Jason Fodeman

The tragic death of Whitney Houston has once again shined the spotlight on the abuse of prescription drugs and the doctors who prescribe them. Legislators, experts and pundits are blaming physicians for liberally prescribing narcotics, but an honest debate must also examine how government policy has helped foster this crisis. (more)

New guidelines governing how long medical residents can be on duty were implemented this summer, but rather than solving a problem, these parameters jeopardize patient safety at our nation’s teaching hospitals. They do little more than pay lip service to curbing long shifts and fail to protect patients from fatigued, overworked residents. (more)

A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report calls for expanding the authority of nurses to practice medicine and for increasing their pay. Besides helping a loyal unionized constituency, the report claims that allowing nurses to do more can alleviate the physician shortage. In reality this will likely have the exact opposite effect by disincentivizing individuals from becoming medical doctors in the first place. Thereby, rather than improving patient access to physicians, these recommendations will make the problem even worse. (more)

When President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the emphasis may have been on the short-nose sucker fish or the golden-cheeked warbler, but it is doubtful anyone contemplated the “Humanis doctoris.” (more)

The president has been known to enjoy an exquisite steak. Besides exemplifying a two-tier system where the wealthy will always remain at the top of the food chain, what does this have to do with ObamaCare? More than one might think! Along with other failings, it does not control costs or simplify a smorgasbord of providers, services, and redundancies. The legislation neglects to cure shortcomings in a health care system that is nonetheless the envy of the world, while exacerbating its deficiencies by adding layers of bureaucracy. (more)

With health care passed, a Supreme Court nomination battle on the horizon, cap and trade inching back towards the front burner, and the eruption over the ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty insight, where is that leading voice of “Can’t we all just get along”? To paraphrase President Clinton, isn’t the era of big partisanship over with the mid February pronouncements of Senator Evan Bayh and the accompanying hosannas from the media. No! It’s only further evidence that unmitigated hypocrisy is alive and well in Washington DC. (more)

From volunteering at a local community hospital in high school to cramming for MCATs to pulling all-nighters in medical school to working 30-hour shifts every fourth night in residency, much of my 26 years has been devoted to medicine. (more)

The health care debate has offered much discussion about different ways to bend the cost curve down. While the administration was quick to offer its radical prescription allegedly to curtail health care spending, to this day there has been no attempt to ascertain its etiology. “What” the problem is (ahem, high health care costs) is obvious to all. But after months of speeches and interviews President Obama even now has yet to address the “why.” Why does health care cost so much in this country? (more)

Recently Mr. Obama’s health care strategy, delineated in an 11-page document that mentioned the word “tax” 35 times, was scraped after only being on the table for a mere ten days. Its presumed selling point was its “simplicity” i.e. fewer pages. The public was not fooled. No problem.  Team Obama went back to the drawing board and faster than one can say “it’s the exact same thing,” voila, they pulled another gimmick out of the hat. (more)