The magazine of the Sonoma County Medical Association INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE – Weaning GERD Patients off PPIs Sarah Murphy, MD, and Hana Grobel, MD Mary (not her real name) is a 45-year-old woman who originally presented with mild gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and was started on a proton pump inhibitor. When we first saw her three […]

Sonoma MedicineThe magazine of the Sonoma County Medical Association EDITORIAL: Pain and Suffering Allan Bernstein, MD Pain is an essential part of our survival mechanism. It warns us that we stepped on a nail or that the coffee is too hot. It triggers autonomic responses that adjust our blood pressure, heart rate, pupillary reactions, blood […]

Sonoma MedicineThe magazine of the Sonoma County Medical Association COMMENTARY: The D-Diet By Sanjay Dhar, MD There are several hundred different types of diets out there, so I figured why not add one more to the list, the Dhar Diet, or D-Diet. How difficult can it be to come up with a diet? All I […]

We need your help to protect MICRA Dear Physician Colleagues, We need your help in protecting California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). On November 4, 2014, voters will go to the ballot to vote on Prop 46. The importance of MICRA to physicians in the state of California is significant. We’re not asking you […]

Primum Non Tacere: An Ethics of Speaking Up By Dwyer, James Academic journal article The Hastings Center Report , Vol. 24, No. 1 , January-February 1994 PEER-REVIEWED PERIODICAL Article excerpt During the last five years I have conducted ethics courses, seminars, and case conferences for medical students. I have also had many informal discussions with […]

The magazine of the Sonoma County Medical Association EDITORIAL: MEDICINE & POLITICS Rob Nied, MD Has the current morass in Washington DC inspired you to run for Congress? According to the New York Times, 26 physicians are running for Congress this year, and Kentucky senator Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, is considered a likely presidential candidate. […]

Prescription drug abuse Kate Alfano, Colorado Medical Society, contributing writer State effort focuses on safe use, storage and disposal Tuesday, July 01, 2014 Aaron started using prescription opioids when he was in high school. From an upper-middle-class family, his parents described him as a typical teenager; light-hearted and full of energy, he was athletic and […]

EDITORIAL: Medicine & Politics Jeffrey Stevenson, MD This issue of Marin Medicine focuses on medicine and politics, a theme with many facets. First and foremost is Proposition 46, which would raise the statutory cap on pain-and-suffering awards, thereby increasing malpractice insurance rates. The proposition could cause patients to lose their doctors and restrict access to […]

EDITORIAL: Noble Brains, Healthy Lives Mark Sloan, MD Humans have long sought to make sense of the brain. Each age has puzzled over this oddly-shaped organ and its role in the complex workings of the body. In times long past, heated debates erupted among scientists and philosophers: Is the brain a cold or a hot […]

EDITORIAL: Touching the Patient by Rob Nied, MD At the 2014 Australian Open, Stan Wawrinka became the first man since 2009 to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament outside the Big Four of Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal. In the championship match, he beat Nadal, who was suffering from a back injury. How much low […]