Hsieh Forbes Column: Great Moments In Medical Self-Experimentation

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Great Moments In Medical Self-Experimentation".

Sometimes, you literally have to "bet on yourself" and do what you think is right, even if everyone else thinks you're crazy.

Hsieh Forbes Column On Physician Fatigue And Errors

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "Is Your Doctor Making Mistakes Because He Or She Is Too Tired?"

Hsieh Forbes Column: 18-Year-Olds Should Have Right To Smoke

My latest Forbes piece is now out, "If 18-Year-Olds Can Fight For Their Country, They Should Be Able To Smoke A Cigarette".

I discuss the latest bipartisan push to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.

I frame the discussion in the form of three questions:

1) Is it the government’s job to stop legal adults from making unhealthy life choices?

2) If Congress allows 18-year-olds risk their lives in military service, shouldn’t they also be allowed to smoke?

3) Whose body is it, anyways?

For more details, read the full piece "If 18-Year-Olds Can Fight For Their Country, They Should Be Able To Smoke A Cigarette".

Hsieh Forbes Column: Health Care Vs. Liberty In Singapore

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Health Care Vs. Liberty In Singapore".

I discuss the trade-offs that Singapore residents must make when they accept government-run "universal health care" and "cost control". This is includes significant losses in liberty as well as accepting government rationing of medical services.

For more details, see the full text of "Health Care Vs. Liberty In Singapore".

Hsieh Forbes Column: How Government Policies Created The Current Disaster Of Electronic Health Records

My latest Forbes column is now out: "How Government Policies Created The Current Disaster Of Electronic Health Records".

Some key take-home points include.

* The federal government played a major role of foisting EHRs on doctors.
* Many features of the EHRs were not driven by the needs of practicing physicians, but by bureaucrats and government officials not involved in direct patient care.
* Practicing physicians find these EHR systems burdensome.
* EHRs contribute significantly to physician burnout.
* The problems with EHRs are not inherent in the technology, but rather due to government policies. 

Hsieh Forbes Column: "Should Therapists Treat Climate Change Denial As A Psychological Disorder?"

[Off topic] My latest Forbes piece is now out: "Should Therapists Treat Climate Change Denial As A Psychological Disorder?"

Spoiler: "No."

Hsieh Forbes Column: "Should Doctors Google Their Patients?"

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "Should Doctors Google Their Patients?".

Law Of The ER

Rada Jones, MD: "68 laws of the ER".

I, of course, liked:

64. Sage's First Advice: Skip the CT if the patient with abdominal pain is eating McDonald's.

Hsieh Forbes Column: "So You Got A Consumer DNA Test For Christmas -- Now What?"

My latest Forbes column is now out: "So You Got A Consumer DNA Test For Christmas -- Now What?"

I discuss some unintended consequences of direct-to-consumer DNA testing, as well as the growing use of publicly available genetic data bases for tracking people.

Hsieh Forbes Column: "Could #MeToo Hurt Women's Health Care?"

Even good movements can create bad unintended consequences. My latest column in Forbes asks: "Could #MeToo Hurt Women's Health Care?"

I discuss recent research that fears of false accusations of sexual assault could prevent men from giving life-saving CPR to women in cardiac arrest.  

Hsieh Forbes Column: When Government-Backed 'Nudgers' Go Bad

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "When Government-Backed 'Nudgers' Go Bad".

I discuss how bad science and bad government policy may have affected the diets of millions of American school children.

Hsieh Forbes Column: The Promise And Perils Of New Apple Watch Medical Technologies

My latest Forbes piece is now up: "The Promise And Perils Of New Apple Watch Medical Technologies".

Hsieh Forbes Column: How Licensing Laws Harm Mothers, Infants, And Lactation Consultants

My latest Forbes column is now out: "How Licensing Laws Harm Mothers, Infants, And Lactation Consultants".

I discuss the new law in the state of Georgia mandating licensure of lactation consultants, and how that harms minority and low-income mothers and babies.

Fortunately, the Institute For Justice is on the case, fighting this unjust law.

More details at, "How Licensing Laws Harm Mothers, Infants, And Lactation Consultants".

Hsieh Forbes Column: Why The Idea Of Single Payer Heath Care Won't Die

My latest Forbes column discusses how "single payer" health care keeps being rejected at the state level — often by Democrats.

Yet it keeps coming back, like a political zombie: "Why The Idea Of Single Payer Heath Care Won't Die."

Related piece by Steve Forbes: "Only Free Markets Will Save — And Strengthen Healthcare".

Hsieh Forbes Column: Doctors Need To Shut Up More

In which I put on my Grumpy Old Man hat and complain about other doctors, "Doctors Need To Shut Up More". My latest in Forbes.

#GetOffMyLawn #HLMenckenIsMySpiritAnimal

Hsieh WSJ Column On Doctors And Guns

I am honored and delighted to have been invited by the Wall Street Journal to write a column on the topic, "Should Doctors Routinely Talk to Patients About Gun Use?".

They invited two physicians to take opposite sides, with Dr. Megan L. Ranney of Brown University taking the "yes" side and myself taking the "no" position. Many thanks to all who helped provide quotes!

(I know that some readers might not be able to read the full piece because of the paywall. I'll see if I can post screenshots or excerpts of my piece later. You can often read the full text of the piece by searching for the title on Twitter and then viewing the piece through the Twitter link -- for example via this Tweet by Ari Armstrong.)

The link to the pair of pieces can be found here.

Hsieh Forbes Column: "Pelvic Exams On Anesthetized Women Without Consent: A Troubling And Outdated Practice"

My latest Forbes column is now out -- "Pelvic Exams On Anesthetized Women Without Consent: A Troubling And Outdated Practice".

Many doctors think this is "no big deal" and "good for society", whereas many patients consider this a violation.

Ultimately, the patients' wishes should prevail.

Hsieh Forbes Column: That Time The CDC Asked About Defensive Gun Uses

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "That Time The CDC Asked About Defensive Gun Uses".

I discuss some recent work by criminologist Gary Kleck on unpublished CDC data on defensive gun use, and how that may support the case of gun rights advocates.

Some of the statistical evidence is still in question, however, and Kleck has withdrawn the original version of his paper pending further analysis.

Ultimately, individual rights are not validated (or refuted) by statistics. But real-world evidence can help affirm the underlying principles.

I also wanted to note one good response I received from Ari Armstrong, responding to a point I made in my piece: "I think there are probably fewer defensive gun uses than in the '90s, simply because violent crime has gone down so there's less need for defense."

For more details, see the full text of "That Time The CDC Asked About Defensive Gun Uses".

Related articles:

"Any Study Of ‘Gun Violence’ Should Include How Guns Save Lives" (Paul Hsieh, 3/20/2018)
"Criminologist Gary Kleck on Guns, Crime, and Their Study" (Ari Armstrong, 11/7/2015)

Hsieh Forbes Column: Any Study Of 'Gun Violence' Should Include How Guns Save Lives

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Any Study Of 'Gun Violence' Should Include How Guns Save Lives".

I discuss three key principles that should be included in any kind of "gun violence" research, including:

• Firearms save lives as well take lives. 
• The value of firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens should be measured in terms of lives saved or crimes prevented, not criminals killed.
• The right to self-defense does not depend on statistics and numbers.

Legal use of firearms in self-defense happens a lot more often than most people realize.

Any public health research that studies only the negative effects of criminal misuse of guns while ignoring the positive lawful uses misses a critically important part of the picture.

Hsieh Forbes Column: Hollywood Vs. Reality in Medicine

My latest Forbes column is now out: "How Badly Does Hollywood Distort Truth In Medical Dramas?"

I discuss some recent research on television representations of trauma and emergency medical care, and how differences between TV and reality can affect both patients and doctors.

I like a good medical drama as well as anyone, but sometimes the mistakes make me cringe.  Of course, anyone who has watched a medical TV drama with me and has had to "shush" me when I repeatedly complain about some Hollywood exaggeration already knows this.

(And don't even get me started about random x-rays being hung upside down or backwards on viewboxes in the background of an OR or ER scene.)