Operative BJ writes in with alarming news: Hey, you in the chair! Operative BJ is happy to have you and you and you pay for him to enjoy his 8-week tanning treatment through your tax dollars. And no, Operative BJ … Continue reading →
Perhaps you heard that over 2 million people have participated in Obamacare since October. This has been a major story on many Obama-friendly news outlets, as they celebrate how wrong conservatives were to celebrate the broken website issue in October. … Continue reading →
The prayer candle that Dr. J. lit for Lady and Loki J.’s breeder. Lady J. and Loki J.’ breeder suddenly fell ill this week with meningitis and is in the intensive care unit. He is critically ill and while it’s … Continue reading →
JAB, who deep fries even the turkey stuffing, writes in on Thanksgiving: Your Czarness: With Organizing for America sending out talking points for how to promote Obamacare at the family Thanksgiving table, I propose a competition: For every OFA point-spouting … Continue reading →
All right, the Czar will explain the liberal mindset yet again, but this time we will explain what the deal is with Obamacare. Even though polls are showing liberals are dumping on Obamacare (a recent poll showed only 12% of … Continue reading →
Island Dweller has some observations: Losing Our Cool, are we? Your immenseness: I had cause to laugh yesterday while watching an out-take from Megan Kelly’s show on FoxNews that featured an interview she attempted with Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm … Continue reading →
So far, the good news about Obamacare is that very few people can actually get it. Yesterday, millions of people watched (or re-watched) The Daily Show’s brutal attack on both Obamacare and to a lesser extent the President himself. Indeed, … Continue reading →
More polling news today, and the situation is even worse for media reporting. Breitbart.com perfectly sums up the media critique, so check it out. Bottom line is that Obama’s approval rating is now at 37%. The GOP and Democrats, people … Continue reading →
Well, the gun control arguments have been disarmed, and we can pretty well bet that gun control will never happen at this point. The US Senate won’t even entertain new legislation concerning firearms. Done. Dead. Finished. Also, forget about global … Continue reading →
Ah, pediatrics, Dr. J.’s worst grade in medical school… Just as Dr. J. sent off his missive earlier today, his Medical Economics weekly email showed up in his inbox. He, of course, clicked on this lead article. The headline states … Continue reading →
As you know by now, Obamacare is not just failing, it is basically collapsing in on itselfand most of the law has not even been implemented yet. The Czar used to hold town hall meetings in his day. Guess how we … Continue reading →
When Dr. J. was on the road last week, the latest AHA guidelines were published to great media fanfare. Indeed you, Gentle Reader, probably saw something in the news. Dr. J. decided to review the guidelines and share his reflections on … Continue reading →
You had no idea they were Democrats, didja? ŒV: Good God. RT @heminator: If you’re an ivy league educated woman, motherhood makes you a traitor to feminism? bit.ly/11xjqLL— The Gormogons (@Gormogons) April 23, 2013 Your Gormogons in recent days have been discussing … Continue reading →
A girl’s got to make a living… If you recall, Dr. J. discussed with frustration that there isn’t a good alternative to the ER if a patient needs to get tanked up with IV fluids due to a GI bug. … Continue reading →
The Emergency Room, we’re not just for emergencies anymore… Dr. J. got sleepy when he was typing his last post, so he forgot about getting to his point which was that medicine evolved to the point where the regulations and … Continue reading →
Whenever gun control is brought up in a public venue, someone on either the Left of the Right brings up the need for mental health reform. After all, the Newtown shooter should have been in treatment; instead, he was out … Continue reading →
By now, even Tibetans who live in caves and eat rope for a living have heard that Obamacare is an utter disaster. And that isn’t just the folks who can correctly add two numbers together and digest more than website … Continue reading →
JAB, about whom the Mandarin, Dr. J., and ourselves were just speaking, has this carved into some poor slob’s entrails and sent up to the seventh floor: Your Czarness: For ‘Puter’s reference, here is someone else who is decidedly not … Continue reading →
An undercover field report, which the Operative delivered through an ingeniously complicated plan of (a) converting it to base74 notation, (b) engraving the characters on a grain of rice, (c) inserting it into a cotton swab, (d) embedding the swab … Continue reading →
Much ado is being made about an 87-year-old California woman who died in a retirement home because nursing staff were prohibited by employer policy from performing CPR on her. The story is certainly a tragedy because there is every indication … Continue reading →
Our friend Fred Woodbridge (@fwoodbridge) inquired as to if your Gormogons could recommend a first aid kit. Before Dr. J. could get cracking, The Czar penned this interoffice memo: Here is what the Czar does. He goes to Wal-Mart or … Continue reading →
In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years… Obamacare rears its ugly head in the headlines this week. Papa John’s, along with … Continue reading →
Super-Minion ScottO (um, which probably he should resist putting on a résumé) leaves us this quill-penned note tacked to our wooden door: Dread Czar, While I appreciate your position, and that of the self-employed RA, and I certainly agree that … Continue reading →
RA writes in: Czar, Great idea on health insurance simplification. I buy my own health insurance (self-employed, wife covered at her work, kids grown and on their own), so that approach has much appeal to me. Better yet, put some … Continue reading →
Hey, here is a goofy idea. How about when Romney dumps and replaces the ACA, we replace it with something that’s actually a hell of a lot easier? Not just cheaper—there are plenty of good ideas on how to lower … Continue reading →
Dr. JNE writes in: Honorable physician, Read your post re aspergillis meningitis. Good to have a voice of reason. You may be interested in another incident: “A Never Event” documents a hep C outbreak from an oncology clinic in Fremont, … Continue reading →
Always two there are, a master and an apprentice… Gentle Readers, After Dr. J. posts this, he is off to attend a memorial of a late, great senior colleague, emeritus, Dr. B. Dr. J. has known Dr. B. since Dr. … Continue reading →
Tarkin knew that if you take out Alderaan, smaller systems will toe the line.Take out HCA, and the same will happen with smaller for-profits. Dr. J. caught this little factoid in the news the other day, but hasn’t had a … Continue reading →
Dr. J. has written at great length regarding his opinion on Obamacare and the creeping control government has had on the health-care system through payment (medicare/medicaid), legislation and regulation. What he didn’t give is a patient’s perspective. One Cziltang does … Continue reading →
I‘m not Herzog is the kind of guy you can expect to take apart a car, put it back together, and say “Here is how you improve this.” Like just about everybody else, he has an opinion or two on … Continue reading →
Conservatives, to say the least, are deeply divided over the Roberts opinion. Right-wing pundits are equally divided, even ones who normally agree with each other on everything. Over here at the Big G, the minions seem equally divided…and there is … Continue reading →
The Czar, as you know, is not the kind of guy who relies on hysteria for very long. This evening, he read the Supreme Court’s decision, written by Justice Roberts. What we find there is not a total capitulation, but … Continue reading →
Note: this is actually a combined post between the Inscrutable Mandarin and the Czar of Muscovy. Heads up, Americans: today’s SCOTUS decision is actually good news for conservatives, and Justice Roberts knows the Constitution better than your average Congressperson. Surprised? … Continue reading →
The Doctor will see you now, but his sonic screwdriver will be taxed as a medical device… There was a recent survey performed by the Doctor Patient Medical Association Foundation. Basically, they obtained 36,000 physician office fax numbers, delivered ~16,000 … Continue reading →
Yesterday, Dr. J. discussed three types of doctors. Brilliant doctors with a brilliant bedside manner, brilliant doctors with a less than stellar bedside manner and not so brilliant doctors with a stellar bedside manner. What Dr. J. did not discuss … Continue reading →
Boy, the President and the progressive left have been on a real tear, have they not, about the fate of the Obamacare mess. Calling for impeachments of judges who vote against it. Warning them not to ignore imaginary precedents. Delivering … Continue reading →
The Supreme Court of the United States is, as everyone knows by now, ruminating over the legality of Obamacare. Things are not looking too hot for that particular law, at least based on legal experts’s opinion (real ones, not the … Continue reading →
BG writes a short essay so perfect that the Czar presents it in its entirety. Great Axe-Wielding Czar – You state, “Obamacare provides nothing that the majority of Americans want; it provides—at great cost—a handful of dark and unpleasant items … Continue reading →
Let us consider what Obamacare really is from the perspective of whether its authors were competent. We can begin with the opposite point of view: if the authors of Obamacare were incompetent, then the legislation should be scrapped and re-done … Continue reading →
Say Doc, The Czar has noted that a bizarre complaint about Dick Cheney’s recent heart transplant is that he is “too old” to receive one. Where has the Czar heard this before? Put simply, this is an attempt to create … Continue reading →
Operative and Myrmidon Wrangler DT (not to be confused with Operative R2DT) writes in: Oh Noble Hoopy Frood Dr. J, As you are no doubt aware, Medicare is starting to use the results of patient surveys in calculating reimbursement for … Continue reading →
This article is at the intersection of Education & Health, and on the kids side of town, so you knew Dr. J. was going to have to comment on it. Published in the journal Pediatrics about two weeks ago, it … Continue reading →
Dr. J. first saw this link via Small Dead Animals. He read the article, nodded, and moved on. Then he saw it cropping up all over Facebook. Friends on the left and the right were posting it, so Dr. J. … Continue reading →
In addition to the legion of letters for The Czar, today’s mailbag brings us a letter from Operative Æ, who you may recall wrote that he wrote in about a month ago regarding Dr. J’s first medical update, stating that … Continue reading →
The Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association were this week. This is one of two times a year where the medical news is dominated by things cardiovascular. But, before we begin, Dr. J. must errat the errata that The Czar … Continue reading →
Dr. J.’s biggest complaint regarding the electronic medical record is that it can ‘cut and paste.’ This time saving feature has the potential to cause and propagate errors if you are the sole provider (e.g. private practice physician) using that … Continue reading →
Operative SM wrote in with a link to the following missive from the Witherspoon Institute, a wonderful, and thoughtful conservative think tank. Basically it talks about a new test, the MaterniT21, a maternal blood test used to detect Down’s Syndrome … Continue reading →
Gentle Readers, A couple more missives have come in. The first is from Operative FJR, who writes in from a secret mission to the North Pole to get ‘Puter switched from the Naughty to the Nice list: Dr. J., Thank … Continue reading →
Dr. J. received a couple of missives regarding his recent Medical Roundup. The first is from Operative Æ Dr. J, Jonah Goldberg directed me on to The Gormogons a several months ago and I have been a loyal subject since. … Continue reading →
This is the first in an irregular series of medical updates from Dr. J. when he gets a backlog of stories that he would like to update his readers on, or just plain old feels like he wants to give … Continue reading →
A couple of letters came in in response to Dr. J.’s post regarding ADHD. First, Operative FJR writes in: Dr.J, Read your list of ADHD symptoms and realized I don’t know anyone in the construction industry that doesn’t exhibit those … Continue reading →
Dr. J. would like to report that the 99% in New Atlantis are waiting to be seen by the 1%. Fortunately, the 1% will deliver emergent, necessary care regardless of the 99%’s ability to pay. Hippocratic oath and such. Obamacare … Continue reading →
Gentle Readers, ‘Puter has, in true ‘Puter fashion shared with you his recent diagnosis of adult ADHD. Now for those of us who have known ‘Puter for quite some time, our reaction was, “Well, DUH!, That’s why we love ‘Puter!” … Continue reading →
Dr. J.’s vaccine post struck a nerve or two (Nerve, Artery, Vein, NOT Vein, Artery, Nerve, got it). Our Myrmidon Wrangler DT writes in: Hey Doc, Great post, and it inspired me to post a big “Eff Jenny McCarthy” post … Continue reading →
“Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican,” Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1966. The Gardasil Non-troversy has been rearing its ugly head in the Republican debates, and it is not helping the Republicans to have this discussion. As the Czar, … Continue reading →
Let’s say you need heart surgery, typically what we do is put you on a heart/lung machine (aka cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB)) to keep the rest of you alive while we are operating. We then stop the heart by putting it … Continue reading →
While Dr. J. was on vacation, the dinner conversation turned to a new breakthrough in the cancer field. Dr. J.’s astute mother in law picked up the story on the news, and blindsided Dr. J. and Mrs. Dr. J. (who … Continue reading →
Operative J.S. writes in on a Market Street style Polish from Portillo’s : Dear Mr. Dr. J, Thanks for your great medical commentary! I like that you keep us all up to date on those sorts of things. I had … Continue reading →
You may recall Dr. J. writing in a few months back, here, here, and here. By way of review, Lloyd Schofield petitioned to get a vote to ban male circumcision on the 2011 election day ballot in San Francisco. At … Continue reading →
‘Puter received the following missive from much-loved operative JAB, from the doublewide. You know the one. It’s on the Mississippi flood plain, on the stupid side of the levees. Anyhoo, JAB writes in to further discuss ‘Puter post on mortality … Continue reading →
‘Puter was reading this post concerning Medicaid availability and its impact on health outcomes over at Megan McArdle’s place at The Atlantic. The takeaway is that there is no correlation one way or the other between availabilty of health insurance … Continue reading →
Dr. J would like to thank the Gormogons for taking him into the fold. He was truly humbled by their invitation. This first post will be a mailbag given that Dr. J. has already received welcomes from some of our … Continue reading →
Dr. J, Royal Surgeon, took ‘Puter up on his offer to respond to ‘Puter’s post regarding grandma killing. Without further ado, here’s Dr. J: Erudite Puter, the Philosopher-King of the Gormogons: I have read with fascination your missive, along with … Continue reading →
From the good doctor: Dear The Czar, Dr. J. has spoken in the past with regard to the McDonalds recovery, and the effect that healthcare waivers had on hiring. Today there was an article posted on CBS Marketwatch. Heavily paraphrased—A … Continue reading →
Dear The Czar, Very briefly, two news items to keep an eye on. Remember when we discussed the attempts to place a ban on male circumcision in San Francisco? Well, it’s made the ballot in November. It would become a … Continue reading →
Dread and Awful Czar , Today was a weird day for Dr. J in that both a Facebook buddy and a colleague in the Ivory Tower both made snarky comments to Dr. J. regarding Mr. Cheney’s clockwork heart given that … Continue reading →
‘Great Ghettoputer, Yes, it appears that Dr. J refers to himself in the third person. The Czar takes no responsibility for this, as the Czar sometimes refers to himself in the third person. Sometimes we refer to ourselves in the … Continue reading →
That the Czar believes Senator Harry Reid to be as senile as he is vicious shall come as no surprise to our highly educated readers. NRO Online has the following quote from the Senate Narrow Majority Leader that shows how … Continue reading →
When October rolls around, peoples thoughts turn to employee benefits! Not really, they turn to football, the Phillies sweeping the Reds (yeah, it’s Doc-tober boys and girls), pumpkin patches and apple pie. But, it is also open enrollment time, which … Continue reading →
Phil Klein got a chance to talk to Rep. Paul Ryan about ObamaCare. Ryan, who is a very smart cookie, wants us to take a step back and be patient with this ObamaCare thing. No, not to embrace it. We … Continue reading →
Dr. J provides a long opinion on healthcare that’s well worth your time. Hence, we’re declassifying it: Your Notoriousness, I have read Dr. Scherz’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal and the patient letter on his PAC website Docs4patientcare.org. I … Continue reading →
Brought to you by Yuval Levin, writing over in Mr. Goldberg’s Neighborhood (NRO) concerning the Democrats’ health care reform contortions: Democratic leaders should be asking themselves just how they have gotten to the point that their strategy is to amend … Continue reading →
Gormogon operative JAB weighed in on ‘Puter’s little health care proposal from an undisclosed doublewide location. Thus spake JABathustra: Howdy there, Mr. Puter. Reading your plan for health care reform, I wonder if you been hittin’ the bottle a little … Continue reading →
Actually, ‘Puter style. How’s this for a plan? Assume for the sake of argument that Congress actually is constitutionally able to legislate health care reform. Further assume that Congress can actually agree on one plan without rioting in the Capitol. … Continue reading →
Demand-side cost control? Ha. Via Big Government. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Deemed too big to fail. The Czar of MuscovyБожію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all … Continue reading →
In a textbook example of Solomon-like judicial reasoning, a New York Supreme Court (county level trial court) justice granted an injunction to petitioning nurses preventing enforcement of the state-mandated swine flu vaccinations for all health care workers. ‘Puter would like … Continue reading →
‘Puter got an email regarding his reasoned discussion yesterday on the selfish New York health care workers who are willing to infect you with a potentially lethal virus because they don’t like getting shots. The reader makes three points, to … Continue reading →
Not all of you, and not literally. Well, maybe some of you, and literally, but you get ‘Puter’s point. Health care workers are screaming that their “rights” are being infringed. Anytime you hear a largely unionized workforce complaining about their … Continue reading →
Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone magazine takes on the state of America’ healthcare system and manages to get everything pretty much dead wrong. Obviously, he is a sucker for a single payer—that is, Federally run—system. He couldn’t be printed in … Continue reading →
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Yes, the Czar has read all 1,017 pages of the HR 3200 bill, and you can read his assessment of it. As far as the Czar knows, everyone who has read the … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 801-900, please click here. One of the sticking points the Democrats have had is the undeniable question: who the hell would want to be a doctor anymore? The solution is quite … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 701-800, please click here. §1781(d) contains a statment that CHIP be amended by striking the phrase “legal residents” and replacing it with “lawfully residing in the United States.” That certainly expands … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 601-700, please click here. Doctors are little more than money-hungry, pocket-stuffing rich guys who drive around town lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills made out of the hides of poor people. … Continue reading →
The Czar has put together the to-do list of the President’s taskforce on healthcare reform. This explains the weird actions by the White House lately, and shows the psychology that the President is operating under. The taskforce will probably issue … Continue reading →
HR 3200, Pages 601-700 To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 501-600, please click here. We now move into rather sinister territories. By now, proponents of the bill will be wagging their fingers at the Czar’s post from … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 401-500, please click here. You know, in a weird twist of irony, the Czar had surgery done on his foot quite recently. He hobbled into a small, community clinic, paid $20 … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 301-400, please click here. Welcome to the World of the Bizarre! We are now ending the first half of HR 3200, and if the previous sections made you angry or confused, … Continue reading →
…One of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest.—Barack Obama, July, 2009. Insurance companies do not compete? By … Continue reading →
With the tremendously important debate currently taking place regarding the perceived need for healthcare reform and the government’s alleged responsibility to provide coverage for every person in this country – which your Mandarin can guarantee will include those in the … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 201-300, please click here. Welcome back! Mastermind correspondant Jeanne asked the Czar about reimbursing early retirees’ medical claims (particularly unions or public sector employees…even those at a non-federal level). The Czar … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 101-200, please click here. Meanwhile, let’s get going and plow into pages 201-300. Poor Ronald Reagan. Perhaps you remember, as the Czar does, the astonishing Tax Reform Act of 1986. This … Continue reading →
To read the Czar’s review of HR 3200, pages 1-100, please click here. The Czar, honestly, did not expect the national attention his effort produced, and is grateful for the cheerleading to press on. Thanks, too, to Jonah Goldberg for … Continue reading →
Brave Gormogons front-line fighter Jeanne takes a moment from her insidious plot to take over the news media from within to write the Czar on pages 1-100 of HR 3200. Go back and look at P. 65, Section 164. It’s … Continue reading →
Click here to read our introduction. Your Czar has completed reading pages 1-100 of all 1,017 pages, eager to learn how HR 3200, if passed, would make healthcare affordable to all Americans. It’s a little hard to fathom that the … Continue reading →
The Czar has an announcement he would like to make. While sitting here scratching the insects from his facial hair (Agh! Beard lice, thy name is Legion!), the Czar realized that he has yet to read the actual proposal or … Continue reading →
Let us play a word substitution game, because you can learn a lot about someone by substituting analogues for what they say. And if they object, it’s only because they employ situation ethics. If you are unfamiliar with that phrase, … Continue reading →
Exactly what’s wrong with ObamaCare, and how to fix the current healthcare situation…in only fifteen paragraphs. Politicians, if you aren’t going to read the bill, at least read this. The Czar agrees with this across the board. The Czar of … Continue reading →
