MESOPHONIA

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

Mesophonia

The Ivanov family sat at the table for dinner. Mother slurped on her soup, chomped on raw celery, and chewed on a piece of meat.

“Mother, shut up!” Olga stormed off and catapulted into her bedroom. The slurping was a giant wave sucking her into the deep ocean. It was smothering her. The chomping and the chewing sound were a hungry lion crushing her cranium between its teeth. The cacophony hammered on her skull. The dining room was a haunted-house, and her mother was a monster. Olga spent the rest of the day alone.

Five years have past. Olga avoids her mother. They never eat together. They sit in separate bedrooms. They travel in separate cars. Olga suffers from a rare disease called mesophonia.

What is going on with Olga? The brain processes sound that affects her emotions. A strong connection exists between the autonomic nervous system and the limbic system. It’s abnormal.

Is there a cure to help Olga with the stress and the anger she feels from these sounds?

SOUND THERAPY helps. Tapes and CDs are available on the Internet. It filters high frequency sounds. HABITUATION THERAPY offers relief. It uses broadband sound generators, and engages the auditory system. It lessens auditory contrast between a quiet background noise and the trigger noise. COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY offers relief. So does COLOR NOISE, which has a bias towards certain range of frequencies. Other therapies that helps are HYPNOSIS and ACUPUNCTURE.

There is no cure. Olga will have to try the tentative help available until one day the cure will come.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

Same-Sex Marriage

“I do!” is what I would say to marriage equality.

Congratulations, President Obama, on agreeing on same-sex marriage.

The world should treat gays and lesbians like any other human being. We must have a powerful bond with them. We live and breathe the same air. Some of them defend our nation. The ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is over, and gay and lesbian soldiers at home and abroad have the inalienable right to matrimonial ties.

Marriage is about love and commitment. Gender has nothing to do with it. It is a way to show love, and reinforce family ties. We must uphold a vigil for equality. Political leaders, religious heads and philosophical advisers all over the world who influence citizens must unite, and agree on equality of human sexuality. They must not play gods. The power of the people is greater than the people in power.

The church says homosexuality is a sin. May I remind them that sin is a state of mind created by the church to instill fear. Those in glasshouses should not throw stones. What about those who do not believe in the man-made scriptures? What about justice for all?

Without doubt, President Obama’s declaration will influence the world. England and France have joined him. Obama is a trend- setter! Already Finland, Denmark, Nepal, Brazil, Columbia and Uruguay are gearing up to join the trend. Canada, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands and South Africa are already allowing gay marriages. Millions of gay couples worldwide have been making secret commitments to each other since the birth of man. So, what is the big deal?

In the days of slavery, whites could not marry blacks – and the other way around. Do you see the trend? Or are we still enslaved by the pope, the bishops, the priests and the gurus? Many of them do not practice what they preach. Is the church creating a new form of slavery? In a democratic society, everyone should be equal before the law.

Obama Care is good healthcare! Love and sex is the best cure for health and longevity. We’re born with that instinct. It’s in the genes. I am not gay, but I empathize with them. Let’s raise our glasses, and toast to the ‘same-sex’ brides and grooms all over the world! One world! One purpose! One destiny!

Deadly Disease in our Backyard

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

A thousand cases of whooping cough in the United States! That’s according to the Center for Disease Control. In 2011 there were 965 cases. In 2010 in California alone, 9, 143 got whooping cough. The United States reported 27, 550 cases in 2010.

How do we decrease the illness?

How do we prevent the infant death from whooping cough?

How do we protect adults?

Whooping cough occurs in under-vaccinated population. Why? Some people worry about the isolated side effects. Some people’s religious beliefs won’t allow the immunization. Although I respect people’s beliefs, the reality of death from whooping cough is not something I respect. I care for children in day care centers and schools. I like to protect vulnerable patients in and out of hospitals. I practice conventional and alternative medicine, but I have to know when to stop one treatment modality and start another. Our job is to preserve life, and while we argue to boost our doctoral egos, our patients may die. Let it not be so, or we’ll be doing more harm than good. Pertussis encephalitis is deadly!

Should I not go to endemic areas of whooping cough? Travel, but make sure your immunization is complete. Don’t put yourself at risk. There are two types of DTaP vaccines. DTaP for infants and children, and Tdap for adolescents and adults. If you have confidence in your doctor, discuss immunization with him. All immunization for all ages should be free. Obama’s National health insurance is the umbrella to protect you against preventive diseases.

Be wise, immunize!

What Should Medical Students Be Taught

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

Retrain the doctors!

Educate the professors!

Update the curriculum!

Most medical schools still follow the syllabus of the 20^th century. They train student doctors on the health problems of the society or the country. Knowledge and new technology means that medical schools must adapt to modern times if we’ll respond to the health needs of our population. Diseases evolve, and new ones pop their ugly heads. Migration, environmental factors and nutrition play a role in this evolution.

I attended Moscow’s Patrice Lumumba University. We had an equal-level relationship. We laughed and talked with the professors. We attend dances together. We respect and listen to them like children listen to their parents – or should. The old top-down, doctor-student relationship in major medical schools has to change into more of a participatory approach. This will break down the barrier, and medical students will stop feeling alienated from the full system. In other words, the students will begin to have trust in their superiors, and help to reframe their character arc into loving personalities. Patients benefit immensely.

Lecturers need to take continuing medical education courses, and foster closer relationships with medical students. Old professors, still hiding in the nooks of their profession must give way to younger, modern-age professors.

Let the new curriculum include Primary Health Care and Community Medicine, Medical Ethics, Medical Malpractice, and Insurance Fraud – with emphasis on the ill effects of greedy behavior. Patients ask questions on alternative treatments, and more than half of them are already popping herbs and taking acupuncture and other nonconventional procedures. This should be in the curriculum of all medical schools so that we might know when to stop one treatment modality and start the other. Graduating doctors only recite The Hippocratic Oath at graduation. Medical schools should teach it as part of a discipline before graduation.

We will then produce doctors in a near-utopian environment – doctors who will do no harm.

Is there a way that private health care can work? What needs to change?

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

In Canada, my younger sister died because she had to wait too long to get surgical treatment for breast cancer. My Canadian-Naturalized mother told me she could get a free operation for her sister who was in Toronto illegally. All my mother had to do was to agree to give her name for her sister. A good friend of mine with lung cancer had to wait nine months to get an MRI done to confirm the diagnosis. She died.

National healthcare is the utopian answer to health care needs. Is it practicable? We want to disbelieve the reality of it. Maybe a bipartisan healthcare delivery of government and private delivery might be of help. It’s working in Switzerland and France.

Government and private health insurance companies in Canada and the United States should come together and iron out the discrepancies in both universal and private health care. Government might do well to drop some of the responsibilities they find difficult to deal with, and let the experienced private health insurance companies deal with them. The private sector should listen to government recommendations. These would include reducing premium and deductable, and ponder coverage for preexisting condition, and chronic diseases after age sixty-five. Government should be responsible for preventive care. Health administration should fall under a joint corporation. The corporation should cover clinical work: medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, laboratory and diagnostics.

We are dealing with politicians and doctors. Politicians lie, and doctors cheat. The combination is detrimental. Doctors were running from the universal healthcare of Russia. They have been leaving England’s national healthcare, and racing to Canada. Universal Healthcare wasn’t working for many of them in Canada. They rushed to the United States. So, can government alone take on the task of national health care? No. A hybrid system of government and private insurance must compromise and collaborate.

Second Opinions

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

A patient, with wrinkled forehead, haunted eyes and a forced smile, came to see me. “Doctor, I’ve been having chest pains for the past month. I checked Google and it says I have angina pectoris. A TV advertisement said medication X is good for the chest pain. What do you think?”

The Internet has changed the practice of medicine. Should we comply with it? Should we rebuke the patient for seeking help on the Internet? The answer is no. We must now take the second opinion, put it in the complaint section of our charts, and do our own examination to confirm or challenge the Internet’s opinion. We then convince the patient of the professional diagnosis, and treat as necessary. Patients do not know differential diagnosis. We are the professionals who spend seven to ten years of medical training. We should convince our patients of that. The patient’s Internet and TV diagnosis is an opinion. It might be right. It might be wrong.

I encourage my patients to be responsible for their health and welfare. It makes life easier, and puts patients in control. I convince them of my professional opinion, and offer my guidance. If I consider it necessary, I would refer them to a specialist for a further professional opinion. The referral must be dictated by reason. If I refer only to please the patient, I would be doing wrong. If I send the patient to a money-hungry specialist-friend, I would be guilty of medical malpractice.

Through greed, the pharmaceutical companies have embarked on repeated TV campaigns. They brainwash people into getting their doctors to prescribe drugs. While I encourage patients to be in charge, I discourage this practice. It confuses patients. It annoys them if I refuse to prescribe from TV advertisements.

As a patient, if you are not feeling better, get another opinion. Go to a different doctor if the first one is arrogant and self-opinionated. If he is greedy, wanting you to return for unnecessary visits, leave him. If you sense a doctor is guilty of medical malpractice or insurance fraud, or breach of ethics, report him to the medical ethics committee, or equivalent body, and run for another opinion.

Have a second opinion, but let a diagnosis from an honest, professional doctor take precedence.

Universal Health Care! Is this the answer to our ills?

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

It’s the health coverage for citizens from the cradle to the grave. No deductable. No exemption for pre-existing conditions. It covers primary health, ambulatory, in-patient care, catastrophic care, and prescription drugs. It’s a not-for-profit prepayment scheme, and offers a capitation provider payment mechanism. The system ensures sustainability, and quality assurance measures. A single, affordable contribution covers household dependants. The system deducts income-earners premium from salaries as taxes. It’s social care through compulsory health insurance.

Is this medical utopia?

Social Assistance covers those who can’t afford contributions. This involves government expense. Are we cutting national health care expense, but use the fund to pay social assistance health needs? While I see the virtues of Universal Health Care, are we saying government will spend less and, through taxation, the citizens pay for healthcare?

Private health insurance and their political cronies are mad at politicians for implementing Universal Health Care. The insurers are qualified to do health insurance. We’re taking away their business. Selfish doctors charge enormous fees. The insurance companies see the avarice as an opportunity to raise premiums sky-high and to have a cut-off period: the older you get, the quicker they drop you. The gluttony continues. No wonder they oppose Universal Health Care. They’ll stop getting richer. That hurts! Universal care still has room for supplemental care. That’s not enough for insurers. They want more!

With Universal Health Care, are we not raising the government debt ceiling? According to The New Yorker, May 2, 2011, BETTER PILLS by James Soroiecki, The US government needs to eliminate two trillion dollars in federal spending in ten years. Medicare cost increased 8.3 percent annually, according to the article. The present health care system is rife with waste, unnecessary procedures, malpractice and crime. Fee-for-service payments encourage doctors to be voracious and to give unnecessary high-cost procedures. If the politicians implement universal healthcare as planned, according to Soroiecki, the politicians could cut the long-term deficit by more than a trillion dollars. Patients want to choose their own doctors. They don’t want doctors to leave Medicare because of low fees. The whole organization is chaotic. We don’t know it all. It would be prudent to study other countries’ approach to health management.

Universal Health Care works in Europe, Australia, Singapore, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Shri Lanka. India, South Africa, Mexico and Venezuela are trying to get Universal Health Care. Is the world wrong, and we are the only right ones advocating no national health care for our citizens? We spend more money in health care than any nation in the world. Yet we have the worst health care in the industrialized world. Millions of Americans cannot afford private health insurance. The premiums are getting higher and higher. Must Americans die because of lack of healthcare? I’d cry disgrace on the money-grubbing, rich opponents! Shame on them for creating blind followers just to keep their pockets full. It’s a dishonor to let the noninsured, sick child die.

It’s time to uphold moral, spiritual and religious standards above greed and politics. Let our citizens live without fear, in the absence of disease.

How about if we cut the political propaganda and greed? Give Universal Health Care a try.

The Cost of Becoming a Doctor

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

I was lucky.

I won a Soviet Government Scholarship for seven years of medical school – free travel, free books, free tuition and accommodation. The only precondition was to learn Russian at university level. That motivated me. Motivation and empathy may have a common thread. Greed was never, and still isn’t in my vocabulary. My training, my history, my philosophy, and my parents prepared me to be honest.

Most of us are unlucky. For a foreign student to study medicine in the United States, he has to deposit $120,000 up front. For an American to study medicine, he spends about $150,000 to $300,000, depending on the medical school. For a doctor to specialize in the States, he incurs about half a million dollars expenses. He becomes a businessman. He invested, and he has to get back his money. He has to contend with long hours and medical malpractice, and says, “Is it worth becoming a doctor?”

This is reasonable thinking. He has to be a good business leader, and not a crook. Greed is inherent, and has a history long before studying medicine. What we see is a projection of his personality if he resolves to stealing. Debt and money invested has nothing to do with his greed.

Once greedy, always greedy. It takes hold during his early, formative years.

Being a doctor is a calling. If you don’t love the profession, go to singing rap songs and make millions of dollars overnight. Don’t become a doctor and from frustration siphon every dime from a sick patient’s pocket. If you care for the profession, pay back your student loans. President Obama proposed that borrowers pay what they can afford. This might soften the need to take every cent from a patient’s purse if the doctor’s basic personality of evil does not take over his brain cells.

The government should address healthcare and the welfare of medical students. Give scholarships and grants to the aspiring doctors. Exempt the practicing doctor from his government loan, or reduce his loan if he is willing to accept part-time voluntary work in the healthcare machinery in urban and rural areas. Encourage large corporations to do the same if the doctor is willing to accept voluntary work for X number of years with the corporation. Counsel doctors, and greed will fly out of the window. We have to give incentives, or healthcare will suffer.

Women’s Health – The Morning-After-Pill

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

The sociopathic pharmaceutical giants have reared their serpentine heads: give the children the morning-after-pills instead of lollipops. They already have our children taking massive doses of pills for ADD and psychoses. In the book world, Harry Potter appeals to the young, and now the pharmaceutical snakes are hissing to bite little children with a drug – the morning-after-pill.

When your thirteen-year child complains of nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, bleeding and irregular periods, what will we tell them? “Forget about it. Go have more sex, and pop the pill?” The serpents say, “Take more pills for the side effects.” If the pills for side effects don’t work, they say, “Take more pills.” A young woman ends taking a barrage of pills for side effects. Do you see who’s getting richer?

The morning-after-pill has its place – rape for example – but instead of encouraging young teens to go have free sex, let us teach them discipline. That includes the young, horny boys who think they are men! The precocious boys should think of statutory rape. If half the high school teens are having wanton sex, half the teens need counseling on sex education. Love is not only about sex. If they must have the birth control pills, or the morning-after pills, they should have medical or parental advice. Hormonal pills not the only means of birth control.

Children are children!

It’s not only pregnancy we worry about. We think of gonorrhea, syphilis, Chlamydia, AIDS, and other dangerous sexually transmitted diseases.

If children below age sixteen have to take Plan-B, involve the parents. Consult the doctors. If they weren’t shy to do it, they shouldn’t be shy to speak to loved ones about it. It’s healthy, blameless dialogue. Plan-B should be for women over sixteen – or whatever age is legal adulthood in your country.

Be you Catholic or Protestant, we must consider the rights of all women. The world is not only for Catholics or Muslims or Hindus. It’s for all, believers and nonbelievers. We must respect the rights of all, and come to a compromise with women’s issues.

But, with children’s issues, we must remember: Children need guidance. It’s for their mental and social well-being, and health protection.

The pharmaceutical giants will use scientists, doctors and other organizations to push anything, by hook or crook, just for the mighty dollar. How come the pharmaceutical companies use scientists to condemn well-researched bioidentical hormones for men and women, but recommend hormones for young, innocent women?

To Universal Healthcare I’d say yes. To poisoning young teenagers with hormones, I’d say no!

The Role Money Plays in Motivating Health Care Professionals

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Cliff Bacchus, M.D.

Money is the root of evil.

Doctors are the Chancellors of the Exchequer. They think the national revenue belongs to them. If they can’t get the dough from the treasury, they extort the money from patients and healthcare insurance. Every year, Medicare and Medicaid suspend hundreds of doctors from the program. Money motivates the doctors to cheat.

How sad and shameful of doctors who took the Hippocratic Oath!

Work-related motivators are job attributes, achievement and renumeration. The highest motivational factors for doctors should be achievement and job attributes. For the greedy doctor, it is all three attributes – monetary and non-monetary. Personal and emotional response takes second place to his driving force to hound the mighty dollar. Doctors trek from Russia to England to practice where they can fill their pocket. English doctors run from England to Canada to fill their coffers. Canadian doctors join the gold rush to the United States.

Intrinsic factors like pride, appreciation, respect and social acceptance motivate a doctor. Extrinsic factors are salary, benefits, insurance and pension. They goad him to work in healthcare systems that offer him the incentives. The avarice for money motivates him the most. Many healthcare institutions recruit doctors for commitment to increase hospital revenue. High cost and technology, aging population, increased regulations and quality healthcare demand more resources. It’s a challenge. That’s no ethical reason for doctors to become gluttonous. Social acceptance drives the openmouthed doctor to become extortionate

Fortunately, gender, age and education play an integral role in negative healthcare motivation. Female doctors are less likely to deceive. The older the doctor the less he cons. The more qualified the doctors, the less he swindles. National legislation set a new era in healthcare policing. Any comprehensive strategy to maximize a doctor’s motivation must involve financial and non-financial incentives. The fraudulent doctor has to regulate his monetary and non-monetary motivation.

Overall, it is good to know professional conscience guides a number of doctors I know throughout the decades from Russia, to Guyana, and to the Bahamas, the United States and Canada.

It’s the rotten eggs we have to watch out for in our healthcare system. They have to rechannel their motivation. They should acknowledge their professionalism, focus on recognition, career development and further qualification. They must realize they belong to the honorable profession of medicine, to which they are bound by oath.