Happy surgeons = happy patients?

Photo illustration courtesy of Veer

Perhaps you've seen this article circulating out there in the ether - it talks about how doctors who feel burnt out or depressed admit to making more medical errors.

Lucky for all of you Duet fans out there, Dr. Weintraub and I love what we do and are very happy doing it.

The Botax-man cometh

We've all heard this one was coming. Plastic surgeons and their patients make a very easy target for politicians, right? But will it really go through?

Everyone points out the disappointment of New Jersey, which levied a 6% tax on cosmetic procedures in 2004. Some speculate that the tax has actually cost the state $3.39 for every $1 collected.

So maybe the question is not, will the "botax" be passed by the Senate, but if it does, what will it actually do?

I can do *what* with my frequent flier miles?

Photo from Veer


Harrumph. Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy already, but it seems like this is another one of those really terrible ideas.

Caveat emptor

We've talked about this before, but it's still frightening.

Running the numbers

Have you ever read the Harper's Index? You've probably seen some permutation of it, usually a pithy or surprising factoid phrase, followed by a defining number. I've been a big fan of Harper's ever since high school, when my history teacher would hurl the facts and numbers at us in his amazingly deadpan voice (thanks, Mr. Brown!).

I was reading this month's Index, and it happened to have a couple professionally relevant tidbits, which I found so interesting, as the Index items always are.

Estimated length of human nose removed by U.S. plastic surgeons each year, in feet: 5,469

Factor by which this exceeds the length of George Washington's nose on Mount Rushmore: 260