[I’m writing this on Monday, March 30. Everything in this post might be false in a few days, and conditions might be different in places other than Los Angeles. Keep up to date by checking your local health department website.]

“Don’t stand so close to me.”...

[I’m writing this on Thursday, March 26. Everything in this post might be false in a few days, and conditions might be different in places other than Los Angeles. Keep up to date by checking your local health department website.]

“Time I had some time alone...

[Author’s note: This post was written on the afternoon of Friday, March 20, 2020. The subject matter is rapidly changing, and the recommendations below may be out of date in a few days. Find the latest recommendations from the LA County Dept of Public Health and the More

[Author’s note: This post was written on the afternoon of Friday, March 13, 2020. The subject matter is rapidly changing, and the recommendations below may be out of date in a few days. Find the latest recommendations from the LA County Dept of Public Health and the More

[Author’s note: This post was written on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 11, 2020. The subject matter is rapidly changing, and the recommendations below may be out of date in a few days. Find the latest recommendations from the LA County Dept of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control through the links below.] I wrote about the More

Unless you’ve been strictly limiting your media consumption to reviews of the midseason finale of The Walking Dead, you’ve probably heard of a novel coronavirus that is causing a bit of bother among public health officials. In this post I’ll try to summarize and explain the evolving situation and highlight the current advice for the US public. In December, a coronavirus that had never befor...

Last week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made an announcement that generated scary headlines and resulted in lots of phone calls to me from worried patients. More

People in North and South America have been smoking tobacco for millennia. The reason is simple. Tobacco contains nicotine, a highly addictive stimulant. So smoking tobacco feels good and is difficult to quit. After being introduced to Europe, smoking became very popular, because it feels good and is difficult to quit. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the association between smoking and lung can...

Physician burnout has been in the news for many years. (I wrote about it eleven years ago.) In the last two decades the practice of medicine has become more difficult and less rewarding for many doctors. Though I know that physician burnout is increasing, I still find it shocking. We’re paid b...