I recerted the American Heart Association’s PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) today for the 18th time. Last week I recerted ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) for the same. For those not in health care, everyone in EMS and most everyone in emergency departments and likely in other areas of the hospital have to take these…
People don’t read books much anymore. I don’t read books much anymore. I used to read all the time. When I wasn’t reading I was hunting through used book stores to find more books to read. The walls of my room were lined with bookshelves, many double layered. Now most of my books are in…
Filter magazine has a great article “Overdoses Should Be Termed “Prohibition-Related Deaths” that argues that our overdose deaths are caused by the prohibition environment that makes drugs more dangerous than they should be and drives drug users into the shadows where they use in places where they are unlikely to be found if they overdose….
Many years ago… A police officer sits next to me on the bench seat and interrogates my patient as we ride lights and sirens to the hospital. He has second and third degree burns on his chest and right arm. I put in an IV and start running fluid. The man needs pain medicine. The…
Last night I attended an Overdose Awareness Day event hosted by Today I Matter, an organization founded by a father in memory of his son, Timothy Lally. Today I Matter’s mission is “to reduce the stigma and shame of mental illness and addiction, and to promote the physical, emotional, and mental health of our community.”…