Author
Another morning, another mass shooting: America needs firearm safety laws
I woke Thursday morning to headlines that have become all too familiar: another mass shooting in America, this one in Lewiston, Maine, as residents enjoyed a night bowling and playing cornhole. It’s become so common that many of us are jaded, desensitized, or numb. When many of us hear this news, we think “oh no, […]
One doctor’s wish list for Tennessee’s special legislative session
Mass shootings have become such a frequent occurrence in the U.S. that many of us have become numb to seeing news about them almost daily. But when one occurs in your town and affects people you know, it hits you differently. The shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27 has affected both […]
The state of healthcare in Tennessee: not good
It is becoming increasingly hard to be a healthcare provider in Tennessee. From the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence, the opioid epidemic, dismal maternal mortality rates, a mental health crisis, rural hospital closures and the failure to accept Medicaid expansion, there are so many ways Tennessee leaders have failed — and continue to fail — their […]
The Christmas story as it would be in Tennessee
Like many of you, I was brought up in a Christian household and so I know the story of Christmas well — a story of a Middle Eastern Jewish couple who had to travel before the times of AirBnB and, arriving at their destination, finding all the inns were full. It’s a good thing that […]
Neither Tennessee, nor 10-year-olds, are equipped for childhood pregnancies
A case that made headlines across the U.S. recently has stuck with me. By now, most people in America have heard about the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who had to travel across state lines to receive necessary healthcare in Indiana, the closest state where a legal abortion was available. This case has affected me deeply. […]
A post-Roe Tennessee threatens patients and hamstrings physicians
The days of safe and legal abortion are limited in Tennessee. Our state has a “trigger ban” on abortion, scheduled to go into effect when the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson becomes final and Roe v. Wade is overturned. When this happens, it means that emgergency physicians like me will no longer be […]
Commentary: Another week, another mass shooting in America
Here we are yet again. Another week and another horrible mass shooting in America, this time at a Texas elementary school. I have always been a worrier. And because of school shootings, I worry about my friends who are teachers. I worry about my nieces and nephews. I worry about my friends who have school […]
Commentary: “Life Protection Act” will hurt Tennessee’s most vulnerable women
This week, I attended the Tennessee House Health Subcommittee meeting and watched as legislators discussed and debated HB 2779 or “The Life Protection Act.” Many other women attending the meeting, worried about the ramifications of this bill, which seeks to outlaw all abortion in this state. As an emergency physician, my job is to care […]
Commentary: Lee’s ‘hope’ lacks leadership
Almost two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic came to Tennessee, changing our lives forever. Time stood still when we locked down but since then it seems that time has flown. These past two years have been a roller coaster of emotions for us healthcare workers. First, there was the fear that we would succumb to […]
Commentary: Overcome by pandemic fatigue, a physician begs for masks
As an emergency physician, I understand pandemic fatigue as much as anybody. I have worked hard since the beginning of the pandemic to treat sick patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov2), otherwise known as COVID-19. It has been a very long year and a half, the most emotionally draining time of my […]
Commentary: I invited Gov. Lee to visit my hospital. He didn’t come.
Hospitals in Tennessee are filling up to capacity. We are seeing the effects of the erosion of our nursing workforce combined with the consequences of letting the Delta variant run rampant in our largely unvaccinated state. Last weekend, I was working in a rural hospital, treating sick COVID-19 patients that needed to be in the […]
Commentary: State leaders own responsibility for low vaccination rates
Working in the hospital on the front lines of the pandemic caused by the SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) virus last winter was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do as a physician. We were experiencing a massive surge of sick COVID-19 positive patients in the emergency department, many of whom were so ill they required high […]