General Medicine

ENCORE: Q&A with Leyla, Part 1: Liver Pain
December 27, 2023
What doctors wish patients knew about dietary supplements...according to the American Medical Association; I feel pain in my liver although my liver enzymes are normal. Should I get a biopsy?; I'm on blood thinners and have a peptic ulcer. Can I take turmeric, fish oil, and collagen?; I think I have nerve damage from a recent blood draw gone awry. Is it permanent? Any intervention you would advise? Click HERE for part 2.

Saving the Art of Medicine with Dr. Allen Sussman, Part 1
December 14, 2023
Medicine is rushing full throttle into the technological and informational age. CAT scans and MRIs have become commonplace, and limb prosthetics have been developed that can be controlled by the mind. Artificial intelligence is assisting doctors in various areas, from clinical diagnosis to surgery. In many ways, the role of the doctor seems to be shrinking. Dr. Allen Sussman, author of "Saving the Art of Medicine: Observations of a Practitioner," argues that medicine should be more than just the treatment of a diseased or broken body part. Rather, physicians must respect the complex interrelationships of mind, body, and spirit, seeking always to connect the part to the whole. Click HERE for part 2.

Saving the Art of Medicine with Dr. Allen Sussman, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Allen Sussman, author of "Saving the Art of Medicine: Observations of a Practitioner." Click HERE for part 1.

Restoring the Patient Focus in our Healthcare System, Part 1
September 19, 2023
Inspired by witnessing and experiencing the changes in healthcare and its delivery system over the past five decades, Dr. Henry Buchwald, author of "Healthcare Upside Down: A Critical Examination of Policy and Practice," comments on the current state of healthcare in the United States. It appears that healthcare has been turned upside down to serve the administrators of the system and away from its basic function of offering the best care for patients. He details ways we can turn the current healthcare system right-side up to serve those who should be the ultimate beneficiaries – all of us as patients. Click HERE for part 2.

Restoring the Patient Focus in our Healthcare System, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Henry Buchwald, author of "Healthcare Upside Down: A Critical Examination of Policy and Practice." Click HERE for part 1.

What’s wrong with the American healthcare system? Part 1
August 31, 2023
What’s wrong with the American healthcare system? We had one of the world’s worst fatality rates with Covid and we trail most advanced countries in life expectancy. At the same time, we spend way more per capita on medical treatments. Matthew Rees, founder of Food and Health Facts, offers his incisive views on how to improve our nation’s health: we need more education, for the public and for health professionals; perverse incentives like subsidies for poor quality food need to be eliminated; and certain forms of food advertising to impressionable kids should be prohibited . Rees addresses the limitations of newly-popularized weight loss drugs. He discusses why health disparities are widening among Americans. And he offers lessons from the pandemic. Overall, his message is that we need to apply the same precision to prevention that we currently leverage toward development of pricey high-tech medical breakthroughs. Click HERE for part 2.

What’s wrong with the American healthcare system? Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Matthew Rees, founder of Food and Health Facts, on how to improve our nation’s health. Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: The Tyranny of Evidence-Based Medicine, Part 1
August 29, 2023
Dr. Richard Amerling is a board-certified nephrologist and Past-President of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). He currently serves as Associate Medical Director of America’s Frontline Doctors. What is EBM? Originally intended to bring scientific rigor to the practice of medicine, EBM has been hijacked to further the aims of BigPharma to standardize drug and vaccine protocols with sketchy evidence of safety and efficacy. EBM robs physicians of autonomy and limits their therapeutic options. The result is a kind of paint-by-numbers medicine. Dr. Amerling discusses how this has restricted plausible therapies for Covid; other examples include past campaigns to exaggerate the benefits of cholesterol drugs, installing them as “standard of care”. With their pliant enablers in the media, governments are leveraging EBM to limit what drugs and therapies are available to patients. Click HERE for part 2.

ENCORE: The Tyranny of Evidence-Based Medicine, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Richard Amerling, board-certified nephrologist and Past-President of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). He currently serves as Associate Medical Director of America’s Frontline Doctors. Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: The Twists and Turns of Humans’ Evolutionary Path, Part 1
May 18, 2023
Alex Bezzerides Ph.D. is a professor of biology and author of "Evolution Gone Wrong: The Curious Reasons Why Our Bodies Work (Or Don't)." He contends our bodies are imperfect, the result of evolutionary compromises between conflicting imperatives. For example, big brains enabled humans to develop technology and language; but our big heads have doomed women to painful and perilous deliveries. Developing an upright posture enabled us to free our remarkable hands; but standing also cursed us with back, knee, and ankle problems. Bezzerides applies this paradigm to other health problems we’re prey to: crooked teeth, failing eyesight, choking deaths, and hernias. Are humans still evolving when we have medical technology to prevent nature from “culling the herd”? Are obesity and blood sugar problems holdovers of traits that once furthered our survival? Dr. Bezzerides is the biology professor I wish I’d had! Click HERE for part 2.