“If you are having a stroke, there is about a 9 percent chance you will be misdiagnosed in the ER — a statistic that applies to all age groups when the patient is seen initially in the ER. But if you are young, female, a person of color or have limited education (less than a high school degree), your risk of misdiagnosis soars,” according to one expert cited in this article from the Washington Post. For women, apparently, that risk is a whopping 30% higher than the norm.

A quick and memorable read about a woman who persisted in her search for a medical explanation where doctors and imaging were turning up none. Had she not, she would likely have died from an aggressive form of kidney cancer, a diagnosis made more difficult by the fact that she didn’t “fit'“ the profile of the typical patient.

“What I definitely wish I had done was bring in pictures or a sample of bloody urine early on,” she said. “Somehow I think doctors believe patients when there is something visible or tangible, rather than just our words.”

When Davonte was asked what he wanted for his birthday, he didn’t ask for a big celebration, he only said, “I’m glad I made it to see 18.” He was shot and killed less than one week after turning 18. He had previously spoken before the Baltimore City Council on youth violence prevention.

“In this age of school, workplace and church shootings, everyone is preparing for such scenarios. We are always reminded not to bring people inside the “secure” areas of our clinics who don’t have an appointment or a true medical emergency.” — Hans Duvefelt, a Swedish-born rural Family Physician in Maine, in his blog A Patient in the Lobby Refuses to Leave: Medical Emergency, Unhappy Customer or Active Shooter?

Kids in the U.S. aged 5-14 years old are more than 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than their peers in other high income countries.

Can healthcare become equitable when physician compensation is anything but?

The Drug Enforcement Administration has a database that tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States, as it moves from manufacturer and distributor to pharmacy across every town and city. Now it has been made public for the first time.