Randomized Controlled Trials of COVID-19 Treatments: Why the World Needs Them

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, much has been said, often disparagingly, about the insistence by physicians and scientists for the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs.) Why, ask the naysayers, can’t we simply start using treatments, such as hydroxychloroquine, which show early promise? An RCT is a means of testing a hypothesis, such …

For Patients with Kidney Failure, “Medicare for All” Exists. What are the lessons?

In the debate about “Medicare for all,” what is known about the consequences – intended and unintended – of instituting publicly funded health care? For approximately 750,000 Americans currently with advanced kidney failure, Medicare funding has been in place for nearly fifty years. In 1972 – seven years after passage of the original legislation – …

Physician education: how your doctor’s training affects your health

 A Missed Diagnosis:   Our Badly Broken Physician Education System Seventy-eight-year-old Mr. S lay in his hospital bed, nearly comatose, having undergone a routine hip replacement the day before.  I was the kidney specialist, consulted to evaluate his abrupt drop in urine output and kidney function. While examining him, my gaze settled on the balloon-like protrusion of …