More Summer Reading…

For reading of the in-person variety, a quick reminder for local readers that I’m reading and signing books tonight at 7:30 at Back Pages Books in Waltham, MA.

This Thursday, July 10 at 7:00 I’ll be reading and signing books at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA, followed by Life Disrupted’s (unofficial) launch party. So come to Porter Square, buy a book or two, bring a friend or two, and stick around! (For more details, see the sidebar of Scheduled Events.)

And now back to the original point of this post—here’s a really interesting essay from Salon.com that explores the dearth of primary care physicians in our country. You may remember I’ve touched on this issue before; primary care is complicated terrain for people with rare diseases.

Recent events illustrated yet again why I need to renew search for a primary care doc in my hospital network who accepts new patients. When I needed someone to see me for the intense, stabbing pain in my lower right quadrant (it turned out to be mesenteric adenitis), there was a lot of back and forth between specialists about the most appropriate person to see me. They both agreed on the ER in the end since they feared it was acute appendicitis, but that’s beside the point. We all need someone to field these kinds of issues, since they’re not typically the stuff of specialists.

Anyway, the dwindling number of family medicine doctors and internists is certainly not a news flash, but this essay is a thoughtful exploration of some of the reasons it’s happening. Enjoy!