A Friend Like That
My younger sister, Esther, underwent coronary artery bypass surgery this August. It should have been me. Esther weighs about 110 pounds,...
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CEO's Blog
- Aug 2
Playing Fair
“There is no such thing as new truth; error might be old or new, but truth is as old as the universe.” Frederick Douglass, 1863 “Popular...
- Jul 1
Where You’re Going Matters
Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I...
- May 31
When Everybody Loses
The perfect partnership Craig Underwood (81) is a 4th generation California farmer in Ventura County who was facing headwinds keeping his...
- May 1
Conflicts, Corruption, Medicine, and Me Part IV
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. Mark Twain It is fitting that my final installment of this...
- Mar 29
Conflicts, Corruption, Medicine, and Me Part III
It’s called “the green journal.” When I was in medical school in the 1970’s, it was the source most frequently quoted by faculty at OHSU....
- Mar 1
Conflicts, Corruption, Medicine, and Me Part II
Do you think the health care system in the United States is better than it was 40 years ago? A simple way to gauge the health of a...
- Feb 1
Conflicts, Corruption, Medicine, and Me Part 1
At my age, it’s humbling to recognize how easily I can be manipulated. It is small comfort to know I am neither the first nor is it rare...
- Jan 3
Morning Has Broken
New Year’s Day is the morning of the year. Like mornings of mere days, it inspires fresh hope, but on an immensely grander scale. We wake...
- Nov 2, 2023
A Risk to Whom?
If you haven’t received the letter yet, it is in the mail. At least it will be if you are serious about providing good patient care. The...
- Oct 2, 2023
The Main Thing
Over the past months, many new providers have joined Evergreen. I want to welcome each one. Each of you brings something unique,...
- Sep 1, 2023
What we think we know
It isn’t so much what we don’t know that gets us in trouble. It is the information we are certain is true, which turns out to be wrong,...
- Aug 1, 2023
The Cost of Courage
It takes courage. Because the injury often comes from colleagues or institutions who should have your back. A betrayal of trust. It...
- Jul 4, 2023
The Role of the Church in Medicine
In the mid 1990’s, a group of Kaiser physicians who were working with patients with severe chronic diseases, noticed that they all had...
- Jun 1, 2023
The Danger of Scientific Consensus
Karl Popper, one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers of science, wrote that “the growth of knowledge depends entirely on...
- Apr 28, 2023
How Philosophy Drives Medical Ethics Part 3
When the foundations are being destroyed What can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3) It’s called the Wexner Center for the Arts. This...
- Apr 3, 2023
How Philosophy Drives Medical Ethics Part 2
Dissolution of truth is like the melting of snow on a cold winter day. It evaporates a little at a time, scarcely perceptible and...
- Mar 1, 2023
How Philosophy Drives Medical Ethics Part 1
Recently, I composed a series of blogs illustrating ethical quandaries in medicine. In those writings, I examined four ethical...
- Feb 6, 2023
A Season of Change
“The Times They are a-Changing” Bob Dylan 1963 This document is more important to me than it is to you. I get that. I set these goals...
- Jan 9, 2023
Do You Believe in Magic?
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”. The magician shows you something...
- May 19, 2022
The Talk
You see it coming. But then you’ve seen it before. The patient is living it. Looking from the inside out. First time walking this path....
- May 16, 2022
Mental Illness in Children
Mental illness in children is different. The worst mistake is to assume these young humans are little adults. They’re not. There are so...
- May 9, 2022
Mental Illness in the Adult
I separate my observations about mental health in adults versus children. The causes, expressions, volatility, and prognosis separate...
- May 2, 2022
The Art of Digging
Is it a difficult diagnosis or a difficult patient? We learn to walk past the expression to find where the pain lives. We need to know...
- Apr 21, 2022
This Life We’ve Chosen
When done well, primary care is hard work. Family Physicians, Internist, Pediatricians, PA’s, NP’s, PMHNP, OB/GYN, Midwives – we’re all...
- Apr 15, 2022
Who Cares if Christ is Risen
Who cares if Christ is risen? This bold headline graced the front page of the London Telegraph on Easter Sunday about 25 years ago. The...
- Apr 8, 2022
Medical Ethics
Psaki Says Sex Reassignment Surgery, Puberty Blockers for Kids Is ‘Best Practice,’ States Preventing It Will Be Held Accountable April...
- Apr 7, 2022
An Important Distinction
Aspiring Supreme Court Justice Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson attracted much attention during her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with...
- Mar 11, 2022
Douglas County Communities’ Network of Care
It’s a website. But describing Douglas County Communities’ Network of Care (NOC) as just a website is like calling a Lamborghini just a...
- Jan 31, 2022
Finding Order Amid Chaos
We are living in strange times. I can say it’s crazy out there. I may say I’ve never seen this before. What I cannot say is what we are...
- Dec 16, 2021
A Covid Book Report
Alex Berenson, a graduate of Yale University was an investigative reporter for the New York times for about 10 years. He covered the drug...
- Dec 1, 2021
Parables, Christmas, and US
An old parable written by an unknown Jewish writer: One of the just men came to Sodom, determined to save its inhabitants from sin and...
- Oct 28, 2021
Two Paths to One Destination
There were two influential prophetic books of the 20th century. In some ways these books are opposite in their ideas. In others, they are...
- Sep 27, 2021
Taking Care of Business Oct 2021
I never intended to be CEO. I fell into that role by necessity. I understood the business of medicine on a small scale. Directing a...
- Sep 7, 2021
Scientific Correctness
Scientific Correctness and the Death of Truth The Federation of State Medical Boards’ Board of Directors recently released a statement...
- Jun 4, 2021
CEO Blog June 2021
I hope you have that place in you. Hidden, even from you, intuition springing from values, incubation growing into illumination –...
- Mar 2, 2021
3/2/2021 Season of Discontent
Human beings, unlike animals, seem capable of suffering amid abundance. If animals are given food, warmth, shelter, and care, they seem...
- Feb 18, 2021
2/18/2021 Editorial about old church and purpose
There is a beautiful stately old church in downtown Portland. Built in 1894, it is multiple stories tall, when that part of Portland was...
- Jan 26, 2021
1/25/2021 How Our Character Is Revealed
The Covid 19 pandemic has presented challenges on multiple levels to Evergreen staff. Some of this reflects the virus and much results...
- Jan 19, 2021
1/19/2021 Learning to Divide
I learned about division in school. His name was Mike. Like everyone else, I could tell Mike was different. Mike could too. The term used...
- Jan 19, 2021
Christmas Letter 2020
We can ignore even pleasure, But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, But shouts in our pains. It is...
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