A few months ago I performed an inpatient consultation on a non-incarcerated patient. His psychiatric care was being managed by a neurologist in another community.
I was shocked and disappointed when his family informed me that the neurologist told them that if the patient sought a medical opinion elsewhere, the neurologist would no longer treat the patient.
Even on a bad day I cannot fathom exuding such arrogance and insecurity! Hopefully this doctor’s attitude about second opinions is the exception and not the rule among physicians. However, this situation sparked my curiosity about second opinions.
Throughout my career, I’ve often encouraged my patients to obtain second opinions, either when Read more…
Current Psychiatry (Vol. 8, No. 11/November 2009) recently published an editorial, “Health care debate: Do psychiatrists support the public option?“.
I thought the title was a little misleading, though, because the figures that ended up being presented were from a survey of 5000 readers asking, “If you could reform the nation’s health care system, you would favor a single government-run system to cover every American?”
The results: Read more…
Suicide is an absolutely horrible phenomenon. It destroys families and forever leaves survivors on an elusive search for why it happened. Suicide is often viewed as a very selfish act, yet I believe that in many cases those who do it truly cannot endure the emotional pain any longer and believe that they are out of options. When I was a young adult, an extended family member committed suicide. During my career I have lost a small number of patients to suicide as well. These were all very tragic experiences.
In the United States, mental health professionals have a legal responsibility to take action when our patients appear to be at risk for harming themselves. It is not possible for us to accurately predict when a person is going to commit suicide, but we are expected to assess for and document suicide risk factors. If necessary, we may have to call police or take other action to have patients involuntarily admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit. Read more…
A few months ago I performed an inpatient consultation on a non-incarcerated patient. His psychiatric care was being managed by a neurologist in another community.
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