Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Letter to our Patients in Support of Basic Human Rights and Access to Health Care
Colleagues and I have written a letter in support of access to health care and human rights more generally. Please feel free to sign the letter and, as importantly, forward the letter to all of your colleagues.
Vote Yes on 4 in MA–Time to Legalize Cannabis
We need to legalize marijuana and begin regulating and taxing it. Here is a piece covering a press conference yesterday morning on the step of the State House in Boston in support of legalizing marijuana. Marijuana is far from safe–whether someone … Continue reading
Do programs to help doctors with substance abuse treat them fairly?
Here is a newly published piece for the Conversation about physician health programs and the ways in which physicians who are suspected of having substance use disorders are treated.
Letter in NY Times about Psychologists’ Participation in Torture during the “War on Terror”
The letter can be found here . The fact that the US engaged in torture–by any international definition of torture– during our “war on terror” will go down as one of our most egregious ethical lapses. Even calling it a “lapse” … Continue reading
Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)
Co-author Alice LoCicero, PhD, and I wrote a piece in Psychology Today decrying CVE. We start by asking whether or not CVE is the new Cointel-Pro. And just what is Cointel-Pro? “Cointel-Pro (short for Counterintelligence Program) was launched “…in 1956 to … Continue reading
Can Trauma Trigger Violent Crime in Mentally Ill?
A piece in US News and World report about mental illness and violence: http://health.usnews.com/health-care/articles/2016-07-13/can-trauma-trigger-violent-crime-in-mentally-ill
BMJ highlights problems in physician health programs
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) recently printed a piece highlighting many of the problems with state Physician Health Programs (PHPs) that I have been writing about for several years. You can find the BMJ piece here: http://bit.ly/29dtSFC I am so … Continue reading
Only prescription is to remove insurers from the health care system–letter to the editor
I had a letter published in the Globe today: Re “How to provide Medicare for all” (Opinion, May 18): As Dr. Marcia Angell notes, the insurance industry profits by refusing to pay for needed care or else simply denying claims. … Continue reading
State Physician Health Programs: Where is the Science Behind Demanding Multi-Day Evaluations and Lengthy Treatment Stays?
I recently posted another slide presentation on QuantiaMD, this time about physician health programs entitled State Physician Health Programs: What You Need to Know. You can find it here. In the comment section following my presentation, one respondents writes the … Continue reading
Time Consuming Insurance Hurdles for Children and Adolescents in ERs who Need Psychiatric Hospitalization
A study that colleagues and I authored is being published online today in American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Here is the press release for the paper: A study published online on March 3 in American Journal of Emergency Medicine found … Continue reading