Physician assisted suicide in CA

Looks like Californians are getting closer to being the second state to recognize physician-assisted suicide.
I understand that conservatives squirm at the idea of a law allowing something they find morally heinous.

But hey, why can't we all just hug each other and say "passing judgment on our fellow neighbors is God's domain, and God's domain only." If God doesn't like a terminally ill person choosing to end his life because of some dysfunctional biology that God gave him, then so be it. But who are any of us - Christians or self-pronounced Bible experts - to say we know better than that man suffering and entitle ourselves to act on behalf of God?

There's also the California Medical Association's opposition to the proposal as well. Providing a mentally competent, terminally ill patient with the means to kill himself apparently goes against the Hippocratic oath of "do no harm." Unfortunately, the Hippocratic oath has been used too often in the past as a way to circumvent patient wishes when those wishes contradicted established medical practice on moral grounds.

Debate rages in Calif. over physician-assisted suicide - USATODAY.com

I guess doctors are not smart enough: the FDA wears the big brother hat again

I appreciate the FDA's concern for public health. However, I am not sure how much I like FDA requesting manufacturers to remove drugs whose risks outweigh their benefits. I feel the decision to use a drug, regardless of the risk of adverse side effects, should be made by the clinician and patient. Every clinical situation is unique. Many of those patients on Zelnorm (or Vioxx, even) are very low risk for a cardiovascular event. (Zelnorm will still be available as an "investigational drug")

A friend of mine who is a gastroenterologist was annoyed at the decision since Zelnorm is a good, and often only effective, treatment choice for inflammatory bowel syndrome accompanied by constipation.

Patients treated with Zelnorm were 10x more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or chest pain. But this was still only 13 out of 11,601 people. Good clinical judgment by the doctor should identify fairly easily a group of people that would be at risk for these adverse events.

Wacko bill in SC requires women to view an ultra-sound image of their fetus prior to abortion

I'm not sure what the intent of this asinine legislation is, but it smells like requiring doctors to force some kind of Christian guilt crap onto pregnant women seeking an abortion. This can't be constitutional. It certainly is not ethical from a medical point of view.

Friday was such a beautiful day that I skipped lecture and went mountain biking with Dan, Mark and Justin...and Sango. I told Justin I felt a little guilty about it and he replied, rather sternly, that I should squelch that attitude as soon as I can before it is too late. What he meant was that I should resist the pressure and expectations the medical community places on doctors to commit themselves to medicine all or nothing. I understand his point, however for me at least I want to be the best doctor I can be, and I know that will mean spending more than 40 hours a week at my job. I don't want to be just "a doctor," as if it were a 9-5 job. I decided to enter medicine in part because it is a challenging, demanding profession. If having plenty of time to play around outside when the sun was shining was a priority, I could have stuck with my previous career. The reason I didn't was because I have always wanted a career that would be something that would require of me passion and perseverance.

Akiko came up from Corvallis to hear the first Portland Taiko concert of the year. To my surprise, Byron Au Yong was a guest artist. One of his pieces, Ji Mo, was performed. At intermission Naomi asked what kind of music he composed. That's hard to describe, so I just told her it was like contemporary ritualistic music, like something you might image for a film or theater. I wonder how disappointed Byron would be in that statement! The piece was unusual musically, but has some very nice visual and performative aspects I thought. That fact that I am still thinking about today, however, more than the more traditional pieces, is a testimony to its impact I suppose.

After the show we went to Doug Fir to me Peter and Cam, who were pretty lubed up with beers. Peter was annoyed at the New Year's post I made, which surprised me since I didn't really think the pictures and text could be taken seriously by anyone. They are pretty clearly stupid party pictures, etc. etc.

Spring break this week. Actually rather uneventful - Naomi was very responsibly working for the both of us every day. I sat home a did pretty much nothing. The internet is a great tool of procrastination! We did go see The Flying Dutchman on Tuesday night. The music - ah, Wagner - is really spectacular. It is no wonder that so much commercial film music is based on it. The music from Star War could be right out of the Wagner opa.

I spent Thursday in the OR with Dr. Schindler (ENT). The OR can be a strangely exciting and mundane place at the same time. I wonder if I could still be excited to scrub in for a procedure I have done a thousand times. I guess even fighter pilots probably get bored of taking off from an aircraft carrier at some point.

Walking to the OR that morning a pharma rep called my name out in the hospital entrance way. I turned and saw a guy who looked totally unfamiliar. He asked if I was "Chris Molson" and I corrected him. He introduced himself as my old pledge mate at Beta Theta Pi fraternity. (I though being in a frat would be a good idea my sophomore year in college. I joined BTP, but then depledged right at the point when we would be induced into the brotherhood. It was an insane few months of my life.) At any rate this guy apologized for not remembering my name completely, and shit, I felt retarded for not remembering his name at all. Scott was nice enough, and in retrospect he did look a little familiar. I wonder if was time that made him hard to recognize, or just that I have more or less blotted that part of my life away.

I think about memory a lot. I fret over it. I start to think that I am more forgetful that I probably am. I worry that I have already let many precious moments of my past slip away. (Actually, this blog is a manifestation of that anxiety.)

The fact is, memories are something that fade if they are not enjoyed and shared. So I just pretend to myself that my poor memory is a facet of my disinclination to tell stories.