Dr. Thompson's Blog

Planning for Care after Major Surgery

It makes me sad and angry when I hear the care  some patients are getting. When major surgery is being planned it is important that the patient and his or her family or the parents ask very specific questions about the plans  for care after the surgery.  I  heard recently of a woman in her eighties who has ben having severe pain in her back. An orthopedist, who is board certified, but graduated form one of the less well-known medical schools told the woman that the back surgery would take three hours and she would go to her senior living  place the next day. I was appalled. Many of my neuromuscular patients needed back  surgery and our goal was to get them sitting up in bed the next day. P.T. was also started and the patients received it once or twice daily. All did well and after 10-14 days they were walking and doing well. That is far different from being sent to a place where no therapy was available and no real medical care. I would certainly have advised the woman to get a second opinion. I just hope she does not end up in a wheelchair.

The Courage of the First Women M.Ds

When I was a Stanford medical student, we had five women in our class, Most classes had just two women. We also had a wonderful history of medicine course given by my favorite professor. I wonder if any medical school gives such a course now? As many of our present young women doctors are making all kinds of demands about what they want and what you can and cannot say to them, I wish they knew more of the history of the early women doctors in the U.S. 

The very first women M.D. in the U.S. was Elizabeth Blackwell. She graduated in 1850 from the  Medical College of Philadelphia. It was the second one to  train women M.D.s That was from 1850 to 1970 when it became coed. 

Now many medical schools have more women than men, but I wonder how  many  actually practice or practice just a few years?  I loved practicing medicine and miss it greatly. I still hear from many old patients. I am not sure many of the young women doctors today really love practicing. For many it is a way to make money and be important.