Here's the definition of kickback: a percentage of income given to a person in a position of power or influence as payment for having made the income possible: usually considered improper or unethical. In other words, if a doctor managed to prescribe a drug enough so that a pharmaceutical company made $100,000 profit, the company would then give the doctor some of the $100,000 as a "reward" for making them so much money. Trust me, there really isn't a way for pharma companies to track that information. I think what people here are referring to is pharma companies *bribing* doctors to prescribe drugs. The definition of a bribe: money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust. Those pens and pads of paper and the odd lunch aren't bribes--it just isn't worth that much. Those pens and pads of paper are promotional materials--my bank hands out pens, my hair salon hands out pens. Are you taking a bribe when you receive or use a pen with your bank's name stamped on it? My sister-in-law is a doctor. She's in family practice. She spends at least one week every year taking continuing education courses in order to stay current in her field. She spends more time at home, reading medical journals and doing other research to help her patients. Her first child was born with multiple birth defects--dislocated joints, really messed up vertebra that caused a spinal cord injury which resulted in quadriplegia, floppy trachea requiring a trach and a ventilator. At birth, they gave him less than 24 hours to live, based on everything that was wrong. My nephew spent his first six months in NICU at the area's best hospital. His doctors, and my SIL knew who the best doctors were, could not figure out what the problem was. They treated the symptoms because that was all they could do. They were calling colleagues all over the country, trying to figure out what was wrong. A new doctor was recommended to them. When he saw the MRIs and CT scans and X-rays, he had the courage to tell them he couldn't help my nephew. But he referred them to yet another doctor, 500 miles away, at a major Children's Hospital in another state. Just before his second birthday, they got a diagnosis of the syndrome that Nephew was, and a plan of attack on how to treat the 13 different birth defects that he was born with. It's a rare disorder. And Nephew has some of the more rare symptoms and is missing one of the most common. There are many, many rare disorders and it is not possible for doctors to know them all. But it is possible for them to seek out help in finding out what a patient has. It can take a long time, though, until you find a doctor who can lead you to another doctor who has the knowledge you are seeking.

I am so sorry.. The pain is still fresh for the both of us.. Your website is beautiful! He would be proud of it, I'm sure.. Remember that he will be with you during graduation. Right next to you, look for a sign, I'm sure you will see something today..I have to remind myself that Dad wouldn't want me being sad..He didn't like that..He would always try to cheer me up..Remember those moments.. I'm facing a birthday party on Sun. that I'd rather not have..But I'd have a very disappointed 6 yr old little girl if I don't do it..He loved the kids and the parties, the kids were his drive in life, one of them..He would drive 2 hrs each way to come and visit sometimes for an hour and go home..Christmas will be tough too... We had the picture perfect Night before Christmas ritual going on. He would read that story, I would put the cookies in place and hang the stockings. He would hang around while I wrapped the presents and he would help me eat cookies. Last Christmas he was sick and in the hosptial from the 14th to Jan 5th or so..Little did I know, it would be his last..I questioned it, but everyone said I was overreacting, he'll be fine..Then in April, they tried to take out the cancer and found all through out his body! I was right!!! I'm having my moments too...Good luck today.. Keep in touch. Heather

Pete is no longer on the show he is not returning and this is the last season and is to be a short one, Addison will return for some of these. The show had changed so much I no longer enjoy it, in fact last night I deleted all the past episodes I had not yet viewed and removed it from my dvr list. It was one I really enjoyed when it first started. I hate when they decided to make such major changes when they had a good thing going.

EMRs - Electronic Medical Records. With the exception of many of the younger physicians I have yet to met a physician who honestly likes it. My DH now comes home after a long day at work and spends an additional 2 hours reading all the EMR's that are in his inbox. The cost to his practice to implement this system was over $250,000. Training was not only expensive but time consuming. The software is proprietary and when DH began his office conversion there was only one software program available to medical oncologists. Needless to say this was very expensive. Plus the cost of new hardware for the oncology nurses, techs and physicians. What really bothers him is that it interferes with his patient time. He allots 50 minutes for a new cancer patient. Now he spends the first 15 to 20 minutes asking the questions listed in his software program and typing in the answer. The program won't let him skip a question. Most of his patients dislike it too because they feel the doctor is too busy looking at his laptop rather than looking at them. It's not a good way to begin such an important relationship. In time it should improve. It will facilitate the transfer of important data - but as practices convert it's quite painful. My best friend's DH is simply going to retire when the conversion becomes mandatory. He's a solo family practitioner in a fairly poor urban neighborhood and he doesn't have the extra money nor the desire to switch to EMRs.