The mission of the Food and Drug Administration is ostensibly to protect Americans from potentially harmful substances.  Likely you’ve seen the agency come under fire for a variety of reasons—they’re too slow to approve new drugs and devices, they deny access to experimental treatments for terminal patients. The list goes on. As with any labyrinthine and glacial bureaucracy, the anger and frustration we feel is logical and appropriate.   It’s repugnant for government at any level to deny ...

Some people have faith—a steadfast belief in something, often despite a lack of concrete evidence.  Or perhaps even in the face of evidence to the contrary.  And that’s okay. For many people, faith is a powerful force, a source of comfort and strength.  For some people, faith is everything.  For me, what you believe, who you love, what you eat or smoke, however you want to live your life—whatever it is, and whatever your reasons—is fine with me.  As long as it remains only your business, ...

The online physician magazine Medical Economics deals with practice management and technology subjects of concern to doctors.  Last week it provoked its readers with an emotional rant against the American civil right of gun ownership, written by Los Angeles doctor Monya De.  De demonstrates no qualifications on the subject other than ignorant contempt for gun owners and a gift for self-promotion.  She has a checkered past as an actual doctor, having failed to complete her residency training ...

My name is Justice, and I am the Angel of Implementation.  How can I best describe my job to you?   When the Creator gives an order, I'm the one that gets it done.  Let's just say that, up here, I'm the "Go To Guy". My latest assignment began in a most peculiar way.  One morning, I suddenly found myself  sitting on Cloud Nine . In truth, I was a bit nervous, having been summoned to this high station by none other than the boss’s assistant. As I sipped my morning latte (heavenly tasting st...

I’m so excited—I’m going to live forever.  Today I declared my body a Disease-Free Zone. I had thought immortality would be complicated.  I’d thought it would require a lot of research and some pretty substantial lifestyle adjustments, not to mention a lot of preventive medical care, and constant vigilance for early signs of disease. But it turns out all I had to do was make my body a Disease-Free Zone. To make it official, I had my lawyer draw up some documents.  And to make sure ther...

[Editor's note: Dr. Schwam is DRGO's newest writer, with an unconventional take on Second Amendment issues.  Here's an example.]  We feared it was going to happen. And guess what? It did. Today, July 14, 2026, on the tenth anniversary of the Nice, France, truck rampage, the President made a stunning announcement.  Henceforth, the private ownership of vehicles would be forbidden across the nation.  In the future, only the police, the army and government officials will have the privileg...

The staid American College of Surgeons (ACS) has mostly kept out of the culture wars against American gun owners started years ago by other organized medicine groups.  But now they want to push gun prohibitionists’ political goals, including banning America’s favorite firearms.  And although they will deny it, they don’t want any back talk from freedom-loving Americans. Surgeons deal with the immediate damage of gun crime, treating victims of gunshot wounds in the emergency department and...

[Editor's note: The ACEP recently hosted a Pro-Con Advocacy Debate about gun violence in ACEPNow, its publication of record. In that discussion, Marco Coppola, DO, ably spoke against blaming guns for their misuse as if that were a "public health epidemic".  Our Dr. Wheeler left a comment reminding readers that Congress banned political advocacy by the CDC, not violence research. Dr. Margulies responds to the moderator's question, "how far should emergency medicine go in advocating for or aga...