Author – The Durango Herald

To quit those cigarettes, use more than one tool

Twenty million Americans have died from smoking-related disease in the past 50 years. Among people younger than 18, the U.S. Public Health Service predicts another 5.4 million sm...

DATE: Jul 22, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

For many reasons, patients choose to skip medications

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop was quoted as saying, “Medications do not work in patients who do not take them.” Of course, the concept seems obvious, but it does dra...

DATE: Jun 24, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Please, hold the hysteria over listeria

Salmonella and E. coli now seem to be household names, while listeria is not. Listeria monocytogenes, one of six listeria bacterial types, is the bad guy, a nasty bug, though less...

DATE: May 23, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Aspirin’s role as prevention tool debated

I was recently reading a medical article that reviewed the discussion about aspirin use for prevention of cardiovascular disease. The somewhat controversial debate has been taking place abou...

DATE: May 17, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

E-cigarettes carry risks for adolescents

I was thinking of former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop recently. When I was a second-year medical student, I got to meet the man who became “America’s doctor.” It was an aw...

DATE: May 3, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

We need our young people to pursue medicine

I recently had the pleasure of attending both the San Juan Basin regional science fair and the Colorado state science and engineering fair. Before you ask what this has to do wit...

DATE: Apr 19, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

If you smoke pot, there are consequences

Four percent of the world’s population has used marijuana in a given year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, the lifetime prevalence of marijuana...

DATE: Apr 5, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Prohibition’s unintended consequences

Despite its title, The Poisoner’s Handbook, by Deborah Blum, is not a how-to-do-it manual for getting rid of an enemy, spouse or wealthy relative. Instead, it documents New York C...

DATE: Mar 29, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Abdominal pain gives doctors a headache

One of the most common and most challenging symptoms resulting in medical evaluation is abdominal pain. The range of potential causes is quite broad and is the subject of many t...

DATE: Mar 22, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Many options available for asthma control

Asthma is a common chronic health condition involving the lungs. It may produce inflammation in the small airways that can result in airway spasm. This often leads to chest tigh...

DATE: Mar 15, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Antibiotic resistance a real threat

I find old cemeteries interesting, both in terms of solitude and history. When I was younger, I had occasion to stroll through a few old cemeteries dating back hundreds of years....

DATE: Mar 1, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Two ‘omas’: Fascinating and incidental

Medical mumbo-jumbo – especially classification of anatomy, diseases and pathology – has roots going back several millennia to the Greek physician Hippocrates (circa 460 to 370 B.C.). ...

DATE: Feb 22, 2015 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch