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Whatcom Watch
Whatcom: Chronic & Acute
May 2018
Open Letter to Peacehealth St. Joseph Cancer Center
Greetings, Cancer Center Board of Directors: Is there a sadder comment on cancer care than “I wish someone had told me?” That was my wish in 2009 about my wife’s glioblastoma treatment and was the despairing 2018 wish of a … Continue reading
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April 2018
Your Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment – Sign Up Now
Its title alone demands your attention, but this form may also impact your death one day: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)! The orders are your orders to an unknown physician(s) suddenly confronted with life or death treatment when … Continue reading
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March 2018
Realities of End-of-life Issues Confronted
Healthcare Providers and Public in Landmark Meeting on End-of-Life Issues “Rumors and Realities” was an apt title for the Jan. 17, 2018, standing-room-only public meeting about dying in Whatcom County. Community rumors were rife that PeaceHealth’s St. Joseph Medical Center’s … Continue reading
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February 2018
MD Q&A – Prescription Drugs
Getting the healthcare you want can be as simple as asking your doctor what’s available. As to prescription (Rx) medications, patients most often search for lower cost options. That sounds simple enough, but it can be difficult to know what … Continue reading
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February 2018
Single-Payer Is Not the Devil’s Healthcare
What does “single-payer healthcare really mean? Some say it is the future of healthcare, or the solution to reforming the existing healthcare monstrosity America has conjured into existence. I recently learned it was both and neither! Single-payer is not what … Continue reading
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January 2018
Rogues Gallery of Doctors
Allan Pinkerton of detective fame devised the first Rogues Gallery in 1855. It was a compilation of descriptions, methods of operation, hiding places and names of criminals and their associates. My rogues’ gallery doesn’t feature criminals but rather a collection … Continue reading
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December 2017
Refuge for Discarded Caregivers
A Salute to Inspired Citizen Healthcare Where do caregivers go when they lose their patients? It rarely ends any other way, but when patient and caregiver are separated by institutional care, hospice or death, the end of caregiving leaves the … Continue reading
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Oct/Nov 2017
Quest Was Public Knowledge, Professional Ignorance No Excuse!
It was public knowledge on Nov. 9, 2016,* that PeaceHealth was negotiating the sale of its medical labs, but the deal, which closed on Feb. 15, 2017, surprised Bellingham’s Family Care Network (FCN). Responding to my July 10, 2017, letter … Continue reading
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Oct/Nov 2017
Community Health Is in Fact a Private Matter, Reporter Finds
Reporter John Simmons contributed to this article. The PeaceHealth St. Joseph Community Health Board exists to help its namesake hospital address unmet local healthcare needs. The board’s mission is to help the hospital write its Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) … Continue reading
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August 2017
What Does Death Mean Today?
“Modern Death: How Medicine Changed the End of Life,” by Haider Warraich, M.D., says modern technology and law have made death more complicated, so maybe you need to be more detailed about what procedures you want at the end of … Continue reading
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