms in sync, coordinating cells’ essential work and possibly enhancing well-timed therapies.
A Premium on Gender
Insurers attribute higher premiums for women than men of the same age because of the increased cost of women’s care.
Failure Redefined
A mother assures doctors who tried to save her son from an incurable disease that their compassionate care was a true success.
Our clinical investigators often design protocols testing new agents in combination with existing drugs. If those existing drugs are not available, the trial may need to be halted. This action delays the opportunity to bring new lifesaving treatments to cancer patients.
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parsimonious care [pär-sə-mō-nē-əs ker] n: a practice encouraged by guidelines from the American College of Physicians, lauded by some as a high-profile acknowledgment of the need to control skyrocketing medical costs but criticized by others as an opportunity for physicians to withhold care.
