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The right decision
In a democracy, the power to make the law rests with those chosen by the people. Our role is more confined—“to say what the law is.” … That is easier in some cases than in others. But in every case we must respect the role of the Legislature, and take care not to undo what…
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I find this so depressing
Vox – Politics via King v. Burwell won’t destroy Obamacare. I mean, I’m glad Obamacare is here, I think it serves a real need at a reasonable cost. Could it be a better law? Probably. What is depressing is that our politics is so dysfunctional that rational analysis is no longer possible. If the plaintiffs…
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Mary Beard’s shades of sexism
A Don’s Life via 50 shades of sexism. Mary Beard is a very smart lady. I like her take on Tim Hunt, that he is a bit of a moron, but that does not necessarily mean that he should be drummed out of his school. She is much more subtle than that and makes her…
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How to Get Sued Less
A study of the program published in 2010 found that in the years after it began claims dropped 36 percent, and lawsuits dropped 65 percent. The monthly cost of total liability and patient compensation dropped 59 percent, and legal costs dropped by 61 percent. What was the program? Tort reform? No. Admitting to errors and…
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Epidural steroid injections compared with gabapentin for lumbosacral radicular pain: multicenter randomized double blind comparative efficacy study – BMJ 16 April 2015
Last week we had oral steroids for radiculopathy. This week we have epidural steroids. Still no difference. This surprises me, maybe, a little more than the other result. Putting the steroid right where you ‘need’ it is something we do with osteoarthritis, another ‘low inflammatory’ state, all the time. And in OA there is definitely…
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Oral Steroids for Acute Radiculopathy Due to a Herniated Lumbar Disk – JAMA May 19, 2015
I’ve always been perplexed about why doctors would give a not-risk-free drug (steroids) for a problem that is not clearly ‘inflammatory’. Giving steroids for acute radiculopathy – lower extremity nerve pain caused by a herniated disc – is, as far as I know, not recommended by any professional society and there is no evidence to support its use…
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I’m Reclaiming My Blog
After a very long hiatus, circumstances have encouraged me to reclaim this blog and to try and start posting things again. Wish me luck!
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I’m a baaaaaaaaad boy!
It looks my last post was approaching one year ago, and I wasn’t doing so well writing consistently before that! All right, I’ll try to be better. I’m not fooling myself though. I won’t be publishing every day, and maybe not even every week. But perhaps I can at least start churning out some posts…
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More political bullshit
This time from Rudy. Factcheck.org has the story. Giuliani falsely claims that only 44 percent of prostate cancer patients survive under “socialized medicine” in England. Summary In a new radio ad, Rudy Giuliani falsely claims that under England’s “socialized medicine” system only 44 percent of men with prostate cancer survive. We tracked down the source…
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I’ve Finished Harry Potter
Finished about 2 days ago. Don’t worry, I won’t give anything away – spoilers piss me off. But it was a good read. I will say, though, that there are LOTS of hints about what will happen in the other books, and if you’ve read carefully you’ll have a pretty good sense of where things…
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Steven Vlad 