Birthday, Part II

My first continuity obstetric patient from the family health clinic gave birth to a baby boy today! Too bad I didn't deliver the baby because it is a C-section and I wasn't informed that that patient is already in the hospital.

Which means this little guy, who is of course also my first newborn continuity patient by default, shares my birthday. This is great ;-)

Perhaps he'll be a doctor too some day...

Birthday

I found out today that I have the same birthday as Mélissa Theuriau:



Ms. Theuriau(29) is the unbelievably hot news anchorwoman in France who has gained unexpected international fame through fans on the internet. Video clips of her on YouTube have received over 1 million views. Happy birthday to us :)

YouTube - "Beautiful News Reporter"

Some of the famous people also sharing my birthday today include Nelson Mandela(89), John Glenn(86), Steve Forbes(60), Vin Diesel(40), and Kristen Bell(27).

Hungry Doctors, Rich Salesmen

I went to another pharmaceutical-sponsored "educational dinner meetings" last night. Obviously, it's not the "education" part that draws the event to my attention (this is not to say that the meeting doesn't have its educational value). It was at a really upscale steakhouse in Rancho Cucamonga that I just have to try. The place was PACKED.

So the next morning someone asked me about the meeting:
"Great steak!" I said.
"Actually, I was trying to ask you about the talk."

The "Medicine" in Family Medicine

I was talking to a fellow FP resident who's complaining that some of the faculty members in our program are playing down on the scientific aspects of family medicine and placing too much emphasis on "non-scientific" things like emotional/spiritual support and "integrative medicine". I agree with him to a certain degree.

A catchphrase for the FPs is to "treat a patient as a whole", which sets apart from specialists who treat "only parts of a body." I think it is important to understand, however, that the building blocks of FP is still the core knowledge of medicine. Our goal to become a good FP doctor is to be a physician who know "at least" as much as any other doctor, with the value-added bonus of being sensitive to a patient's emotional need. We are not psychologists or priests, and we are not referral robots. We should be physicians with a heart.

Traffic Law Hoax

Last week I read an article from the local weekly paper that there will be new changes to the traffic violation fines - what catches my eyes is the purported hike in carpool violation fine: $1,068.50 for 1st timer, *doubles* for 2nd offense, and *triples* for 3rd offense.

I just found out today that this whole thing is a hoax. It is one of those viral emails that got so widespread that it becomes the truth to some people. Even the local paper got fooled. My sister always says, "a lie told a hundred times becomes the truth." Here's an actually example. Ha!