Health Care Articles

Neighbor, glider pilot, bringer of perspective

Austin American-Statesman, April 11, 2012

From 1981 to 2004, I had the incredibly good fortune of living on Scott Crescent, a crescent-shaped street about a quarter-mile long. Most of my neighbors had built their homes and planted their cedar elms in the 1940s. My neighbors were as captivating as the tree-lined street.
One neighbor was Jack Lambrecht. Retired from the military [...]

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We could use a Barbara Jordan in America today

Austin American-Statesman, February 21, 2012

Barbara Jordan — attorney, former congresswoman and professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs — would have turned 76 today.
At the age of 59, her candle burned out too soon. She helped unify this nation, and we need her now more than ever.
When she was sworn into office as U.S. representative in 1973, the [...]

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Our Missed Health Care Opportunity

Austin American-Statesman, December 1, 2011

For the past 17 months I’ve watched through my fingers as Congress has slowly eviscerated a gentle, brilliant, apolitical pediatrician and Harvard professor — Don Berwick. It’s been painful, gut-wrenching and depressing. Congress will finish him off today, when his resignation as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services takes effect.
The words “missed [...]

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West Texas doctor done in by his own bizarre choices

Austin American-Statesman, November 9, 2011

In this country, a person has a right to legal representation. If you choose instead to represent yourself in court, you must sign a waiver stating you give up your right to legal counsel. If convicted of a felony of the third degree, you stand to spend 10 years in prison and pay $10,000. At [...]

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Final of four Winkler County ‘good ol’ boys’ faces charges in court

Austin American-Statesman, October 13, 2011

The last man standing in the unfolding saga of small-town retaliation against two nurses who tried to protect hospital patients from dangerous medical care is scheduled to appear before a judge today. The pre-trial hearing of Dr. Rolando Arafiles should be the opening scene in what should be the closing chapter of a story that [...]

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Steve Jobs taught us to ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’

Austin American-Statesman, October 7, 2011

When Steve Jobs announced in August, at age 56, that he was stepping down as CEO of Apple and Pixar, you knew his candle was burning low. Born in 1955, his candle was snuffed out Wednesday.
He faced his own mortality at the age of 48 when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. A [...]

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Help health care: Let nurses in Texas do more

Austin American-Statesman, August 29, 2011

Campaigning for the presidency, Gov. Rick Perry touts his record of job creation. What he’s not talking about is his record on health care, which represents a wholesale failure of leadership.
On his watch, Texas has held the disgraceful rank of last in access to health care, as well as last in percentage of residents without [...]

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West Texas Story has Sleaze, Drama — Sadly, It’s Real

Austin American-Statesman, June 7, 2011

We’ve seen the beginning of the 
Winkler County whistle-blowing nurses movie so many times, but it still doesn’t have an ending.
It has an all-star cast. Winkler County nurses Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle; town doctor Rolando G. Arafiles Jr.; hospital administrator Stan Wiley; former Winkler County Sheriff Robert L. Roberts; Winkler County Attorney Scott M. [...]

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Efficiency can make health care better and cheaper

Austin American-Statesman, May 11, 2011

There’s a little history leading up to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ visit to Austin last week. It began in 1999, the year that health care across America woke up.
Sebelius’ visit coincided with the 12th anniversary of a report by the Institute of Medicine that upward of 100,000 people die in any given [...]

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Lawmakers, Doctors Holding Nurses Back

Unpublished, April 22, 2011

Here’s an idea that wouldn’t cost Texas a dime but would save millions of dollars every year: Remove all barriers restraining nurses from practicing to the full extent of their education and training.
No state needs primary care providers more than Texas, which has a severe shortage. Texas ranks last in access to health care and [...]

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