He doesn’t actually vomit, though, which is good.

Anyway, the current plan is to try to space out his food some more, and if things keep up, an over-the-counter proton pump inhibitor. We’ll see.

For now, I’ll just say that I love being a dad, and that John Eliot is a wonderful son with all sorts of cute and interesting features and mannerisms, some of which have changed and will probably never come back, such as the little sigh he used to make after sneezing. Such is the nature of the a growing and changing baby.

There are a few more videos up so far, and more will be coming. Pictures will be making their way up as well once I get a chance to go through some, pick out some good ones and edit them.

A well-written piece. No matter how you cut it, people will follow the money and lifestyle. Until primary care is reimbursed at a reasonable amount compared to your gastroenterologist or anesthesiologist or otolaryngologist, people aren’t going to do it in the numbers truly needed for a good primary care foundation.

That means revamping the reimbursement scheme – don’t pay so much for procedures, and so little for counseling. Limit PCP legal liability. Even procedure-based subspecialists would like to do fewer procedures at times (heard the words straight out of their mouths just last month), since procedures still have risks. They tell the patient they don’t need the procedure, and the patient gets upset, and finds somebody out there who will indulge the patient and do an invasive procedure, driving up costs to the system. At the same time, doing the procedure is “safer” in terms of covering the MD legally, since they can at least say, “Look, here’s the cath/path/pictures to prove there was nothing wrong” when there was no medical indication to do the procedure/imaging in the first place (again, see the above article).

Those 2 simple, yet difficult, changes would make a world of difference.

So we’re all just hanging out, waiting for the pitocin to kick in a little stronger. They’ve titrated it up a couple of times, and now Kathleen is starting to feel it a bit more. Thankfully, we have all sorts of fun people around right now to keep us all talking, laughing and having a good time. This is easy (so far).

Women’s inner wisdom guides them through birth.

Kathleen pointed out that this statement is true, especially if “inner wisdom” = “uterus.”

All in all, though, we did enjoy our childbirth class. Reminded us of a few things we’ve since forgotten in the last few years, as well as teaching us some quite practical things about breathing techniques, what to pack to bring to the hospital, and so on.

I think we (the wife and myself) forget how medicalized we are. Sitting in that class, we were chuckling to ourselves about things that I don’t think anyone else thought was funny. But some of the videos were just hilarious! Probably filmed in the late 70s/early 80s, judging by the hair, there were people who were willing to be filmed in all sorts of interesting states, including a meconium-stained delivery, and mom who was delivering entirely naked. Not all of it was funny ha-ha, but some of it just seemed absurd in an amusing sort of way. Just thinking back about parts of that class makes me smile.

But for all of you who are expecting, a childbirth class is worth the time and money, especially if it’s a class at the hospital where you will deliver, as it will give you specific information about what to expect at that hospital.

Really? It can’t wait 20 seconds?

However, compared to many other malignancies, the prognosis is very good, and the treatment regimens are well-understood with significant data to support current treatment regimens.

But it appears that the family does not believe that pursuing futher allopathic medical treatment (conventional western medicine) is in the child’s best interest, and instead have chosen to pursue other treatment courses, namely a Native American modality (or so says the article).

So does the State (or Society) have a compelling case in “protecting” the child from his parents wishes? Where, if at all, do the parents’ rights to make decisions for the minor end?

This has been debated in the ethics literature in the past, and there are arguments that go back and forth. However, this is the real thing, with a real child’s life and well-being at stake.

Do you invoke the authority of the state and force the family to return the child for treatment?