Dr. Cranquis' Mumbled Gripes

I'm an American physician who works in an Urgent Care clinic. I see lots of stupid or funny things that people do with-and-to their health. I cope by mumbling under my breath (and then posting about it on this pseudonymous blog). Thought you might be interested.

(Disclaimer: Questions related to medical topics will be answered to the best of Dr. Cranquis' (and Google's) knowledge, but the internet-delivered wisdom on this blog CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT SUBSTITUTE for your Real-Life Doctor's personal attention + examination, and your own common sense too! If you think you're having a medical emergency, hang up and go email 911. The author of this blog takes no responsibility for any medical, relationship, scholastic, financial, or other decisions you may make based on information found in this blog.)

And since people seem to be a bit confused about this: any "real-sounding" patients names are just horrible puns, and not HIPAA violations.

Blogs I Follow

A 5-question quiz for encouraging discussion about end-of-life plans. →

Some of the saddest cases I’ve seen in my career are patients with sudden catastrophic illness or trauma for whom their families are expected to make health-care decisions — and the families don’t know what the unconscious/critically-ill patient would want. Families are torn apart, arguing over whether to continue all life-prolonging interventions, vs focusing on keeping the patient comfortable.

You may think you’re too young and healthy to need an Advance Directive, but massive trauma or overwhelming infection can happen to anyone. Do your family a favor and check out this website, which provides the simplest End of Life Wishes discussion guide I’ve ever seen, and includes links for creating an Advance Directive. Use it, and pass it on!