“There is room for words on subjects other than last words.”
― Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
The Academic Inflation Reduction Act
The resumes of residency applicants are longer than ever (but that does not mean that they are productive)
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Comments by Alan H. Daniels MD, and Matthew L. Webb MD, MHS
Like Father, Like Daughter
If female medical students don’t frequently apply to orthopaedic residencies, something may be missing in their experience (but that “something” may be identified in daughters of surgeons who do)
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Comments by Sarah Powell MD, and The Boden Sisters: Lauren M. Boden MD, Stephanie A. Boden MD, Allison L. Boden MD and Susanne H. Boden, MD
When Physicians Compete, Patients Can Win
If two different specialties treat the same problem differently, both can’t be right (but rivalry creates natural experiments in efficacy)
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Comments by Charles Schnee, MD and Nichole Zelenski
I Have Seen the Moment of My Greatness Flicker
As we age, it’s tempting to rage against the dying of the light (but it would be wiser to prepare)
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Comments by Lydia Dugdale MD, MAR and Charles Cornell MD
Are Medical School Loans Mortgages Without Houses?
It’s fair to demand that future doctors fund their education (but they also deserve a fair path to exit if their plains do not work out)
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Comments by Foster Chen MD, John Patrick Hunt JD, MFE and Saqib Rehman MD, MBA
Climate Change Comes to Orthopaedics
Climate science is important (but not [yet] suitable for medical school curricula)
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Comments by Jason R. Saleh MD, FAAOS, Jeffrey A. Mann MD and Eric M. Bluman MD, PhD
Why do Residents Want to Join Unions?
Residents in the past would quietly endure temporary hardships (but maybe their present hardships are not so temporary)
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Comments by Paul J. Dougherty MD, members of the Organizing Committee for the Stanford Housestaff Union and Julie Balch Samora, MD
When Opinions Are Fervid but Evidence is Lacking, a Misinformation Consensus is Ripe for Backtracking
Outlawing medical speech is wrong (but especially wrong when a Nonsensus Consensus is the arbiter of truth)
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Comments by Jason Koh MD, MBA and João Marecos LLM
ChatGPT Can’t Perform Orthopaedic Surgery
ChatGPT can do almost everything but operate (but that may be enough to save our jobs)
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Comments by Andrew Milby, M.D., Daniel A. Donoho MD and Chat GPT Itself
Primum Non Nocere Is Harmful. Primum Noce Apte May Help
Hippocrates should not be blamed for “Do No Harm” (but that is only because he did not compose this bad advice)
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Comments by Li Felländer-Tsai, M.D., Ph.D and Charles D. Rosen MD
My Flexner Retort
Flexner’s report may have produced racially disparate outcomes (but that does not mean we should memory-hole the document)
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Comments by Kris Radcliff MD and Stanley Goldfarb MD
Seeing Ourselves as Doctors See Us
Patients these days can read their medical notes (but may not like everything they see)
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Comments by Charlotte Blease PhD and Maria Hagglund PhD
My Perfectly Reliable, and Perfectly Worthless, Fracture Classification System
Reliability is necessary (but hardly sufficient)
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Comments by Mark S. Vrahas MD and Stuart A. Green MD
Planck’s Principle and the Case for Pseudonymous Publication
There are many arguments for pseudonymity (but I am reluctant to make some of them in a signed column)
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Comments by Mininder S. Kocher MD, MPH and Leonid A. Kandel, MD
Informed Consent, Omakase Style
Society wants patients to be fully informed (but patients themselves, not so much)
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Comments by Hassan M. K. Ghomrawi PhD, MPH and David Ring MD
Defund the Medical Schools! Cancel Tuition!
Defunding Medical Schools is neither sensible nor feasible (but cancelling tuition, as NYU has shown, may be possible)
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Comments by Steven Abramson MD and Nicholas A. Pulos MD
500 Words of Solitude
An Electronic Medical Record might be better than a lost or illegible paper chart (but has become incomprehensible nonetheless)
[Download PDF]
Comments by James S. Shaha MD and Shepard Hurwitz MD
Masks and the Veil of Ignorance
The debate over masks to limit COVID-19 is clouded by a priori biases (but these biases can actually advance science)
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Comments by Eugene J. Carragee MD and James L. Carey, MD
In Praise of Ankle Sprain Surgery
Any new surgical procedure can be praised if outcomes data justify it (but complete outcomes data are rarely collected)
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Comments by Nader Hebela MD and Robert Ostrum, MD
Predicting Chaos in the Residency Match
Virtual interviews this year can wreak havoc on the process (but also do damage in years to come)
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Comments by John C. Hagedorn II MD, Helen K. Morgan MD, C. W. David Chang MD and Margaret (Meg) Wolff MD, MHPE
Thought for Food
The orthopaedic curriculum should include nutrition education (but not only to help surgeons give advice about diet)
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Comments by Yoshi Rothman, MD and Jennifer Crowley PhD
Paying Surgeons More Might Cost Less
Higher fees would seem to lead to higher spending (but if income-targeting surgeons do fewer cases, the savings on ancillary costs might more than offset it)
[Download PDF]
Comments by Robert A. Burton, MD and Joseph Zuckerman, MD
Surprise Medical Bills are Hardly Charitable
Maybe some hospitals have an excuse for surprise bills (but certainly not those which claim Not-For-Profit status)
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Comments by David A. Hyman MD, JD, Benedict Ippolito PhD and Charles Silver JD; James Rickert MD; and Mihir S. Dekhne MS and Karan R. Chhabra MD, MSc
How Necessary COVID-19 Lockdowns Can Go Too Far
Starting a harsh lockdown may have been wise (but continuing it may not be)
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Comments by William N. Levine, John L. Zeller, Anita Ho and Kamiar Khajavi
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is Work-related–Because I Said So
The medical case for causality is far from conclusive (but defining a work injury is not entirely a medical question)
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Comments by Judith Green-McKenzie and Charles Goldfarb
Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Social
It’s nice that residents have a day off (but unless that day is on the weekend, residents may remain socially isolated)
[Download PDF]
Comments by Colleen M. Farrell, Mohammad Diab and Judith Shulevitz
Medicare for All is Not Enough
Health care might be needed for health (but it is not enough–so look elsewhere for reform)
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Comments by Joseph A. Bosco III and Gregory J. Della Rocca
Roll Them Bones: Selecting Orthopaedic Surgery Residents by Lottery
Ecclesiastes correctly noted that time and chance happen to us all (but “meritocracy” tends to overlook that)
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Comments by Cato T. Laurencin and Andrew R. Spector
High-value Health Care and the Assassination of George Washington
Washington’s doctors delivered high value health care, circa 1790 (but killed him in the process nonetheless)
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Comments by Robert H. Quinn and Antonia F. Chen
Prizes for Cures
Research grants have promoted scientific advances (but maybe not the breakthroughs we need)
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Comments by James C. Iatridis and Martha Murray
(and a letter from Regis J. O’Keefe and my reply [Download PDF])
Why Can’t I Set Fractures in Vermont?
Actually, I can set fractures in Vermont (but only if I pay for a local license–which is inefficient, if not silly)
[Download PDF]
Comments by Alexander R. Vaccaro and Shirley Svorny
Pre-arthritis Syndrome
Your joints are silently deteriorating (but that does not mean that you have a disease)
[Download PDF]
Comments by Shannon Brownlee, Nortin Hadler and David Rier
Big Data Will Make You Confront Big Ethical Questions—Here’s Why
Machine learning can yield important insights (but distinguishing them from spurious correlations is hard)
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Comments by Drake G. LeBrun, Charles Carroll IV and Seth Haberman
Agonizing Appropriately Over the Residency Match Rank List
The differences between most programs are small enough that sorting them precisely is futile (but the effort may have its benefits nonetheless)
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Comments by Raj Rao and Joshua C. Patt
The Time to Fix ABOS Recertification Has Arrived
Recertification has become unduly burdensome (as if “duly burdensome” were not enough)
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Comments by Judith Baumhauer and David F Martin
Ponseti Broke the Iron Triangle
We need more disruptive innovation (and it need not be high-tech, as Dr Ponseti has shown)
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Comments by Stuart L. Weinstein and Thomas Parker Vail
A Goldwater Rule for Sports Medicine
Obviously, physicians should not diagnose patients they’ve never met (but some commentary and analysis from afar can be kosher)
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Comments by Benjamin G. Domb, Xavier A. Duralde, and Duncan C. MacCourt
Bhandari’s Paradox
Fragility fractures of the femoral neck should be treated with total hip arthroplasty in many cases (but only rarely is this treatment chosen)
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Comments by Joseph M. Lane and Kyle J. Jeray
Why Did You Apply in Orthopaedic Surgery?
Yes, orthopaedics is a wonderful field for those eager to fix things (but might the high pay contribute to its appeal?)
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Comments by Maureen T. Connelly and Scott E. Porter
Want to Match in an Orthopaedic Surgery Residency? Send a Rose to the Program Director
Market congestion for residency positions may make students yearn for the old days of typewriter-on-paper applications (unless they borrow a trick from the online dating world)
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Comments by Alvin E. Roth, Terrance D. Peabody, Kenneth A. Egol
Viscosupplementation, Opioid Overuse, and the Excesses of Empathy
The opioid epidemic has been perpetuated by some bad actors (but some well-intentioned actors have contributed as well, perhaps)
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Comments by Samuel Shem and Anna Lembke
Rethinking the Resident Research Requirement
Asking a good question, even without answering it, is better than finding gee-whiz results (but we don’t reward that enough)
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Comments by Mellick J. Chehade, Stephen Pinney, and Kevin P. Black
JoeCare: Free Health Insurance Coverage for All
Health insurance is not health care (and for that matter, health care is not health)
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Comments by Thomas C. Barber, David Grande, Laura N. Medford-Davis, and Brian G. Smith
Unnecessary Surgery Can Never Be Done Well
Those who purport to measure the quality of care without being able to measure appropriateness of care are full of it. (No parenthetical walk-back here)
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Comments by Paul E. Levin, Khaled J. Saleh, and Zain Sayeed
Safety Alert: One in 200 Knee Replacement Patients Die Within 90 Days of Surgery
And one is 700 or so with need an amputation (Though this is apparently not known by every patient contemplating elective knee replacement)
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Comments by David Ring and Leonid (Ari) Kandel
Ending The Residency Application Arms Race—Starting with the USMLE
If a lottery prize is worth $100, don’t be surprised to find rational players willing to spend almost $100 to win it (yet much more than $100 will be wasted in total)
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Comments by Joseph Zuckerman, S. Elizabeth Ames, and William C. McGaghie
Two Patients, Two Operating Rooms, One Surgeon—Does The Math Add Up?
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t (but the problem can be fixed nonetheless….)
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Comments by Alexander Langerman and Michelle M. Mello
Learned Helplessness and Medicare’s Bungled Bundled Payment Program
Government policy with good intention, fumbled implementation (have you ever seen that before?)
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Comments by Robert E. Mechanic and Vincent D. Pellegrini
Inigo Montoya and Statistical Significance
This essay has very little do with Inigo Montoya –I was just name-dropping for attention (but if you read it, please reward yourself by watching this video clip)
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Comments by Andrew Gelman, David Trafimow, and Alex Reinhart
Morbidity and Mortality Conference: Theater of Education
M&M is perhaps the worst formal method to teach medical error prevention (except for all of the other ways that have been tried from time to time)
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Comments by Charles L. Bosk and Christina L. Cifra
Fibromyalgia is Real
Of course the disease is real for the suffering is real (the question is whether it is a musculoskeletal condition)
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Comments by Nortin M. Hadler, Daniel J. Clauw, and M. Clement Hall
Arthrostasis
As Dr. Dye has shown, it would be best if our treatments were homeostatic (but some of our best ones are not)
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Comments by Scott F. Dye, Jaimo Ahn, and José Cordero-Ampuero
Choosing Wisely
Professional courtesy these days is not about waiving co-pays, for that’s not allowed. (Real courtesy is being told what’s worth paying for)
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Comments by Sohail K. Mirza, Augusto Sarmiento, and James Rickert
Codman Was Right—Spread The Word
It’s not only for his eponymous Triangle or Shoulder Fracture Classification did Codman gain immortality: he also was the father of Outcomes Studies. (Though as Woody Allen observed, it may be preferable to gain immortality by not actually dying.)
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Comments by David C. Ring, Nicholas H. Osborne, and Randale C. Sechrest
Geriatric Hip Fracture Centers: The Time Has Come
We know a lot about how to care for geriatric hip fractures (but not every facility can implement these best practices)
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Comments by Stephen L. Kates and Kenneth A. Egol
Specialization and its Discontents
“The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations…generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.”–Adam Smith (He did not have surgical operations in mind, but he might as well have)
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Comments by Pierre J. Hoffmeyer, Augusto Sarmiento, and K. Daniel Riew
Orthopaedic surgery is lucrative (but evidently not lucrative enough)
“Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot.”–Pirkei Avot 4:1 (This is not the first time the Talmud was ignored)
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Comments by Elizabeth W. Dunn, Michael I. Norton, and Daniel Scott Horwitz
The Myths of Femoroacetabular Impingement
We can agree that some people have “hip impingement anatomy”; some people have hip pain needing treatment now; and some people without pain will develop hip arthritis (but these are not necessarily the same people).
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Comments by David A. Rubin, Christopher M. Larson, and Marc J. Philippon
The ACGME Core Competencies are Overrated
The ACGME competencies are not everything (but as I learned from commentators, they are something)
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Comments by Mellick J. Chehade, Stephen Pinney, and Kevin P. Black
Defending Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
The definition of waste, fraud and abuse is in the eye of the beholder (and when the beholder is a federal prosecutor, that can be a scary prospect)
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Comments by Carrie Valiant and Peter Cram
Demerit Scholarships: A Method for Weeding Out the Marginally Bad Resident
We will pay dearly to attract the worthy (but not enough to repel the unworthy)
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Comments by William N. Levine and James E. Carpenter
Not By Bread Alone: Shortcomings of the Pay-For-Performance Approach
Good performance may deserve a financial bonus (but if that’s all you say it deserves, Shaw knows what we are)
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Comments by Kevin J. Bozic, David S. Jevsevar, and David J. Shulkin
Harvard Beats Yale and Other Fallacies
Small sample size can lead to misleading conclusions (though Harvard still is better)
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Comments by Saam Morshed and Howard Wainer
Free for Service: The Inadequate Incentives for Quality Peer Review
You can certainly attract reviewers for no rewards (but you might get reviews worth every penny you spent)
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Comments by Elizabeth Wager, James D. Heckman, and John L. Zeller
Everyone (Else) is Conflicted
Conflict of interest declarations are not necessarily helpful (Actually, they may even be harmful)
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Comments by Mohit Bhandari and Don A. Moore
Male Practice: Gender Inequality in Orthopaedic Surgery
We have come a long way from the days when the hospital sign on the men’s locker room door said “DOCTORS” (but not far enough)
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Comments by Laura Forese and Dawn LaPorte
The Folly of Forecasting
A rough extrapolation may be the best guess we can offer (yet for some predictions, extrapolation alone [ignoring fat tails] is not only silly, but dangerous)
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Comments by Richard Iorio, Steven Kurtz, Kevin Ong, and Edmund Lau
Malpractice: Problems and solutions
There is plenty wrong with the malpractice system (but high insurance premiums is far from the worst of it)
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Comments by James Herndon, David Seligson, and Christopher D. Stombaugh
Getting the last word
Orthopaedic Residency: How Do You Know When the “Cake is Done?”
It’s wonderful to promote residents early when their competency allows it (but what do we do when “never” is the right time?)
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Comments by Douglas Dirschl, Gary E. Friedlaender, and Robert S. Sterling