pediatric housecalls Robert R. Jarrett M.D. M.B.A. FAAP
Hello, and welcome to Pediatric House Calls. I am… A Physician board certified in Pediatric medicine with Clinical experience including caring for infants, children and teens – well these days mostly children and teens up to twenty-one; An Administrator experienced in top medical management for several national health insurance companies; An Author of health care manuals, newspaper columns and even children's stories; A Business Medical Consultant for drug companies, insurance companies and
physician practices; A Veteran of the US Navy in the Vietnam era;
And… I make House-Calls.
I read an article recently about the many medical breakthroughs the world would have missed if the detractors, naysayers and just plain and simple evil-intentioned haters had their way; and I decided to turn it into an article.
I’ve mentioned nine so far in the previous two parts including: Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis who was basically killed for suggesting his colleagues wash their hands; the vitriol made public by the new fangled internet against Dr. Prusiner over disease caused by proteins; and, the delay in cancer therapy caused by the “good ol’ boy’s.” Read more→
There are four causes of bowel obstruction in children: Herniation, Adhesions, Volvulus and Intussusception. I’ll describe the four (shown in photo) but expand a bit on intussusception—which is the topic of this article.
A bowel obstruction, inability of food to pass completely through the intestinal system unimpeded, can occur at any age and there are many causes; but, time has shown us that we can narrow the most probable causes down a bit based upon age. Read more →
In part one I already confessed to being in a profession full of egos which, like it or not, sometimes get in the way of rational consideration of things new or which are going against long used practices.
And I even asserted that pediatricians don’t have as much trouble with that as other specialists; proposing, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that it was because we were all used to dealing with adolescents whose very body language conveys that every adult around them “just doesn’t have a clue.” Read more→
It’s one thing to live 102 years and witness two generations of medical advancements and still quite another to be the one who made many of those advances!
Further, it’s even more unusual when the Decagenarian set out to do nothing but “be a good doctor” yet ended up with over 750 articles, 12 books and, get this, TWO lifetime achievement awards—why not he saw almost two lifetimes come and go. Read more →
Unfortunately, I’m in a profession where egos flair at the drop of a hat either through overwhelming skepticism, inordinate caution, debilitating fear of being wrong or as yet some unknown neurological or psychiatric condition.
I wish I was smart enough to write a definitive article on that, it would do the world a favor.
But I’m not, so this is not about that; it’s about the unfortunate result of all that—the often adolescent refusal to accept new knowledge when it is presented. Read more→
I’m sorry to say that my profession is no different than others when it comes to E G O! At least it is now.
As pathetic as it sounds, a person’s tolerance or consideration of new information (even the true kind) hangs upon: where or even who it is coming from, how far it departs from what you already think you know, and perhaps even more importantly how the change will effect the ego or pocketbook.
4 Posts in "Unaccepted Breakthroughs" Series
Major Medical Breakthroughs, unaccepted: Intro/Index – 22 Jul 2017 Human nature as it is, doctors not excepted, change is fought against tooth and nail if it at all offend either ego or pocketbook. This is a bit of history lesson on a few of our hard-won breakthroughs where not only the idea, but the discoverers were unaccepted, rejected and even attacked for their discoveries.
Part One - Handwashing, Incubators, Angioplasty, Cancer, Ulcers – 23 Jul 2017 Medical Breakthroughs Initially Ridiculed, Rejected or Persecuted. Yes, the doctor who suggested that other doctors wash their hands actually lost his life! There are many others: handwashing, incubators, angioplasty, cancer, ulcers, brain injury…
Part Two - Germs, proteins, heredity and immunotherapy – 31 Jul 2017 As if part one of this series wasn't enough—there are more! Incredibly, this was written long before COVID-19, mask mandates or BLM reinforcing the mantra "progress has no greater enemy than doctors (or politicians) with ‘vested interests masquerading as moral principles."
Part Three - rational scepticism, evil intent and concussions – 8 Aug 2017 Rational skepticism in one thing; but, deliberate and evil intent is quite the "bad brother from the dark side." Rejecting a reasonable and hard-won piece of medicine purely for financial and cover-your-a$$ reasons; well, I'm glad that Roger Godell and his NFL got caught with their dairy-aire's hanging out in public.
Brain injury from professional sports has a bleed-off in children’s sports as well. You can be better informed on that aspect in these posts about children’s concussions.
Let’s talk head lice for a moment. When I trained it wasn’t too difficult to diagnose or treat. THEN things began to change and the darn things started to become resistant to the medications we used to do them in—that, and the fact that there was found some degree of neurotoxicity which made us all nervous and VERY careful. Read more →
