Indonesia Needs The Power Of Your Natural Humor Medicine - Now!

A great way to engage the natural medicine of humor is to help someone. Try doing it anonymously if you really want to super-charge humor's natural medicine! Giving gifts in a loving and benevolent spirit opens your heart and your spirit to the joy and abundance that is your birthright.



We've all been shocked and saddened by the recent tradegies in Indonesia. I pondered what I could do about it - aside from any personal charitable activities I will undertake. I've come up with three great ways for you to help:

1. First and foremost, I urge you to give. Nothing will make you feel more a part of the solution to these horrific circumstances than donating money (especially when you cannot donate your time and physical labor). One of the best, most reliable places to make your donation is WorldVision.com, a reputable Internet-driven clearinghouse for global charitable donations. Visit WorldVision and make your pledge today.





2. Secondly, I would like to offer my help as well. If you have been "on the fence" regarding an investment in my unique Fun Factor prescription, please act on your decision to improve your life now. During the entire month of January, I will donate a full 20% of your purchase price to Indonesian aide and recovery efforts. With as many as 2,500 people responding to my offer (less will be a disappointment), you can help send an additional $3,500 to Indonesia.
   
   
   
   Knowing that this is a purchase you have been wanting to make (for yourself and/or a friend), change your life and send help to Indonesia at the same time! You may not realize it yet, but in a few short minutes you'll realize you can't put off this vital purchase; simply visit my Fun Factor prescription page today!





3. Last but not least (by a long shot), send your positive energy and good thoughts! You should never underestimate the power of your positive thoughts; combined with your positive actions(your doctor's orders are outlined above), positive thoughts change the world. Employ your resevior of humorous natural medicine (you are taking advantage of my free lessons, right?) and share that energy with Indonesia right now!

Send this message to family and friends. Or tell them about it personally. Together we can make a difference (and help ourselves in the process)!



Having the motivation to act now and help the victims in Indonesia means that you're already enjoying the natural medicine of humor. You wouldn't be open to this message if you weren't. But please don't make the mistake of only giving and not taking care of yourself too; we must continue to not only honor our blessings, but also nourish the source of those blessings!



Make certain you are taking great care of yourself with humor's natural medicine by visiting my website today!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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Principle Seven...It's Not Just For Children Any More!

Are you familiar with the United Nation's Children's Bill of Rights? Unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1959, this bill asserted the ten fundamental rights of every child. The UN passed this bill because they were urgently concerned about the unmet needs of children. More on this later...



What particularly drew my attention to the UN's Children's Bill of Rights again was Principle Seven: "Teach us well, so that we may lead happy and useful lives. But let us play, so that we may teach ourselves." Quite a powerful statement, in at least two different ways.



First, I must agree that not only is play an essential right of any child, but it's also the best teaching method. Have you ever marveled at the inexhaustible energy level of a child or at the sponge-like learning ability a child possesses? These attributes are a direct result of the high priority of play in a child's life.



Children will turn any activity into a game and playing a game is fun. Fun, in turn, produces a natural medicine that infuses you with an insane level of energy. Look at the energy level of a child and try to dispute these statements!



But let's look at Principle Seven from another perspective. We don't dispute how essential play is for children nor do we deny the powerfully positive impact play has on children's energy, vitality, and health. Yet...why would we deny ourselves these same benefits?



Why don't we, as adults, avail ourselves of the same unbelievable natural medicine of humor? What myth have we accepted as fact that keeps the bulk of humor's natural medicine from turbo-charging our personal and professional health and success on a daily basis? Somewhere along the road to adulthood we started to believe that responsible grown-ups should be serious.



This is a mistake that needs to be corrected as soon as possible. The alternative is more stress, more ill health, less energy, less resilience, and less happiness than we deserve! In fact, the more you understand the consequences the more you find yourself getting excited about the natural medicine of humor and starting to feel the urge to use it now.



How fortunate for you that I teach you to use my unique, proven prescription, for free, on my website. My prescription, The Fun Factor, was created out of my desperation to rekindle energy and happiness in my own life.



Believe me...The Fun Factor works!



No one would argue that every child has the right to food, shelter, education, love...and play. But, so do you! Take advantage of your rights by visiting with me on my website today.



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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As Of Today, Your "Rosebud" Might Not Be A Myth

Remember "Rosebud," the elusive talisman of Charles Foster Kane in George Orwell's classic movie, Citizen Kane? If you've never seen this epic movie, Charles Kane dies unfulfilled, calling out mysteriously for "Rosebud" - despite having lived a life of abundant wealth and accomplishment. The term "Rosebud" has since come to symbolize your heart's desire, that which will bring you the happiness which eludes you.



What is your heart's desire, your "Rosebud"? Strip away superfluous accessories and window dressings like expensive toys or flashy possessions. What would really make you happy?



Actually that is a trick question because nothing can "make" you happy. In fact, if you are counting on something outside yourself to make you happy you can count on winding up like Charles Foster Kane - bitter, lonely, and resentful. You can circumvent this horrible fate, however, by looking for happiness at its true source.



Happiness is found through nothing other than self acceptance. Self acceptance, in turn, is not found through achievement, accumulation, and accomplishment, but through two things: learning to see yourself as a perfectly imperfect person and also through learning to want what you have (as opposed to trying to have what you want). Fortunately the natural medicine of humor is your key to both - and I teach you to maximize this amazingly powerful natural medicine, for free, on my website.



Seeing yourself as a perfectly imperfect creation cannot happen without a strong, frequently employed sense of humor. My Fun Commandments, part of my unique Fun Factor prescription to optimize humor's natural medicine, will turn you into a humor machine. And once you possess the self-actualization inherent in a finely tuned sense of humor, it becomes easy to focus on wanting what you have rather than trying to have what you want.



The paradox of this level of personal success is...once you are focused on wanting what you have, you become open to having what you want. You will be thrilled at your level of personal accomplishment when you acquire humor's natural medicine! Forgotten dreams awaken and you'll find yourself moving in professional and social circles you once only imagined possible.



Implementation of my Fun Commandments becomes a virtual roadmap to success in whatever avenue you wish to pursue. The more you read and learn, the more you become convinced that you are capable of anything. Fear and seriousness, your old stumbling blocks, will no longer hold you back.



As you're reading this, you're beginning to think you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by using humor's natural medicine to create the happiness your heart desires and deserves. While you used to associate happiness with a talisman, some object or possession you could acquire, you will now possess your mythical "Rosebud" and finally attain your elusive desires. You will soon be fluent in my Fun Factor prescription!



Actually, perhaps "Rosebud" is not a myth. Perhaps you have found your "Rosebud" - my website! See you there today.



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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Seriousness Isn't All It's "Cracked Up" To Be

Have you ever heard of a curate's egg? A curate's egg is a euphemism for something that is part good/part bad. The saying comes from a 19th century Punch magazine cartoon. I'll explain more momentarily...



On my website and in this blog you'll find me railing against seriousness quite frequently. I have good reason to do so; seriousness (taking yourself too seriously) is the leading cause of stress and illness in this country. Seriousness is responsible for more ill health than heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure combined.



But seriousness is a curate's egg. It is very good to take some things seriously. Suffice to say that there is "bad" seriousness and there is "good" seriousness.



Let's take a moment to define bad seriousness. Bad seriousness happens when I'm taking responsibility for any or all of the things I'm not responsible for - namely the results of my footwork. This type of seriousness, thinking that things aren't turning out like they are supposed to, is deadly.



This bad type of seriousness is what I refer to when I rail against it in this blog or on my website. You can recognize this seriousness when you get angry at the way the results of your actions (or inaction) are unfolding in your life. Some of the more common symptoms of bad seriousness include high stress levels, problems with intimacy, wanting to distance yourself from people, irritability, poor health, problems sleeping, unhappiness, and general lack of energy and vigor.



You must rid yourself of this seriousness at all costs. Harboring it is like wearing an anchor while trying to swim laps - you'll eventually drown if you don't get out of the pool. And, unlike my metaphor, in real life you cannot "get out of the pool!"



Getting rid of my own deadly seriousness is exactly how I created my unique Fun Factor prescription! Read all about it on my website.



Now a word about good seriousness - although I advocate taking yourself less seriously, I highly recommend that you take your responsibilities seriously! The ideal state for my patients and clients is childlikeness; childlikeness will put you in abundant contact with the natural medicine of humor. Abdicating your responsibilities, however, is not childlikeness - it is childishness and it will only compound your living problems.



So please understand that I do not teach you to let your responsibilities go, only to ease up on yourself. If you can learn to take yourself less seriously, while still taking your responsibilities seriously, you will be amazed at how socially, personally, and professionally successful you become!



And the good news is that I will teach you how to do this, for free, on my website. Visit today and learn how to crack the curate's egg of seriousness!



By the way, the joke was that a nervous young curate (a junior-level clergyman in Great Britain) was served a bad egg at his Bishop's breakfast table. When asked whether he like the egg, the curate nervously exclaimed, "Parts of it are excellent!"



And so it is with seriousness. After reading this entry you now have a feeling that your problems with seriousness are almost completely solved and you're correct. Don't waste your new energy, visit my website today and begin implementing the amazingly powerful natural medicine of humor!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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Don't Laugh At How Gullible Ponce de Leon Was -- We Do The Same Thing!

Ponce de Leon, one of the earliest Europeans to reach the West Indies, was enticed by the natives of Puerto Rico to search farther north. Incredible stories from the "New World" were common to Europeans - people who existed solely off the smell of apples, for example, or a race of headless people whose eyes, nose, and mouth were found on their torso. Ponce de Leon was told that, on the island of Binini, he would find the fountain of youth. More about that in a moment...



We have an obsession with "more." We're convinced that the grass is always greener on the other side, that somewhere "out there" a far better life waits for us to find it. And, like the search for the mythical fountain of youth, we believe that we can find a shortcut - a magic formula.



How else to explain, for example, the billion dollar weight loss industry? Almost very single person on earth (including me) could lose weight - for free - simply by eating less and exercising more. Yet we spend billions on plans, programs, pills, diets, etc.



I've been fortunate to know and work with some incredibly successful and accomplished people. There exists a common thread among these friends and clients and I'd like to reveal their secret for great achievement. The big secret of a great life of abundance is this: Rather than having what you want, want what you have.



Sound too simple? All great truths are simple, which explains exactly why most of us so often ignore them! We're certain that the answers to such important problems have to be much more complicated than that.



Fortunately, it is easy for you to learn how to want what you have. My Fun Factor prescription, which unlocks humor's natural medicine and is available for free on my website, is the gateway toward the necessary acceptance and gratitude. And, you'll soon discover that wanting what you have actually opens you up...to receive more!



Yes, wanting what you have allows you to have what you want. A paradox. Good thing you'll soon know how to be more flexible, yet stay focused (one of my Fun Commandments you'll learn from my unique prescription for maximum health and success - The Fun Factor).



Of course, Ponce de Leon never found the fountain of youth. Because it doesn't exist. Yet his traipsing through the "New World" revealed the natural splendor of the Florida Keys and the West coast of Florida for his native Spain. So it wasn't a total loss.



As Spain found out, the search for a magic formula can actually produce some incredible byproducts. You, for example, were searching for answers on the Internet and have now discovered the natural medicine of humor and my Fun Factor prescription. The more you think about this message, the more you realize that your life will never be the same because of it.



Visit my website today and return to this blog often for more updates.





Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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A Near Christmas Tragedy

Christmas Day and the scene was set for a tragedy...or a comedy. I'm glad I had the choice.



It's beyond cliche to say that Christmas brings out the child in us. I revert to a little boy each year - especially when it comes to presents. I love to give them! But as much as I enjoy playing Santa Claus there is still a part of me that longs for someone to give me that "perfect" present.



Today, building a fire while my Grandchildren played joyously with their new toys behind me, I found myself staring wistfully at the flames. Something was wrong. Self-analyzing, I realized I was feeling sorry for myself. As much as I tried to tell myself I didn't need anything for Christmas, I was sad because I hadn't gotten the big present I was really hoping for.



This scene had seriousness' handwriting all over it! My "inner-Christmas-child" was ready to cry; I had put so much time and energy into making everyone else's Christmas wishes come true and no one cared enough to make mine come true. Actually, let's be honest...my seriousness was telling me that God hadn't cared enough to make my Christmas wish come true.



On the verge of launching into a horrible, depressed mood, I was rescued by the natural medicine of humor. My mood changed instantly and I had a silent, heartfelt chuckle. I didn't laugh at myself, but with myself; I laughed at the absurdity of my thoughts and at how easy it is for me to by seduced by seriousness' siren call of self-pity.



I laughed at my perfect imperfection, at how perfectly silly I am. There I was, feeling sorry for myself - surrounded by loved ones and gifted with everything I need! I've been provided with everything I need for as long as I can remember and see no reason to believe that will change. Perhaps not provided with everything I want, but always with everything I need.



Blessed as I am, I was still momentarily swayed by seriousness. Tempted to focus on not having what I want rather than focusing on wanting what I have. And during that brief period of feeling sorry for myself, I was completely shut off from the amazingly powerful natural medicine of humor.



Yet it was not really a "Christmas miracle" that saved me. It was a miracle of another sort. I was saved by the miracle of humor's natural medicine, and that's a miracle you can start experiencing today!



My humor nature, strengthened daily by my unique Fun Factor prescription, came to my rescue. The natural medicine of humor didn't change my circumstances, but it changed my attitude. Emboldened by humor, I chose to remember my blessings with gratitude and focus on the joyous gifts of life, given so freely to me.



I was able to laugh. And I instantly felt happiness and joy flood my heart. Isn't that how you'd like to respond to your seriousness?



As every word you read travels from this message to your brain, you start to understand just how much The Fun Factor could benefit your life too. Don't delay, visit my website right now. I'll teach you The Fun Factor for free.



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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Feel Free To Keep The "X"

Christian or not, have you ever seen the "Xmas" abbreviation of Christmas and thought about how it squeezes out the "meaning of the season"? Would it surprise you to learn that "Xmas" is just as religious as "Christmas" - perhaps much more so? The idea that "Xmas" is a recent and, perhaps, disrespectful, secularlarization of Christmas is a myth. I'll explain in a minute...



The myth of "Xmas" reminds me how important it is to let go frequently. Letting go is so important that it is one of my Fun Commandments. Learn more about how to unlock the natural medicine of humor with this Fun Commandment by visiting my website today.



Letting go does not condone a wrongdoing, nor does it absolve a wrongdoer. To the contrary, even when letting go I would advise you to take precautionary measures to ensure you aren't wronged a second time. You let go for one person's benefit only and for one reason only - you let go for you and you do it for your health and success.



Holding on to anger, not letting go, causes resentment. Harboring resentment is like drinking a poison, hoping someone else is harmed! You cannot afford to place yourself under such adverse, stressful conditions.



In life, as in juggling, success depends less on what we catch than on how quickly we can let go. Failure to let go in life brings the same results as failing to let go in juggling - we wind up with too much to hold and we drop it all. The stress of holding on to everything, of not forgiving and moving on, becomes too much for our humor nature.



You don't need to suffer this fate. You can learn to let go, for your sake and no one else's, and I'll teach you to do just that - for free. The more you read this blog entry, in fact, the more you feel it would be a waste to let this opportunity to improve your health, happiness, and success slip by!



Visit my website today.



To finish my first thought, the word Xmas is not a modern one and it was never intended to be disrespectful. In fact, as an abbreviation for Christmas, Xmas can be found as far back as 1755.



The abbreviation X for Christ has been used since the 12th Century; X is the first letter in Christ's name when written in Greek (XPICTOC). XP, as an abbreviation for Christ, appears often in religious writings from centuries past.



One other thing about "X" and Christ. Historians believe the X in Christ's name (as written in Greek) is where Christians took the symbol of the cross. The cross symbol is not from the crucifixion - the Romans used a T-shaped structure for that form of punishment. So don't ever let anyone tell you that "Xmas" steals the "meaning of the season" again!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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I'm Sure All His Presents Always Said, "Merry Christmas And Happy Birthday"

Jesus Christ was born on December 25th, right? Maybe...but odds are he wasn't. There is actually only a 1 in 365 chance that this is the correct date. In fact, the Eastern Church chose January 6th as the date (and that is still the date celebrated in Armenia). December 25th was chosen by the Church of Rome in 336 for reasons I'll explain momentarily...



So Christians have grown up believing that Jesus Christ was born on December 25th. And maybe he wasn't. Hey, this news isn't all bad; it's important to challenge your assumptions - so important that Challenge Your Assumptions is one of my Fun Commandments.



We are tireless assumers and we like it that way. We are not deterred by our ignorance of the facts either! Stop and think for a moment...why would the word "disillusion" have a negative connotation in our culture if what I'm writing weren't true?



Since most of our assumptions go unchecked they are soon assigned the power of truth. And then we can be in real trouble, led astray or off course by incorrect or misleading information. Challenging our assumptions thwarts this drain on our personal health and success, giving us the flexibility to adjust to new information and make better, more successful, and healthier decisions.



Of course, challenging assumptions is not only a key to the natural medicine of humor, it is also the chief mechanism of humor. So, when we challenge assumptions, we get a dual benefit. We experience the unbridled power of humor's natural medicine and we get more humor in our life. Experience this for yourself by visiting my website today - I teach you for free!



For Christians, Jesus' actual birthdate shouldn't have any effect upon the spirit and meaning of the holiday. For the record, December 25th was finally chosen to absorb pagan holidays occurring around the winter solstice. Other pagan traditions, like tree worship, were enfolded too.



So the December 25th date was actually a marketing and promotional strategy! I'd say it worked very well, wouldn't you?



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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Magic Johnson Celebrated Everything...And Created "Showtime"

The Los Angeles Lakers won the first game of Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Hall-of-Fame professional basketball career on a last second shot. Magic, fresh from winning the NCAA basketball championship as a collegiate athlete, jumped jubilantly into veteran teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's arms. Abdul-Jabbar, nearing the end of his own Hall-of-Fame career, looked down at the rookie and said, stoically, "Calm down, kid. We've got eighty-one more to play."



Celebrating Everything is one of the Fun Commandments I teach in my unique Fun Factor prescription. To unlock the natural medicine of humor, you should understand that celebration is more attitude than action; you don't have to throw confetti and blow noisemakers to celebrate! That's great news for us, because we are always in complete control of our attitude - regardless of the circumstances.



Learning to celebrate everything allows us to develop gratitude for some unlikely things...things that most people see as negatives. For example, when a bill arrives, my commitment to celebrate everything often reminds me that I'm simply paying for a blessing I've already received. Similarly, a salesman friend told me that his career took off when he learned to celebrate rejection; he happily reminds himself each time rejection happens that it takes nine "no's" to get one "yes."



The other main benefit to celebrating everything is the joy you experience. Joy is our most natural state and allowing ourselves to feel it turbo-charges humor's natural medicine. If you want more joy, cultivate more gratitude - be grateful for the simplest things that you usually take for granted!



And if you want more gratitude, as I've already recommended, celebrate everything! Now you've got the secret formula! Celebrating leads to gratitude, gratitude leads to joy, and joy taps into your wealth of natural medicine. Make sure you visit my website today and let me teach you more...for free!



Luckily, although he tempered the physical expression of it in deference to his veteran teammate, Magic Johnson never lost his celebratory enthusiasm. He always played hard and celebrated everything - creating the famed Laker "Showtime" era in Los Angeles. And, consequently, because of his desire to celebrate everything, Magic Johnson got to celebrate a few world championships with the Lakers (and so did his teammate, Kareem).



Follow Magic's example. Who cares if you've got "eighty-one more to play"? Celebrate everything today!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



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Are You Really A Monkey's Uncle?

Men evolved from apes - or so said Charles Darwin. Or did he? Not only didn't Darwin claim that men evolved from apes, but neither is he the inventor of the theory of evolution. More later...



One of the natural outgrowths of evolution's popularity has been the phrase "survival of the fittest." It would be hard to argue that homo sapiens are not the fittest species on our planet right now; we certainly dominate the Earth. But why?



Many might have you believe we dominate because of our opposable thumbs. We can grasp tools because of those thumbs. But, while I'm certainly grateful for my thumbs (couldn't disco-dance without 'em and they make a great target when I'm hammering nails), our hegemony is derived from an even more powerful source.



What really sets humans apart from other animals is our self-awareness. We have a unique ability to detach ourselves from our emotions and objectively evaluate our circumstances. Unlike other animals, we are not ruled by our emotions!



Even more important than allowing detachment, our self-awareness makes our most amazing asset possible - our sense of humor. By temporarily, even if only figuratively, removing ourselves from a particular set of circumstances, we are able to find the absurdity in it and be amused by it. When we cultivate this type of amusement, we are capable of powerful mental, emotional, and physical health; we become mentally, spiritually, and physically self-actualized.



This phenomena is exactly why people fluent with my Fun Factor prescription report such amazing results to me. You begin to move in social and professional circles with ease and confidence you've only dreamed of. People become attracted to you without quite being able to figure out why.



But you'll know why - the self-confidence and self-esteem of my patients and clients literally explodes when they begin to fuel their self-awareness with The Fun Factor! And the best part is that I teach it to you FOR FREE! My doctor's orders are waiting for you on my website.



Incidentally, what Darwin actually proposed, in his Origin of the Species, was that man and ape shared a common ancestor. In addition, the theory of evolution can be traced all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Darwin didn't even coin the phrase, "survival of the fittest." That was Herbert Spencer.



What Darwin did do was assemble an incredible body of evidence to support the preexisting theory of evolution. Continue your own personal evolution at my website today.



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

Unfortunately...Christmas-Cookie Calories Do Count

The holidays equal pounds, right?



I just read an article that says the average American gains seven pounds each year during the holidays. I like to think of myself as a good "average American," but that's one group I don't need to be a part of! Luckily, my friend Margie Garrison reminded me of ten little words that will help keep my waistline from growing this holiday. More on Margie's advice later...



Margie Garrison is a really wonderful person with an amazing story of physical health and a genuine loving spirit. I have gotten to know her through my website and have been inspired by her story. If you don't know, Margie has overcome life-destroying arthritis pain and has enjoyed a normal life (for the first time in her life) for years! In addition, Margie also gone from being a self-described "disgustingly obese" person to a healthy, happy, pain-free woman by losing 120 pounds and keeping it off!



Cool and inspirational stuff, huh? Read her stories, if you haven't already, the next time you're feeling sorry for yourself or hopeless.



It's hard not to get pumped up after talking with Margie, so I am putting my money where my mouth is. So far this holiday season I've not only not gained any weight, I've lost three pounds! I'm using my Fun Factor prescription and it's simple, easy, and fun.



For example, one of my Fun Commandments is to Celebrate Everything.



How often do we celebrate, individually or in groups, with food? Eating is a ritual around which we plan our day and food is commonly used to reward ourselves. Of course, I encourage the celebrating - but why not reward ourselves with something else?

• Some time alone



• A new book



• A phone call to a friend we've not spoken to in a while



• A great movie



• A trip to the mall with a fun companion



• Enlisting someone else to wash those dirty dishes

No empty calories there!



I'm currently writing about my experiences using The Fun Factor to lose weight and I'll let you know when the free article becomes available on my website.



In the meantime, back to Margie and her ten words of wisdom. Like all wisdom, the words are simple. So simple that I forget them all the time!



Margie reminded me that so often we suffer needlessly because we wait; we wait for outside motivation to "save us." The ten words that Margie shared are words you've heard before, but maybe you need to be reminded of them like I did: "If it is to be, it is up to me."



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created by a stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

Listening Very Carefully Will Bring You Gifts All Year Long

We're accustomed to giving and receiving gifts during this time of year. Christians base this wonderful custom on the story of the three wise men, or kings, who each brought the baby Jesus a gift. But did you know that the Gospels never actually say that these men were kings - nor is there any reference to there being three of them? I'll explain more in a moment...



Regardless of how the custom is derived, gift giving is a beautiful, rewarding activity. Gift receiving is equally fun. Hence, I love this time of year because I get to super-charge my humor nature all month long!



Would you like to give yourself a fantastic gift that will pay dividends all year long?



In my Fun Factor prescription, I teach you to Listen Very Carefully - it's one of my Fun Commandments. Most people find listening difficult because it seems passive. Actually, although usually a quiet activity, active listening requires the activation of all our senses.



Practice listening fully to what you are hearing, seeing, reading, and sensing and you will not only discover a hidden world of information which will make you more successful, but also a universe of information which will entertain you and engage your sense of humor. And there is no better accelerator for sky-high health and success than employing humor in every aspect of your life!



For example, read headlines very carefully. These are actual headlines from our local newspaper. Read uncarefully, they are merely informative. Read very carefully, they inform and bring a smile to your face!

• Indiana Park Fees May Rise - Or Fall



• Town Overwhelmed by Pollution Hopes to Become National Park



• Kentucky Couple Convicted of Fraud Fails to Appear at Prison

By the way, the notion that there were three kings comes from Matthew's reference to the three gifts they brought - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Myrrh is a bitter, reddish-brown, gum resin. And you thought getting socks for Christmas was bad?



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created by a stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

Successful People Are Like Bumblebees

Haven't we all heard that bumblebees violate the laws of aerodynamics, yet still fly?



Guess what? It is impossible to violate any law of aerodynamics and fly. The laws of aerodynamics are immutable and a bumblebee's violation of any of them is a myth. I'll explain why in a moment...



We often think of people more successful then us like we think of bumblebees. People more successful than us, we think, violate the laws of interdependency and cooperation; they are egotistical, self-centered, greedy, etc.



The wings of a bumblebee look small in proportion to its body size when compared with those of a bird, so our brains tell us the bee's flight is an anomaly. By the same token, the activities and paradigms of people more successful than us seem foreign to our current levels of confidence and knowledge, so we turn them into anomalies too - by labeling them as greedy or mean people.



But all we are doing is justifying our own failed expectations of ourselves when we categorize successful people that way. Because the laws of success are as immutable as the laws of aerodynamics. They cannot be violated either.



And do you know what the number one law of success is? Fun Comes First! As I teach you to do in my unique Fun Factor prescription, successful people are merely doing things they're passionate about and, thus, putting fun first! This phenomenon is the primary component to any lasting, sustainable success.



Putting fun first is how people become successful, but how does a bee actually fly? The secret is found by looking at a helicopter; the wings of a helicopter look small in comparison to the wings of an airplane. And a bumblebee doesn't fly like an airplane, it flies like a helicopter.



Likewise, the habits of a person more successful than us might be intimidating. But that person is simply putting fun first - how intimidating could that be? You can do that too! And I'll teach you how to do it, FOR FREE, on my website!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created by a stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

Are Pianos Musical Instruments...Or Just Really Big Coasters?

A friend teaches piano at a performing arts high school. She recently told me about an interesting discussion she and her students had - "Pianos, are they musical instruments or expensive coasters?"



Come to think of it, we do always see pianos in commercials trying to depict sophistication, elegance, and gentility. Many expensive homes have pianos in their living rooms, ostensibly for the same purpose. People rarely play them; the pianos exist not to produce art or entertaining music, but to conjure an image or an atmosphere.



Our sense of humor can be like these pianos if we're not careful. Many of us keep our humor on the shelf and reserve it for those rare times of legitimized recreation like seeing a movie or going out. That's like owning a Ferrari and only using it to drive to the grocery store!



We all know that our sense of humor is a valuable resource. To hear some people tell it, I'm "preaching to the choir" by advocating humor as your greatest asset for health and success! But if so many people "know" these things, than why are stress-induced illnesses at an all-time high.



I'll tell you why.



We know that humor is a great resource that gives us long-lasting health, more creativity, resourcefulness, better communication, and lowered stress levels. What we don't know is how to use this resource every day, in every area of our lives. We don't know until now, that is.



It's time to take humor off the back-burner. Your sense of humor is not window dressing or eye-candy - it is an insanely powerful healing and motivating agent that you carry with you in your personal chemistry. That's right, you carry your own personal pharmacy, capable of producing benefits which the pharmaceutical companies would pay millions for!



I will teach you how to unlock your personal pharmacy - FOR FREE! Visit my website and discover how easy it is to reawaken your sense of humor, experiencing more joy, health, vigor, and happiness then you have since childhood.



Don't just sit and look at that amazing "grand piano" you have sitting in your personal chemistry. Play that baby! I'll teach you how to deliver a virtuoso performance!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created by a stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

You'll Probably Stay Married...But You'll Definately Have Fun

How many times have we heard the often quoted statistic that half of all marriages end in divorce? We've heard it so often we've come to accept it as true...even though it's not! I'll explain in a minute...



I can tell you one oft quoted statistic, however, that is true. Stress induced illness is on the rise. In fact, we suffer stress-induced illnesses at a higher rate today than ever before. But we don't have to .



I can teach you how to lower your stress, FOR FREE. Just go to my website, sign up for my newsletter, and follow my doctor's orders.



My Fun Commandments, taken straight from my unique Fun Factor prescription guide us toward less stress and make us healthier and more successful. One of my Fun Commandments, for example, is to Welcome Our Mistakes.



Far from a license for mediocrity, welcoming mistakes takes all the pressure off us. In fact, make mistakes on purpose. That's right - be foolish (without putting yourself or others in jeopardy). Do things like wear mismatched socks.

1. You will get used to feeling foolish...it's exhilarating and liberating



2. You will enjoy others feeling a false sense of superiority over you



3. Being foolish is a great stress reliever

You'll soon find yourself beating the odds; you'll have less stress and actually enjoy the heck out of your life!



Back to the inaccurate statistic on divorces...it is true that each year, in America, there are half the number of divorces as marriages. But if you infer that half of all marriages end in divorce from that statistic, you are forgetting that some people get divorced many times. This seriously skews the stats.



Actually, one in four people getting married today will get divorced. So you have a 75% chance of staying married, according to statistics. But you have a 100% chance of reducing your stress, when you follow my suggestions!



See you at my website!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created by a stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

Frankenstein Wasn't A Monster

The creature we call Frankenstein should really be called "Frankenstein's Monster." Victor Frankenstein was the mad scientist (and he wasn't a "Dr." either)! More on this in a moment...



Common misunderstandings can quickly assume the unassailable power of fact. For example, when we see a photo of Frankenstein's Monster, most of us say, "There's Frankenstein." True or not, it's become a fact.



Most of the time such misconceptions are harmless. Some, however, are not.



Here is a misconception we need to quickly reconsider: Adults should be serious. This myth is not just incorrect - it's deadly! Seriousness (taking ourselves too seriously) is the leading cause of stress. Stress is the leading cause of illness in our modern world. And stress-induced illness is at an all-time high!



Want to reduce your deadly seriousness and, thus, your stress? Try using one of my Fun Commandments, taken from my unique prescription, The Fun Factor. Always Go the Extra Smile.



Smiling is unobtrusive, hardly ever inappropriate, and completely within your control. You can wear a smile practically anywhere.



And did you know that a smile brings you immediate health benefits? When you smile, your mood is elevated, your pain lessens, your creativity is sparked, and your communication is enhanced.



And, best of all, did you know that your fake smile still creates these benefits for you? That means...you can wear a contrived smile and soon you'll feel good enough to have a genuine one! How's that for "fake it 'til you make it"?



Try it right now. Smile and put me to the test!



By the way, Frankenstein's Monster wasn't even much of a monster. He spoke French, read Milton, and studied Plutarch. Sounds more ambitious than my son was in college!



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor



The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Enjoy a powerful, life-changing prescription, FOR FREE, created by a desperate KY doctor"



The Blog Directory

Lower Your CRP Levels - FOR FREE

Edward Suarez of Duke University asked 121 healthy men and women to take personality tests and then tested their blood for a substance called C-reactive protein (CRP).



CRP is produced by the liver in response to inflammation. Higher levels of inflammation are thought to increase the risk for a variety of health problems. Evidence suggested that people with high levels of CRP are more prone to heart attacks and stroke!



Here's the key to all this information: the subjects in the Duke University test who scored the highest on the tests for anger, hostility, and depression had CR(a)P levels two to three times higher than those who scored low, as reported in the journal of Psychosomatic Medicine. People who are angry or depressed are less healthy!



That doesn't surprise us! It makes perfect sense since we already know that people who are happy and take themselves lightly are more healthy. We're also more successful and have better relationships. We experience less pain. Let's face it, we lead better lives.



Aren't you glad you're already one step ahead of world famous, Duke University's research? You already use my Fun Factor prescription, you've subscribed to my newsletter, and you use it to guide your life!



WHAT? You don't use The Fun Factor? You've gone to www.natural-humor-medicine.com, read and agreed with my vital, FREE prescription - understanding that you can become more successful by the minute? And you don't use my Fun Factor prescription to guide your life? What in the world are you waiting for?



Clifford Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Enjoy a FREE, unique prescription that a stressed-out Kentucky physician used to transform his life"



The Blog Directory

There's Another Way To Minimize Job Stress Besides Quitting!

Here's something interesting.



John Kammeyer-Mueller of the University of Florida reports that emotionally draining jobs bring few monetary rewards if the employment does not require great intellectual demands.



Those in positions that are high in both intellectual and emotional demands - such as doctor, lawyer, CEO - are rewarded for the stress placed on their state of mind. Few people, the reasoning goes, are able to tackle both high cognitive and emotional challenges - and the marketplace rewards this scarcity with higher salaries.



On the flip-side, waiters, bill collectors, and child-care workers are examples of people who experience emotionally charged encounters that require shows of sympathy or other feelings. And these jobs don't pay well.



What does this tell you? It tells me that if you have a job requiring high emotional intelligence, don't count on your paycheck to provide your rewards! Count on my unique prescription, The Fun Factor, to provide you with incentives and intrinsic rewards!



And if you have a job requiring both high emotional intelligence and cognitive ability, make sure you are using The Fun Factor both for your sanity and for your continued success! You need as much help as anyone else because you've got two stress centers.



Of course, you could always quit your job and rid yourself of all job-related stress. But I don't recommend that.



Try The Fun Factor first; if The Fun Factor doesn't work, contact me and I'll hire you!



Clifford Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Who else wants to reduce her stress and find long-lasting health...FOR FREE? Enjoy these benefits and more at Dr. Cliff Kuhn's website"



The Blog Directory

Jokes Teach Us How To Embrace Change

I'm fond of repeating the bumper-sticker phrase,"Change is inevitable...except from a vending machine."



I like this phrase because it reminds me of something I need to be reminded of every day (No, not to put on clean underwear!) It reminds me that I have the choice to accept change and, in doing so, release myself from my fear of it. I can show you how to embrace change, but more on that later...



I was just reading new research by the New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. The NYU SCPS survey found that working adults expect to change careers at least three times during their working lives. What's more 14% said they would have four careers and 11% said they expected five careers.



That's a lot of change! It reminded me of how frightening change is; when I'm afraid of change, I just want things to be finished, done, and over. I want things wrapped up, tidily and neatly, never to be dealt with again. As in, "Okay...I've got my career wrapped up and taken care of. Now I'll never have to worry about that again!"



Those kinds of thoughts are way too serious for a humor being like you to harbor. Those thoughts will keep us in a small world with self-imposed, artificial limits - designed to give us the illusion of "safety."



Luckily, my unique prescription, The Fun Factor, comes to my rescue. Here's how I embrace change:



If I remind myself, in a lighthearted way, to embrace change (because change is inevitable), then I can accept it and move on with the rest of my day. I don't have to shortchange myself, keeping myself less successful and less healthy, by adhering to seriousness. Seriousness tells me that things should stay the way they are - that this change is the rug finally being pulled out from under me (which is what I've been fearing all along).



The Fun Factor teaches me that I can Expect the Unexpected. That's one of my Fun Commandments. The unexpected surprises in life are like presents I get to open each day when I'm utilizing my sense of humor.



For example: we can examine the sequence of a joke for guidance. Why is a joke fun? Because we're surprised by an unexpected ending! Of course, most of us have made a decision to let this kind of surprise please us. Guess what? We can make the same decisions about any surprise that life offers today!



Try it...make a decision to treat your next unexpected event like a good joke. Laugh, accept it, and move on!



Clifford Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Enjoy all Ten of Dr. Kuhn's Fun Commandments from his unique prescription for your ultimate health and success - FOR FREE"



The Blog Directory

Words Of Wisdom From...An Eight-Year-Old?

A recent conversation with my 8-year-old grandson, Jordan, was like getting an audience with a self-help guru! More on that in a moment...



You're well aware, logically, that the past and the future share two characteristics...they are both illusions! These illusions, however, have deadly side-effects; dwelling on the past leads to resentment, while fixating on the future leads to fear. So it is paramount that we stay focused on the only part of our lives that is not an illusion - the present moment!



We know we should stay focused on the present moment, but how do we do that?



As usual, fun is our invaluable sidekick. One of my Fun Commandments, Stay Focused, Yet Flexible, teaches us to remain flexible enough to accommodate life's inevitable surprises, while remaining focused on our current goals and priorities.



Balance is the cornerstone for your ability to achieve "flexible focus."



And now, back to my recent discovery of a new self-help guru (of the 8-year-old variety)...



The other night I'm watching, fascitated, as my eight-year-old grandson builds somethingwith his Kinex toys.



I muse aloud, "Jordan, I wonder what kind of interests you'll have when you're older?"



Jordan replies, in an offhand manner, "Pop-Pop, I'm not that kind of guy."



I chuckle and ask, "What kind of guy is that, Jordan?"



Jordan says, matter of factly as he continues building, "The kind of guy who thinks about his future."



Yes...out of the mouths of babes! Jordan reminded me to stay focused, yet flexible.



Cliff Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

The Natural Medicine of Humor

"Who else wants less stress, greater creativity, enhanced communication, and lowered pain? Start today with Dr. Cliff Kuhn's FREE prescription"



The Blog Directory

You Can Enjoy A Healthier Workplace...Using Fun

Are we facing an epidemic of seriousness in our country? You decide:



The Office Cleanliness Monitor just released information from a recent survey. Among other things, they found that 33% of office workers admit to clipping nails at work (whether these are toe or fingernails wasn't specified), 22% see a co-worker sneeze or cough every day without covering their mouth, 45% see co-workers leave the restroom without washing their hands, and 33% say they often retrieve things from the trashcan in their office.



The Monitor claims that these behaviors are leading to more sick days and lower productivity. Come on. Haven't people been doing these things since offices were invented?



I'll let you in on a secret...at my office I don't use "germ-killer" soap, I "scratch where it itches", and (gasp!) I sometimes reach into my trashcan...and, yet, by some miracle I'm managing to survive.



How? My focus on my Fun Factor prescription keeps seriousness from ruining my creativity, sapping my energy, draining my resilience, making me sick, and raising my stress-level.



Office uncleanliness doesn't make me sick, my seriousness does.



Office cleanliness doesn't make me well, The Fun Factor does.



Let's keep it simple; try The Fun Factor first! The Fun Factor is how to rid yourself of the things that really make you sick! Start using my Fun Commandments for FREE simply by visiting my website.



If that doesn't work I'll personally scrub your office with anti-bacterial goo and monitor your employee's hand washing behavior myself!



Clifford Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

The Natural Medicine of Humor.com

"Discover a unique prescription, FOR FREE, created by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky Psychiatrist"



The Blog Directory

Use The Fun Factor (Or Move To A New City?)

RAND Health has just released new research, which found that people living in areas with a high degree of suburban sprawl are more likely to report chronic health problems such as high blood pressure, arthritis, headaches, and breathing difficulties.



The findings suggest that an adult who lives in a more sprawling city such as Atlanta will have a health profile similar to someone four years older who lives in a more compact city such as Seattle.



Deborah Cohen, a RAND researcher and co-author of the study, makes the well-intentioned mistake of offering the following advice: "To improve our health...we should build cities where people feel comfortable walking and are not so dependent on cars."



How easy it is to complicate solutions!



Wouldn't it be a lot simpler, much less expensive, and infinitely more effective to teach people living in suburban sprawl to reject their killer seriousness by embracing my prescription, The Fun Factor, into their lives?



Heck, I'll teach it to all those serious people in Atlanta for free! All they have to do is come to my website and they're on their way.



Clifford Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

http://www.natural-humor-medicine.com

"Change Your Life Using a Prescription Created by a Desperate Kentucky Psychiatrist"

You Can't Be Angry While You Forgive

Did you know that it is impossible to hold two conflicting emotions at once? Try it...be angry and forgiving at the same time. You can't, can you?



My point is that practicing forgiving is actually done for your benefit. As you accept, forgive, and let go:

• Your stress level will lower
• You will experience less pain
• You will have more fun

Letting go doesn't mean we approve, it just means we're going to stop "drinking poison and hoping the other person dies."



Here's a technique that works really well for me. When someone makes me angry (a rude driver, for example), I say, "I wish you well" toward the person and force myself to actually mean what I'm saying.



Try it; It'll transform your day!



Clifford Kuhn, M.D.

The Laugh Doctor

http://www.natural-humor-medicine.com

"Discover a Unique Prescription, for Amazing Health and Success, Created by a Stressed-Out KY Physician!"

HealthLawBlog has moved.

Back from vacation, I've decided to migrate my blog over to http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/healthlawprof_blog/. This is part of Prof. Paul Caron's ambitious multi-subject blog project for law professors (and all others who are looking for quick updates on breaking stories in the health law field). I am hoping for more exposure over there, and I also welcome the help I will get from co-blogger

HealthLawBlog is on vacation.

While I am on vacation in New England (Nov. 4-14), I will not be posting to HealthLawBlog.

Back to the future?

The NY Times has a piece today on Kaiser Permanente, the pioneer among HMOs, suggesting that much that ails the U.S. health care system could be improved if we could learn from Kaiser:
Obviously, there is no single model for revamping the nation's costly,
disjointed health care system, and Kaiser certainly has its share of problems.
But according to economists and medical experts, Kaiser is a

Medicines Without Borders.

Nice play on words (the French name of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning medical group, Doctors Without Borders is Les Médecins Sans Frontières) for a totally stunning op-ed piece by a physician/marketing director for Pfizer, Peter Rost:
I am a drug company executive who believes we should legalize the reimportation of prescription drugs. I know that I have a different opinion from that of my

Jesse Koochin update.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the court battle over Jesse Koochin's care ended on the 27th with the hospital's promise that it wouldn't file a death certificate on the 6-year-old, whom two neurologists examined and declared to be dead according the neurological criteria on October 11th and 12th. That clears the way for insurance payments for the home ventilator support that presumably would

Ethics panel for CDC: a first.

As reported today in The New York Times, the CDC has appointed an ethics panel to decide which groups should be given priority in the allocation of scarce supplies of flu vaccine:
The panel began deliberating Monday. One member, John D. Arras, a professor of bioethics at the University of Virginia, said the group might eventually tackle the question of whether babies should have priority over the

Physician-hospital joint venture: commentary on IRS' PLR

On June 9, the IRS issued Private Letter Ruling 200436002, which generally approved of a proposed physician-hospital joint venture. The ruling is described and analyzed by Don Stuart in a commentary in the Oct. 18 on-line issue of HealthLeaders. Stuart's description of the deal is more succinct than the Service's:
[A] nonprofit, tax-exempt hospital proposed to form a new joint venture
structured

Pain control and the criminal law.

The New York Times has an essay by Sally Satel, M.D., in today's issue: "Doctors Behind Bars: Treating Pain Is Now Risky Business." Actually, it's been a legally perilous business for many years, although I thought that the adoption of intractable-pain legislation and regulations in many states signaled the arrival of some regulatory and prosecutorial sanity on the subject. This essay is some

Update on brain-dead patient in Salt Lake City.

Today's Salt Lake Tribune has a story about Jesse Koochin, who was transferred from the hospital to home hospice at the end of last week. The parents report that he is moving his feet and are encouraged by their ability to feel his pulse and to see that his cheek is pink and warm to the touch. All of this, of course, is consistent with a determination of death according to neurological criteria

States cut more services for illegal aliens.

The Wall Street Journal has a front-page story in today's edition (requires subscription) detailing Colorado's recent cut-backs in state-sponsored health care benefits available to illegal aliens. Colorado has "cut off prenatal care for thousands of illegal immigrants. . . . At least one nonprofit program providing health care to legal and illegal patients faces a big cut in funding. . . . Last

More on brain-dead patient in Salt Lake City.

There were two follow-up articles in the Salt Lake Tribune today about Jesse Koochin, the 6-year-old patient whose parents, Gayle and Steve, reject his physicians' diagnosis of death. The ethics of treating brain-dead patients are discussed here, and the factual developments in the case are described here.

According to the article, "on Thursday, Gayle and Steve Koochin were frantically trying

State Medicaid expenditures eclipse education.

According to the 2003 State Expenditure Report of the National Association of State Budget Officers, state Medicaid expenditures exceed those for education, for the first time ever:
Total Medicaid spending in fiscal 2003 excluding administrative costs was $243.6 billion, or 8 percent more than fiscal 2002. Based on those amounts, Medicaid accounted for 21.4 percent of total state spending in

Brain dead?

Thanks to Elizabeth Woeckner for this story:

The Salt Lake Tribune has a long story in today's paper about the looming court case over a 6-year-old cancer patient who has been diagnosed as brain dead by two separate physicians who examined him on Monday and Tuesday of this week. His parents don't believe he is dead and want to take him home on a ventilator to care for him with naturopathic

Complementary and alternative medicine & state licensing boards.

Adam Liptak has an article in today's N.Y. Times in which a South Carolina physician prescribes intravenous injections of what his lawyer describes as "a very dilute form of hydrogen peroxide" for a Minnesota patient with MS. The result: over the next five days, she bleeds to death. Local authorities classify her death as a homicide and the physician is sued for her wrongful death. The state

If you liked "Farenheit 911" . . .

. . . you just might love Michael Moore's next documentary effort. According to an article today's Chicago Tribune (rquires free registration), he is finalizing financing for a film -- tentatively entitled "Sicko" -- about the American health care system, or at least about two of the country's least favorite players: managed care and the drug companies. Meanwhile, the paper reports, "Some of

Boundary dispute.

The Miami New Times will publish a piece on Thursday that raises troubling questions of possible boundary violations by a physician. We're not talking about a property dispute over a fence line, but the kind of boundary defined by medical ethics. A physician shouldn't have a romantic or sexual relationship with a patient she or he is treating; that's a boundary violation, crossing over a line

Euthanasia rights for minors.

There are reports (also here) of a coalition of bioethics groups that oppose a recent proposal that would allow patients down to the age of 12 years to obtain euthanasia services without parental consent. Currently, 16-17-year-olds can decide for themselves. I am still looking for independent verification that the Dutch are considering a change in their law.

End of life decision making

Here's long piece in Monday's New York Times about end-of-life decision making. This really resonates with me -- a lot of cases that come to one of the five hospital ethics committees I serve on present just like the cases described here.

Health care costs & technology.

Article worth reading from today's "Week in Review" section of the N.Y. Times: "Health Care Costs Are a Killer, but Maybe That's a Plus," by Steve Lohr. The message: even after we've squeezed out the 10-20% of health care costs attributable to inefficiencies and waste, you can expect health care costs to continue to spiral upward. Electronic medical records, computerized prescriptions, and

First Amendment: Is there a right to clone?

Brian Alexander has an interesting article in Sunday's N.Y. Times Magazine in which he raises the possibility that scientific research is protected by the First Amendment, just like speech. The gist of the article is in the following paragraphs: Why legal scholars would defend the right to research is hardly mysterious. The founding fathers passionately defended scientific and academic freedom,

Schiavo: Is this the end of the road?

Google News shows 489 stories (and counting) about the Florida Supreme Court's decision yesterday to strike down "Terri's Law," which the state legislature hastily passed last year to authorize Gov. Jeb Bush to circumvent the Florida courts' consistent determinations that Michael Schiavo was the appropriate decision maker on behalf of his wife, lying in a permanent vegetative state in a Florida

The ethics of face transplants

As reported by AP (courtesy of Yahoo!), a team of doctors from the University of Louisville and the Netherlands has joined similar teams from Cleveland, England and France, all waiting for the chance to perform a face transplant. The procedure involves removing a donor's skin and other tissue, putting it over the recipient's bone and cartilage and reconnecting it. The team plans to reserve the

Bush Administration v. Big Pharma.

It's a real man-bites-dog story, but the NY Times is reporting that the Bush Administration, over the objections of the pharmaceutical industry, is posting comparative drug prices on the CMS webpage. Having carried some heavy water for Big Pharma for years, the administration appears to have started taking its pro-consumer, pro-market-forces rhetoric seriously.

On the other hand, this is a

Dementia and the voter.

Here's a sleeper issue, from today's Washington Post ("Dementia and the Voter"): As swing states with large elderly populations such as Florida gear up for another presidential election, a sleeper issue has been gaining attention on medical, legal and political radar screens: Many people with advanced dementia appear to be voting in elections -- including through absentee ballot. Although there

Single-payer system? Consider Canada.

Steven Lewis has an excellent piece in the Sept. 14 Canadian Medical Association Journal in defense of Canada's single-payer, universal health insurance system. While acknowledging limitations and lessons learned, he insists that the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Here's his list:First, it is that rare form of achievement: social justice combined with administrative efficiency. Although

Child health: a progress report.

The September/October issue of Health Affairs is now on-line, and as you can tell from a quick perusal of its table of contents, it has a lot of good research and writing on the subject of child health, including: the usual thoughtful article by editor John Iglehart ("To What Are Children Entitled? Coming Challenges");Paul Wise's helpful article, "The Transformation Of Child Health In The United

Speaking of Big Pharm . . .

Today's N.Y. Times has a review of Marcia Angell's scathing indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, The Truth About the Drug Companies. The reviewer, Janet Maslin, writes that "Dr. Angell's case is tough, persuasive and troubling. Arguing that in 1980 drug manufacturing changed from a good business into 'a stupendous one,' thanks to changes in government regulations. She adds, 'Of the many

Negative trial results and Big Pharm.

As previously noted here, PhRMA (the pharmaceutical industry association) responded to the rising tide criticism from physicians, consumers, and politicians by proposing guidelines for the release of clinical-trial results when those results are unfavorable.

The NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer went after Glaxo SmithKline for just such secrecy, resulting in a settlement announced August 26.

Torture and medicine.

I've been remiss in failing to post a comment on the recent article (in the August 21 issue of the British medical journal, The Lancet) by Minnesotan Steven H. Miles, M.D., entitled "Abu Ghraib: its legacy for military medicine" (available for free). It is a stinging indictment of military physicians, PAs, nurses, and medics who persistently and conspicuously violated the Geneva Conventions by

Pediatric ethics & drug studies.

As reported in today's Olympia (Wash.) Olympian, the FDA's Pediatric Ethics subcommittee will meet on Sept. 10 to discuss whether "[i]t is ethical in the name of science to give a healthy child as young as 9 a controlled substance." The story continues:
The research, proposed by the National Institute of Mental Health, includes healthy children among 9- to 18-year-olds who would receive a single

Class-action suit by 600K docs against 6 insurers.

I don't see anyone else reporting this story, but according to a story in Thursday's N.Y. Times by Milt Freudenheim,"[a]n appeals court upheld class-action status yesterday for a lawsuit brought on behalf of at least 600,000 doctors contending that six of the nation's largest health insurers regularly reduce payments for medical services. . . . A three-judge panel of the United States Court of

Bioethics council's report card.

The Boston Globe's Raja Mishra wrote an article in Tuesday's paper ("President Bush's bioethics panel has little influence") that assesses the President's Council on Bioethics at the 33-month mark. Mishra's central observations:
The presidential order establishing the council gave the panel two major mandates: To help guide the president in biomedical policy-making and to provide a national

Schiavo case: report on oral argument

There are a few reports on yesterday's oral argument before the Florida Supreme Court on the constitutionality of "Terri's Law":

A file report from the Associate Press (courtesy of the Winston-Salem Journal) reports (Sept. 1): Justice Charles Wells said he was troubled because he had to conclude that 'Terri's Law,' passed last October, was intended to sidestep a trial-court ruling that found '

Keillor on Democrats and Republicans.

Want to know what this election is about? I'd tell you, but Garrison Keillor's done a much better job of it than I can. Amen, Brother Garrison!

Schiavo case to be argued in Fla, Supreme Court today.

As reported in a long, detailed article by Laurie Cunningham in today's Miami Daily Business Review, the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral argument today in Michael Schiavo's challenge to the constitutionality of Terri's Law. A Florida appellate court decided against the state and struck down the statute earlier this year. Earlier discussions on this blog of the litigation and the various

Doc wins $366 miilion in peer-review verdict.

It may be the largest verdict in Dallas history: $366 million It has to be the largest plaintiff's verdict in a peer-review case by a physician anywhere, any time. As reported in the Dallas Morning News on Sunday, an interventional cardiologist whose privileges to perform cardiac catheterizations and echocardiograms were temporarily suspended and then reinstated after a panel of national experts

The Decision of a Lifetime (washingtonpost.com).

Last Saturday The Washington Post published an interesting essay by its long-time chief diplomatic correspondent, Chalmers M. Roberts, whose byline began appearing in the paper in 1949 (the year I was born), who retired in 1971 (the year I graduated from his college and mine), and who in 2004 has appeared for what may well be, at age 93, his last appearance in the pages of the paper he has served

Wrongful death claims and the stillborn fetus.

Thanks to Austin friend Louise Joy for alerting me to this case, handed down Thursday by the Texas Supreme Court:

In Fort Worth Osteopathic Hosp., Inc. v. Reese, No. 02-1061, the court held that its ruling in Witty v. Am. Gen. Capital Distrib., Inc., 727 S.W.2d 503 (Tex. 1987) (holding that the statutory wrongful death cause of action does not allow recovery for a stillborn fetus) does not

Times' obit for Kübler-Ross

Lots more detail than the early AP newswire story: click here. Here's an odd note:
In the later part of her career, she embarked on research to verify the existence of life after death, conducting, with others, thousands of interviews with people who recounted near-death experiences, particularly those declared clinically dead by medical authorities but who were then revived. Her prestige

Five Stages of Grief.

The AP story on the death of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross reminds me of a poem that we read in Law, Literature & Medicine, "The Five Stages of Grief" by Linda Pastan:
The night I lost you
someone pointed me towards
the Five Stages of Grief.
Go that way, they said,
it's easy, like learning to climb
stairs after the amputation.
And so I climbed.
Denial was first.
I sat down at breakfast

Kübler-Ross dies.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the path-breaking psychiatrist who wrote On Death and Dying (1969) and whose "fve stages of grief" is taught in every medical school, died Tuesday in Scottsdale at the age of 78. The AP report is here. Kübler-Ross mined a very rich vein of scholarship after her early classic appeared, including such titles as:
On Life After Death Living With Death and Dying Life

Nonprofit hospitals' billing practices examined.

There's a good article by Roger Yu in this morning's Dallas Morning News (requires free subscription) that gets into more of the details of hospitals' billing practices than the USA Today article does. The opening paragraphs tell the story pretty well:Uninsured and diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, Elaine Sawyer entered the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. A month later, doctors

Nonprofit hospitals in Woe-town (USA Today)

An article in today's USA Today ("Scales tipping against tax-exempt hospitals") provides a laundry-list of legal challenges facing the nonprofit hospital industry. Here's the quick rundown:
•The IRS is looking at salaries paid to executives and officers of 2,000 of the nation's charities and non-profit foundations, which include hospitals. Salaries deemed “excessive” may violate federal law.

Bush's health plan doesn't produce claimed results.

And Kerry's will almost undoubtedly cost more -- as much as $300 billion more -- that his campaign's estimate of $653 billion over 10 years. That's what the experts, including those at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, are saying, according to an article in yesterday's Washington Post by Ceci Connelly, whose reporting on the political side of health issues continues to be the best

GPO's receive subpoenas from Dallas' U.S. Attorney.

This is going to be huge.

Novation, one of the largest group purchasing organizations (GPO's) in the country ($20 billion a year in sales), has been served with subpoenas signed by the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Dallas, according to an article in Saturday's N.Y. Times. It's part of a much larger investigation into the way medical supplies are purchased, sold

Medicare reform hits insurers' opposition.

The biggest reform package to amend Medicare since its inception in 1965 (passed last fall) is famously unpopular with seniors (at least the ones who know the details). It also really hacked off Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike, who have objected to being lied to about the true price of the reforms by the White House (through the DHHS/CMS chief actuary, acting under "orders" (

First-ever HIPAA conviction.

I'm not sure we needed HIPAA in order to prosecute the conduct described in this press release, but that's the statute that was used by the US Attorney in Seattle to convict Richard Gibson, who admitted that he "obtained a cancer patient's name, date of birth and social security number while [he] was employed at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and that he disclosed that information to get four

DHHS/Health Information Technology: GAO Briefing

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a good summary of the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to promote the development and widespread use of electronic health records and the legal environment in which those efforts are being carried out. The briefing document for the staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is

Illegal immigrants and emergency care.

As previously mentioned here, CMS has announced its plan to implement a provision of the Medicare reform law that is intended to provide some relief for states hit with high costs for providing emergency medical treatment for undocumented immigrants. As reported today's N.Y. Times, one of the quid's that accompanies the government's quo is a requirement that hospitals inquire into and record the

More on stem cells.

If you thought I was too tough on Tommy Thompson's political news release on stem cells earlier this week (see below), here are some excerpts from George Q. Daley's upcoming article, "Missed Opportunities in Stem-Cell Research," slated for publication in the August 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and released early through the journal's web site today (may require paid

Stem cells.

In an apparent attempt to close the "stem cell gap" between Democrats and Republicans, skillfully highlighted by Ron Reagan at the DNC Convention in Boston, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson released a statement on the subject today. It's not on the HHS Press Office's web page yet, so here it is in full, with my commentary:

Date: August 8, 2004
For Release: Immediately

Nonprofit class actions: 1st settlement announced.

Modern Healthcare is reporting that "[s]ix-hospital North Mississippi Health Services, Tupelo, reached an agreement with a Mississippi law firm to provide an estimated $150 million in refunds, debt forgiveness, discounts and free care to about 48,000 eligible uninsured patients. The $150 million would cover the system's obligations under the agreement for the past three years and into the future.

Abortion and deceptive trade practices.

It's a somewhat unusual combination, but a federal judge in New Orleans enjoined a local man from a variety of deceptive trade practices all intended to interfere with the abortion rights of women (see AP newswire story, courtesy of the Boston Globe). According to the news story: US District Judge Stanwood Duval granted a preliminary injunction against William A. Graham, who was accused of

Indigent care woes.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has an article in today's paper about cutbacks by Aurora Sinai, a downtown hospital that serves a mostly poor patient population. Bottom line: Sinai isn't making enough money on Medicare and Medicaid patients to offset losses incurred from treating poor patients whose care is paid for by the county's general assistance medical program ("GAMP"). Following

Reproductive rights update.

There are two items of note in today's news roundup:
The Department of Justice has appealed their trial-court loss in San Francisco in which the district court declared the 2003 federal ban on late-term abortions unconstitutional; you can read the San Francisco Chronicle story here. Considering the unbroken string of losses they have suffered on this statute, which blatantly and baldly fails to

Uncompensated care and undocumented immigrants.

Two developments in the past couple of weeks provide enduring lessons in the politics of health care for undocumented immigrants.

On July 22 the Texas Attorney General issued Opinion No. GA-0219 to answer the question whether section 285.201 of the Health and Safety Code requires a hospital district to provide nonemergency public health services to undocumented persons who are otherwise

Maternal-fetal conflict, Texas style.

As reported in an article by Mary Alice Robbins in the Aug. 2 issue of Texas Lawyer, the Potter County DA is prosecuting a woman whose newborn tested positive for cocaine. The woman is charges with a violation of the Controlled Substances Act, Health & Safety Code § 481.122, which provides: (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly delivers a controlled substance listed in Penalty

Medical error: does it kill 195,000 annually?

When the IOM study, To Err Is Human (report brief), came out in 1999, it caused an uproar with its estimate that as many as 95,000 Americans a year die as the result of preventable medical error. According to HealthGrades, that estimate would have been twice as large if the IOM had included (1) failure to diagnose and treat a serious medical problem in time and (2) unexpected death in a low-risk

Health care reform redux.

Tonight's Democratic National Convention kick-off will be punctuated by a lot of applause lines.  One of the biggest will be for health care reform.  The Clintons proved in 1993 just how volatile this issue can be, but the National Coalition on Health Care -- which claims to represent nearly 100 of the nation's largest businesses, unions, provider groups, insurers, pension funds, and other groups

Patient safety, quality bill heads to conference

Thanks to AHLA's Health Law Highlights for this summary of last week's events on the long-delayed patient safety and quality bill:
The Senate approved July 22 legislation intended to improve patient safety by promoting medical error reporting (Congressional Record). The "Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act" would encourage voluntary error reporting by protecting patient safety data from

FDA, preemption, & tort reform.

Preemption is one of those issues -- along with issue and claim preclusion, exhaustion of remedies, and justiciability -- that only a lawyer can love. It's technical, messy, and a one-way ticket to Palookaville for plaintiffs unlucky enough to bump up against it in their state-law-based tort suits.

Preemption starts off easy: Under the Supremacy Clause, federal laws take precedence over state

Death penalty & psychotropic drugs.

On July 21st, U.S. District Judge Royal Fergeson (U.S. District Court for the Western District, Pecos Division) granted a Texas death-row inmate's petition for habeas corpus relief in an 80-page opinion that (1) blows the state's case out of the water; (2) includes harrowing accounts of prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel; (3) depicts the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Drug reimportation: video conference.

The Alliance for Health Reform and Kaiser Family Foundation put on a 1.5 hour conference on reimportation yesterday. The video plus PowerPoint slides are available here. Of especial note are the slides from Donna Vogt and Susan Thaul (both of the Congressional Research Service) comparing and contrasting the competing bills, which are:
HR 2427 (not yet available; try here) (Gutnecht)S 2307 (

FTC/DOJ: Abolish CON laws.

It had to happen sooner or later: One of the mainstays of federal health care policy for 20 years -- state Certificate of Need (CON) laws -- are now being vilified by the joint FTC/DOJ task force on competition in health care. The group also counseled states not to pass laws that authorize collective bargaining by physicians (too late, in the case of Texas, but our law is so cumbersome and

Long-term care: crisis.

Molly Ivins isn't the first, only the latest, in a long and growing line of commentators who see long-term care as The Next Big Thing in health care. This part of the health care industry is woefully undercaptalized and underdeveloped, and if things seem bad at the local nursing home now, wait until the Boomers start hitting those places (the oldest Boomers start turning 60 next year). Molly's

JCAHO hit in GAO report for CMS.

If you can understand the title of this post without a translator, you're a true health-law nerd!

As the Associated Press reports today (courtesy of the Indianapolis Star), the Government Accountability Office (GAO (formerly the "General Accounting Office")) has filed a report that is extremely critical of the performance of the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (

Genetic screening and . . .

Amy Harmon has a good article in today's N.Y. Times about genetic screening -- pre- and post-conception -- and (i) the lack of uniform professional standards for when to offer screening, (ii) the lack of government regulation of the field, and (iii) the growing belief that prospective parents are entitled at least to the information about which tests are available, which ones are covered by

Drug reimportation.

Here's a terrific audio report from Congressional Quarterly's Capitol Hill Bureau Chief Mary Agnes Carey on the status of the House and Senate reimportation bills, the prospects of anything coming out of this week's markup session, and the political angle on this issue in 2004. If you have trouble opening the audio file, here's a link to the transcript of this broadcast.

Blame the lawyers.

Today's on-line Wall Street Journal has the results of an interesting survey about Americans' concerns over health care quality (requires subscription). 
Public concern about medical, surgical and diagnostic errors is high and many Americans have doubts about the ability of medical institutions to prevent these types of errors, according to the latest WSJ Online/Harris Interactive health poll.

Class actions suits against non-profit hospitals.

Julie Appleby has a review piece in today's USA Today. From the sidebar:
Several high-profile law firms have filed 31 cases against non-profit hospitals and hospital chains since late June. The cases make similar allegations, including: Some hospitals violate an implicit contract with the government to provide charity care in exchange for tax-exempt status by charging uninsured patients more than

More on designer babies.

The Sunday Independent (U.K.) has a report in today's issue: A two-year-old boy who needs urgent treatment to cure a rare and potentially fatal blood disorder is at the centre of a fresh row over creating "designer babies" with human embryos. The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is poised to relax its rules on using genetic screening for medical treatments on Wednesday. The

Conceiving a child to save another.

An article in today's Arizona Daily Star discusses the practice of conceiving a child in order to produce a donor (bone marrow, cord blood . . . ), which the editors describe as "deeply controversial." In and of itself, it's hard to see where the moral objection, or the argument for regulation, comes in. The article identifies a few problems, only one of which focuses on the decision to conceive

Reimportation bill stalls in Senate.

Ruby L. Bailey wrote a good piece on reimportation in yesterday's Detroit Free Press (provided here courtest of the San Jose Mercury News). In particular, she provided a concise comparison of the competing Senate bills:
COMPARING THE BILLS Two U.S. Senate bills would allow drug importation into the United States from Canada and other countries. How they compare: Pharmaceutical Market Access and

Gary Hart: no joke.

Gary Hart.  Mention his name and you are bound to get a snicker.  Donna Rice . . . "Monkey Business" . . .  But consider this from tomorrow's review (in the N.Y. Times) of his new book, The Fourth Power:
Few Americans have more right to say ''I told you so'' than Gary Hart. During the 1990's, when the foreign policy establishment was obsessed with Star Wars and other issues left over from the

Readers respond to PAS column by Kristof.

As noted here recently, Nicholas Kristof wrote an op-ed piece lauding the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, which legalized physician-assisted suicide. Four readers respond in today's N.Y. Times. The responses range from the syllogistic (killing is wrong; suicide is a subset of killing; suicide is wrong) to the empathic. That latter category includes both sentiments both pro (PAS is a humane

Assisted suicide and Ashcroft.

As previously noted here, John Ashcroft has tried to halt Oregon's "Death With Dignity" experiment by threatening action against any physician who participates in assisted suicide by writing a prescription for a drug that appears on the federal government's list of controlled substances. His legal theory appears to be that the exception allowing physicians to prescribe controlled substances

House votes to allow Canada drug imports.

The Associated Press is reporting (via Yahoo! News) that the House of Representatives voted 389-31 to approve a $16.8 billion appropriations bill for the Dep't of Agriculture and the FDA that includes a measure that would legalize prescription drug purchases from Canadian sources. That's the good news. The bad news: "The provision is not expected to remain in the final spending bill to be

Federal marriage amendment dies in Senate.

According to this afternoon's Washington Post web page, the federal marriage amendment died in the Senate this afternoon. Here's the link to the Senate's roll-call vote on the motion to close debate (which is how anything gets to a vote on the Senate floor - 60 votes are required, and this motion got only 48). Because 6 Republicans broke ranks and voted with all but 3 Democrats against cloture,

CMS: Lying to Congress.

Lying to Congress ought to get a person into a lot of trouble. Tom Scully, the former head of CMS, is poised to skate on the charge that he directed the head auditor of CMS to lie to Congress about the actual budget projections for last fall's Medicare reform proposal. Threatened with the loss of his job if he told Congress the truth, the auditor shaded his estimate by nearly 50% (or $150

Physician recruitment on FBI's radar.

According to a talk given at a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association news conference, the FBI is focusing increased attention on hospitals' physician-recruitment deals, according to a news item (requires subscription) in today's "Daily Dose" from Modern Healthcare. Tim Delaney, head of the Bureau's healthcare fraud unit, also said the top areas of growing fraud are pharmaceutical and DME cases,

Nonprofits under scrutiny.

More on the legal woes of nonprofit hospitals under attack for their billing and collections practices with respect to unfunded patients: the cover story of the July issue of HealthLeaders magazine, "Aggressive Collections," by Philip Betbeze, provides an excellent overview of recent developments.

Late-term abortion law struck down again.

As reported in Friday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a federal judge has struck down Missouri's late-term (or "partial-birth") abortion law. The grounds for the decision are similar to those relied upon in June when the federal court in San Francisco declared the similar federal law to be unconstitutional: the absence of an exception to the prohibition to protect the life of the mother, a provision

Bush's marriage thing.

Bush 41 was famous for his desire to have "the vision thing." Bush 43 seems to have visions galore, including a "marriage vision." In this vision, gays aren't married and "welfare mothers" are. And just to make sure his marriage vision becomes a reality, the President favors a federal marriage amendment to nail down that first notion and is proposing to spend $200 million to achieve the second

Science & politics redux.

Today's N.Y. Times has an article by Mireya Navarro ("Experts in Sex Field Say Conservatives Interfere With Health and Research") that sounds a familiar theme:For years, Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based organization devoted to adolescent sexual health, says, it received government grants without much trouble. Then last year it was subjected to three federal reviews.

James Wagoner, the

Stem cells and cloning.

The United States' failure to work out a comprehensive and comprehensible set of policies on stem cell research and human cloning is emblematic of a wider, international failure. In an excellent review piece in this week's issue of The Lancet, Carol A. Tauer (Univ. of Minn.) surveys the wreckage and suggests a new approach to forging a consensus.

Mixing science & politics (again).

In an editorial in this week's issue, the editors of the British medical journal The Lancet take the Bush Administration to task for its new policy by which DHHS' Office of Global Public Health will choose which, if any, US Government scientists can serve as advisers to WHO. Instead of going directly to the experts they want as technical advisers, as WHO has done in the past, the organisation