Rick Rader MD articles

No Shirts, No Shoes, No Behavior, No Service

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Being a college student in the tumultuous Sixties, I had the requisite long hair and a beard (since I only half matured, I still have the beard). In the summer of 1968, a friend and I traveled across the country in our version of a “coming of age road

As Tolerated

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Medical advice is a tricky thing. For the most part physicians will provide very specific, well defined directions. “Take two pills (200 mg each pill), three times a day, with food, and stop immediately if you begin to break out in a rash and call the office.” Pretty precise

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Can I Quote You On That?

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to start an editorial on quotes with a quote, but I quote, “A quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business.” A.A. Milne, the author of this quote (about quotes) was

Spell Bound

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF If it’s words they needed, they could have contacted and consulted with any one of a number of “exceptional parents.” They encounter hundreds of them in the course of a therapy visit, an IEP meeting, appeal for denied services, hearing for compassionate use of an unapproved medication. My earliest

Happy Birthday, Joe!

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF If they really wanted to give young boys the excitement, challenges and thrills of a real life adventure hero, they should have reinvented him as “G.I. Joe the Group Home Action Hero.” “War is hell!” declared Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman; and I have no doubt it is.

The Name Game

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The third year of medical school is the time when the student gets to play doctor. He or she wears a white coat, dons a stethoscope around their neck and has (or had, before the electronic hand-held universe) a stack of index cards (patient notes, tips and check lists)

Animal Crackers

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Researchers in veterinary medicine and epidemiology have long demonstrated key connections between animals and humans in the areas of emerging infections. “Zoobiguity” looks at connections that are closer to home, including cardiology, gastroenterology, pediatrics, oncology and also psychiatry. A man rushes his limp dog to the veterinarian. The doctor

A Point Well Taken

A Point Well Taken Nov 5, 2013 by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The struggles and challenges of parenting a child with special needs have been met by parents “pointing” out their rights, their needs and their obligations to many deaf ears; ears that couldn’t or wouldn’t hear. Seems like “pointing” comes in handy when

Take As Directed

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF It’s a scenario as old as medicine itself. Patient presents his or her pains, complaints, concerns and fears. The physician questions, pokes, prods and probes. The physician scribbles on a slate, parchment, paper or touch screen and offers, “Take this, it will help.” Ah, the prescription. Panaceas, bromides and

The Weight of Numbers

by RICK RADER, MD * EDITOR-IN-CHIEF This past January first put me in a league with half of all Americans when we made a New Year’s resolution. The league I was in was characterized by our rounding the bases with less speed, less grace and less ease. Our league was literally the “big league,” and

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