In Area 51, do they study Grays’ anatomy?

Strange but true — People study for years to talk like this:

Infant is status post initial ampicillin and gentamycin for rule out sepsis workup.

I hear some surprising things in this job. I trust I’m not violating confidence if I repeat this doozy from a discharge report:

At this point the etiology of the [symptom] is still unclear to me; it could possibly be idiopathic but, given that his symptoms have resolved and [test results], most likely his [symptom] has unclear etiology.

Idiopathic or unclear? We report, you decide.

Kaiser Permanente has a radio spot with this bit of dialogue:

So what did your doctor say?

Oh, she prescribed the same medication she always does.

And it worked?

M-hm! My doctor is awesome.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Medical Guesswork (Business Week)

The navel and the WTO antidote, by Sauvik Chakraverti

a slightly naughty chuckle

When Bigots Become Reformers: The Progressive Era’s shameful record on race (Reason)

Arnold Kling: Bleeding-Heart Libertarianism

an annoying conversation that every libertarian has sooner or later, in template form (Degrees of Freedom)

I’ve been hearing on the radio a statement that hospital emergency rooms in California admit 25 thousand people every hour.

That’s equivalent to the entire population every eight weeks. –??–

Met a man the other day who said his son had rung up a fortune in dental bills during an amphetamine habit; something I’d never heard of before. Now why wasn’t that mentioned in hi-skool “health” propaganda class? It’s scarier than most of what was.