500th Post
I just realized that according to WordPress that this is my 500th post. Wow. It made me question why I do this? I blog everyday because it keeps me somewhat sane. It is like therapy for me. I also try (not always successful) to respond to most emails and comments. The latter is less frequent as I like it when other readers get in the fray to give their point of view. I do, however, read every comment.
Now for a history lesson. I started the Placebo Journal in 2001. We launched a month after 9/11. How is that for bad timing? The Placebo Journal was a humorous medical medical magazine that was made up of real paper and real stories and came out bimonthly for ten years. The launch was at the AAFP yearly conference where I was eventually thrown out for breaking every vendor rule they had. I actually met Pat Conrad at that conference and he has been a loyal follower and friend since then. Thanks, Pat!
About a year or so after the launch of the Placebo Journal I decided to do a e-newsletter called the Placebo Gazette. That was, I believe, around 2003. My initial website that housed that biweekly newsletter is gone but I am sure there are still some threads around in the ether. I can honestly say that I have been fighting against the same crap since that day. The same stuff taking us docs away from treating patients has been pulling my chain since the beginning. I have no idea if I made any difference at all but I do know I predicted a lot of stuff coming down the pike. All the trends of insurance companies using P4P or physician profiling was talked about first here. I even called myself Nostradougus for that reason.
The next version of the Placebo Gazette morphed into a blogspot site. That version lies dead here. That started in 2007 where one of my first posts was to point out how Doctors’ Day was missed. I now put a similar post up every year because it just shows how little administrators care about docs anymore. We are more their enemies or pawns than anything else.
In 2011, as I was winding down the Placebo Journal, I rebranded the Placebo Gazette into the Authentic Medicine Gazette. I stated that:
The mission of this blog is to connect us back to the roots of medicine. It is about fighting back against those things that are taking us away from the direct care of patients while still pointing out the lunacy and hypocrisy of this job.
In November of 2011 I moved us over to this home and changed the mission to:
Taking Healthcare Back From The Idiots Who Are Now In Charge
Five-hundred entries later and here we are. I continue this because there is such a loyal following. I want to thank all you readers who visit this site daily. I make NO MONEY from this. Sure it may lead to an order of some old journals or posters but those are about gone now. It has also lead to an occasional speaking gig but those are far and few in-between. The real reason I keep blogging is because of the great dialogue, comments and feedback that I get. I do appreciate your continued interest.
I also want to thank those contributors who continue to give me submissions, especially Ted Bacharach MD and Pat Conrad MD. Thanks again!
My only favor I ask of you is to spread the word so that someday I could lie and getting popular by redeeming myself on Oprah. 🙂
I just ordered a package of back issues and I am loving them! There is something to be said for paper. Are there any posters left and if so how do I order?
Yes, posters are available. Just add it to your cart at: https://authenticmedicine.com/?page_id=982
If you ever are on OPRAH! I, for one, will be quite disappointed (but will brag and remark that I “sort of” know that guy).
PJ was my bi-monthly (high colonic) cathartic with comedically timed flatulence; Authentic Medicine is a bisacodyl: not gut busting, but enough ammo for pithy commentary.
TY…..I think. NO seriously, thank you
loyal weekly follower and designated local teacher of many of your lessons to my co-workers. although occasionally being a nurse I see some issues a little differently, I typically have your identical feelings about P4P, Big Brother/Bother, Ivory Tower residents of any profession, and all of the assinine political-correctness this country is currently bathed in. You help me keep my sanity by reading your ‘personal journal’!! No matter what the name, PLEASE CONTINUE TO PUBLISH AND SHARE! and just maybe I will make it to retirement to my private island someday! thanks greatly for all you do…j
you are very welcome!
You mentioned last week about the hypocrisy of reimbursement. I agree that it is pathetic that we accept less than acceptable reimbursement. The amazing part comes when a physician (sold his soul to an insurance company) can tell me over the phone that the insurance company is denying reimbursement for the last two hospital days stating that there is not adequate documentation (in other words she did not belong in the hospital). It is comforting to know that physicians (former) are taking care of patients from an ivory tower and denying payments for services rendered to pay their own salary.
Keep up the good work Doug
Thank you for everything. It is scary how stuff that was happening to you 10 years ago is starting to happen here (Australia). Please keep putting up some of your old posters. I have several festooned at home and in my offices.
Thanks, Doug!
You’re doing a great thing, and I’m glad you’ve stuck with it.
Although I enjoy Authentic Medicine, I _DO_ missed the Placebo Gazette and the Placebo Journal. But rest assured I have, and still do, read all from cover to cover, including comments.
I miss PJ too
Thanks Doug, for all you continue to do. Your work has kept us thinking, and smiling, and left me envious of your talent and insight more than a few times. You have contributed more to the well-being of physicians AND patients than the past decade of AMA Congresses and AAFP assemblies. Fellow readers, let’s keep reading, watching, thinking, and above all, laughing! All hail the King of Medicine!
Thanks, man!
Keep up the fight Doug
Congratulations, Doug, on your 500th example of how to waste time on the internet. (Kidding, of course.) I have loved every incarnation of the journal… gazette… whatnot. I talk you up to every doctor and nurse I know, and I won’t shut up any time soon.
TY!