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E-cigarettes and vaping were promoted by their marketers from the get-go as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco-packed cigarettes. Some companies have suggested their product can be helpful in helping people quit their dangerous addiction. It’s enough to remind one of the mid-20th Century, when licensed physicians were hired to assure American smokers that one brand was “safer” than another. We all know how that turned out. Now, over the past 2 months alone, respiratory …

Despite the best efforts of many clinicians—including urgent care providers—to reduce incidence of opioid addiction and the death and shattered lives that follow in its wake, federal official are taking the unprecedented step of asking providers to screen every adult they see for illegal drug use. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says there is simply not enough being done by the very people who write prescriptions for potentially addictive drugs. So, they’re asking all …

At the midway point of August, designated as Vaccine Awareness Month by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and just weeks before the start of 2019–2020 flu shot efforts, there’s a renewed push to help clinicians deal with patients who are convinced they “know” that vaccines a) are a conspiracy to make drug companies and doctors rich; b) cause patients to get the illness they’re being vaccinated against; and c) probably cause autism in innocent children. …

The folks hawking something called Miracle Mineral Solution would have you believe it’s a cure for cancer. Or HIV. Or autism. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers seem to be buying it and using it to their own detriment—so many, in fact, that the Food and Drug Administration felt compelled to issue a strong warning that anyone who is drinking the supposed “miracle” cure should stop immediately or risk severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood …