Just discussed this with Jenna Lee on Fox New’s Happening Now. The CDC released new rates for autism. Reports now show, that 1 in 88 kids can be identified as having some disorder on the autism spectrum. That is up from 1 in 110 with the biggest jump in Hispanic and African American children. And they reported also seeing increase in diagnosis at younger ages such at the age of 3, which is good because many studies find earlier...

Every holiday season it seems I get asked to comment on the same questions, which have become urban legends. So here are the top 5 holiday health myths revealed: Are poinsettia plants are toxic? The answer is a resounding no! Every year kids or pets are rushed in to their respective ERs or countless calls come into Poison Control Centers around the country for ingestion of some part of the popular holiday plant. However, according to the...

This thanksgiving as you  prepare for your holiday heading over the river and through the wood to grandmother’s house, make sure your trip does not include a stop at the ER. Unfortunately with all the rushing and preparations many will wind up there anyway! Here are top 5 potential problems we see every year around the holidays, as well tips to help make your Thanksgiving (and mine as an ER doc) uneventful. 1) Burns A common injury...

Starbucks lovers rejoice! A new study presented this past month at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) found drinking coffee could prevent skin cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) there are 1 million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer each year. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer and accounts for 90% of all skin cancers. ...

Unfortunately every year a few ghosts and witches wind up in the ER from trick-or-treating injuries. And while most people know to avoid unwrapped candy, they may be unaware of other common injuries. As ER doctor I’ve seen it all, injuries such as falls from long dragging costumes and masks that obstruct their vision to those more tragic situations such as kids getting burned from jack-o-lantern candles or getting hit by cars. So here...

It’s now been over one month since the initial earthquake in Japan. In today’s 24-hour news cycle it’s sometimes hard not to feel helpless, when we watch these terrible disasters unfold on the air. So whether it is this recent earthquake in Japan, the prior one in Haiti, the Tsunami in Indonesia or Hurricane Katrina that happened right in our own backyard, these events make us feel vulnerable. Emergency medicine is a critical part of...

“Health from the Outside IN” is my philosophy on how the things you do to keep yourself young and beautiful on the outside can actually keep you healthy on the inside As a physician, I find it is often hard to motivate patients to do the right thing when it comes to their health. Everyone thinks they are invincible and that they won’t get sick. Then once they come down with that dreaded diagnosis they lament, grieve and after that...