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Taser for sale


I'm definitely what you would call an electronic gadget guy. I'm sitting in front of my Mac at work which is next to my pager, my RAZR cell phone, and my Palm PDA. Are you sickened yet? Plus, you know the car that I drive (scroll below).

I'm always excited this time of year because it's the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It's a gadget guy's paradise. Did you know that there's a huge 63 inch plasma TV that they're marketing out there? That is, if you're into that sort of thing.

Something that did catch my eye was in today's USA Today. Apparently, there is going to be a new version of the controversial taser stun gun that's going to be put on sale (pictured above).

What's new about this? Well, this is a smaller version that previous that can be stored in a purse or a backpack. Curious yet? The older model is big and bulky and cost about $1000. This newer version is coming in at a cool $300.

Taser [International] says the C2, less powerful than the police version, is designed to stun for 30 seconds, providing enough time for the shooter to flee from danger.

"It's a terrible idea. It's a dangerous idea," says Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, which says there have been 200 Taser-related deaths. "I can't think of any reason you would want these out in public."

Daniel Garza, 42, was glad he bought the civilian Taser when a man climbed in the back seat of his truck Dec. 17 at a Yuba City, Calif., Wal-Mart. Garza zapped the intruder, who was arrested. "The Taser did the job," Garza says.

Although I do not own a gun myself, I definitely support the second amendment to bear arms. However, should the public have easier access to a weapon like this? I would probably have to say no. I think that only law enforcement authorities should have access to taser like weapons.

This is probably a bad analogy, but I think about the public's access to medications. There's a certain group of meds that people should have access to (called over the counter meds). Then, there's the group of meds that should be prescription only and managed by those "medical professionals" (I think that's the politically correct term) who have prescriptive authority.

I could be wrong on the taser thing and on the prescription medicine thing. But, I know you'll let me know where I'm going wrong on this. Would you buy one of these things? What if your neighbor bought one of these?

Tagged again and again

Ok, I admit it. I've been a bad boy. I've been tagged three times in the last two weeks or so, and I haven't gotten around to responding to them. Bad Dr. A!

Lady Aeval and Moof tagged me on "5 things you don't know about me." Then, Fat Doctor tagged me for "7 musicals for 2007." If anyone else tagged me, I totally forgot. So, I apologize if I forgot you.

Since it's my blog, I'm going to give you a modified meme or sorts. It's a pictoral list of things you may not know about me. And, I throw in a little musical thing at the end. Hope you enjoy it...


The car I drive: Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible
I've never had a convertible before. And, for the five sunny days each year in Ohio, I actually have the top down. Kind of fits my personality, don't you think?


My current computer: iMac G4
I'm hoping to upgrade soon. This thing is a tad bit on the slow side,
but still, in my opinion, the most stylish looking computer on the market.
Also, gotta love those Mac commercials.


My dream golf destination: Pebble Beach
I've actually "played" this course on computer games. But, I'd love to be there in real life someday. Everyone I've talked to say that even though TV shows the beauty and majesty of the course, there's nothing like being there in person.


One of my favorite movies ever: Say Anything
So many memories (good and bad) from high school when I watch
this movie again and again. I can still recall many of those
quirky Say Anything quotes, even today.


One of my favorite songs ever: End of the Innocence
Who knows how long this will last
Now weve come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say good bye

The Ashley Treatment


Ashley is a 9 year old who lives in the Western United States (picture from a Daily Mail article). Her case has sparked a huge medical ethics debate having to do with rare medical conditions and parent's medical decision making ability for a child.

Ashley was born with a rare condition of the brain called static encephalopathy. What does this mean? The best way I've seen it described is a type of permanent brain damage. This type of condition is associated with a lot of disabilities like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, and other similar conditions. It's been reported that she currently has the mental capacity of a three month old baby.

Ashley's parents, like other parents, were concerned about how they would care for a special needs child like this. But, unlike other parents, they took an unprecedented step to ask her Seattle doctors to perform what was described as "growth-attenuated" treatment.

Essentially, this type of treatment, prevents physical growth and keeps Ashley in her physical child-like state. Her parents made the argument that Ashley could be more easily cared for in this state. Ashley could be moved easily from place to place and she'll have a better opportunity to interact with other family members.

Who approved this radical treatment? Well, this was reviewed and approved by the hospital ethics committee before the treatments were done - including hysterectomy, removal of breast buds, and high does of estrogen to stunt her growth.

I just read an interesting article by Arthur Caplan, PhD, who is the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania:

I believe it is true that it is easier to move Ashley about if she is the size of a 6-year-old. But I also believe that a decent society should be able to provide appropriately sized wheelchairs and bathtubs and home-health assistance to families like this one. Keeping Ashley small is a pharmacological solution for a social failure — the fact that American society does not do what it should to help severely disabled children and their families.
Ashley's parents have a blog called The Ashley Treatment. I encourage you to check it out. As of this writing there are 568 comments, and the site states that they have had more than 400,000 hits in 24 hours:
We hope that by now it is clear that the “Ashley Treatment” is about improving Ashley’s quality of life and not about convenience to her caregivers. Ashley’s biggest challenge is discomfort and boredom and the “Ashley Treatment” goes straight to the heart of this challenge. It is common for Ashley to be uncomfortable or to be bored.

Even though Ashley’s level of tolerance has increased along the years, she is helpless when bothered and her only recourse is to cry until someone comes to her rescue. These episodes are triggered by something as simple as sliding off the pillow or a hair landing on her face and tickling/bothering her, let alone menstrual cramps, adult-level bed sores, and discomfort caused by large breasts. Also, without the treatment, Ashley could not be moved as frequently or be as included in family life, and we would not experience the joy of being an intact family as often.

I admit that my experience with this story is only the last hour since I've been reading up on this case. Plus, what you hear in the press never paints the entire picture. Who really knows what this family is going through?

But, I do know that a case like this could set a dangerous precedent. The first groundbreaking case usually is the most straight forward - and even that is debatable in this case. Now, people, particularly the legal system (sorry counselor curmudgeon), will start finding the grey areas.

Even though the parents deny it, the case will be built that Ashley was treated in this manner as a matter of convenience for the caregiver. So, the next child who is deemed to have "brain damage" and will be difficult to care for will now be eligible for The Ashley Treatment. Think I'm crazy? Possibly. But, mark my words, this story is just starting and will play itself out throughout 2007.

Ethics always lags behind science. When that happens, the legal system and possibly even the government get involved. And, that's where things get ugly. Things get more political. The activists with political agendas get energized. I won't be surprised if this very issue is inserted into the 2008 US Presidental campaign - Remember Terri Schiavo and the end of life debate? Remember Michael J. Fox and the stem cell debate?

I'd better stop before I really get going on a politics/government rant. I mean, this is a medical blog, ya know. Sheesh! Have a nice weekend!

Update 5/9/07: The hospital admitted that it should have obtained a court order before proceeding with the surgery. Read the update here.

Vote for Dr. A!


The polls are now open over at MedGagdet.com for the 2006 Medical Weblog Awards. I've been nominated in two categories, but I'm only focusing my efforts on one category.

Vote for Doctor Anonymous for Best New Medical Weblog (established in 2006). I encourage you to check out my favorite posts (the links are in my sidebar) from the past six months. Those will definitely convince you to vote for me. I think I have a good mix of patient stories, current events coverage, opinion pieces, and some humorous posts to be considered for best new medical weblog of the year.

I've also been nominated for Best Overall Medical Weblog. While I appreciate the nomination, I feel I'm definitely outclassed in this strong field. Maybe one day, I'll be ready to compete with this group, but not at this point in my blog life.

According to MedGadget, here are the rules for voting and counting:

Judges will conduct a review of each blog submitted and will vote to sort out those blogs that don't belong to a particular category, or simply splogs (spam blogs.) Furthermore, judges will vote for blogs. Your votes and judges' votes are counted as 50% to 50%. Such a voting system was held at a recent TV show Dancing with the Stars, and details on how the counting was done can be found here.

Voting for the awards will be open to all, but you will only be able to vote once. (No hacking or cookie manipulation will be tolerated -- only one vote for each category from a particular IP address.)

The polls will close on Sunday, January 14, 2007 at midnight PST. But, don't wait until then! Cast your vote right now. Vote Doctor Anonymous for Best New Medical Weblog (established in 2006). Don't forget to vote in the other categories. Thanks so much for your consideration!

Stop Reading Diet Articles


Want to lose weight? Well, then one thing you absolultely should NOT do is read articles about diet and weight loss. This is according to a new study from the University of Minnesota.

Huh? That doesn't make sense. Well, I did leave something out. This study talked about teenage girls reading about dieting and weight loss in magazine articles. To me, this is kind of the first step before going to the pro-ana and pro-mia sites which I have talked about before.

The AP article describes some of the results of the Univ of Minn. study:

It didn't seem to matter whether the girls were overweight when they started reading about weight loss, nor whether they considered their weight important. After taking those factors into account, researchers still found reading articles about dieting predicted later unhealthy weight loss behavior.

Girls in middle school who read dieting articles were twice as likely five years later to try to lose weight by fasting or smoking cigarettes, compared to girls who never read such articles. They were three times more likely to use measures such as vomiting or taking laxatives, the study found.

I admit that I'm seeing this already in my office only a couple of days into the new year. Teenage girls asking about dietary tips. The study even points a finger at doctors offices...
"Doctors' waiting rooms are no place for magazines promoting diet and weight loss," [Co-author Patricia van den Berg] said, "in the same way you don't have materials promoting smoking in waiting rooms."
Usually, the most common complaint was have about our waiting room magazines is how old they are (meaning from 1-2 years ago). But, now I'll have to see what's out there. It's definitely a slippery slope. If I take out everything that is potentially objectionable to anyone, there will be no magazines left. Sheesh!

Kick out the kids


How are those new year's resolutions going? For me, after day one, I'm still hanging in there. However, are you already finding it difficult to keep that resolution of eating right? I've got an idea: Get rid of your kids!

This article from The Daily Mail describes that researchers at the University of Iowa have shown that living with children also means you are more likely to eat foods such as cheese, ice cream, beef, pizza and salty snacks.

This adds up to five extra grams of fat each day. And, taken over an entire week, this is equivalent to to a pepperoni pizza a week in saturated fat alone. The leader of the study said this:

"An important implication of the study is that healthy changes in eating need to focus on the entire household, not just individuals, especially when there is so much obesity among the young."

"Often children demand these less healthy foods but everyone's eating them and it's a pattern we've got to change by helping everyone think more about their dietary choices," she added.

I suppose that making healthy dietary changes for the entire family is better than showing your kids the door. You probably saw this study last week talking about Pre-school Obesity. But, the next time you're craving really fatty food and faced with the choice of getting rid of your pizza or your kid, which would you choose? HA!

Grand Rounds

Doctor Rob over at Musings of a Distractible Mind has Grand Rounds 3.15 now up and running. A rather explosive theme this week - literally. A creative mix of pictures and music intermixed among this weeks postings.

If you've never heard of Grand Rounds before, it's a weekly collection of the best posts that the medical blogsosphere has to offer. Are you interested in medical topics? Well, who isn't? I encourage you to head on over to Dr. Rob's site and check it out. It's Grand Rounds!

That's So 2006


Many people believe that we should leave The Donald and The Rosie and their war of words back in 2006. I would tend to agree with that.

But, on Sunday, Lake Superior State University released its annual List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness." Their current list includes gems like, "show me the money, "erectile dysfunction" and "holiday tree."

This AP article reviews some of the words on the 2007 list:

Critics piled on the media's practice of combined celebrity names such as "TomKat" or "Brangelina." One said, "It's so annoying, idiotic and so lame and pathetic that it's "lamethetic.'"

Take "ask your doctor," the mantra of pharmaceutical commercials. The university called it "the chewable vitamin morphine of marketing."

The university's word watchers had no use for "truthiness," the word popularized by Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert. It was selected as the word that best summed up 2006 in an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

So, as you're walking around today and writing your blog posts, make sure that you stay away from these banished words. Need the complete list? Well, here is the complete list of 2007 List of Banished Words. Enjoy!

Happy New Year


I can say this now, because it is 2007 in some parts of the world. The picture above is from Sydney, Australa (*waving to HP*).

I've finally caught up on my rest. I don't want to bore you with all the details, but it was just crazy at work last week. Great to have a weekend off to catch my breath.

On a day like today, one cannot help but reflect back on the year that was and the year that will be. Even though it's really cheezy to say, but it is a time of hope. A time to kind of give yourself a clean slate to start again.

Some are really into this new year's resolution thing. I admit that sometimes I make them and sometimes I don't. There's this columnist that says Forget New Year's Resolutions. But, for me, here we go.

Physical health: I know. I'm one of the many people who make this resolution. But, I really think that I can do it this time. Or, maybe it's the guilt of all those sweets that I consumed at holiday time. Hmm....

Mental health: Why do I feel like I'm confessing all my sins? Anyway, I could do a little better at dealing with stress. Usually, when I'm at work, I have no problem reaching for the M&Ms or whatever chocolate is around - especially last week when things were really busy. Finding a better way to deal with this will help. How to do this? I'm still working on that.

Better blogging: Yes, that's right. Even though you see links to all my fave posts in the sidebar, I really believe that my best blogging will be in 2007. Or, I'll completely lose my mind and write the worst posts ever. You'll have to stay tuned and find out. Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve and New Year's Day!