We are all worried about “catching something.” We are doing what we can to sterilize our environments. But in the process, we are creating resistance. Resistant bacteria, mutating viruses, and social distancing are the by-products of sterilized environments. Might we be better off just bathing in the microbiome of earth?

When college-age people come to see me with severely damaged joints, it’s a challenge. High school kids with the same issues are depressing. There are solutions, but they simply are not being applied widely enough.

All things digital are public. There is no encryption program that cannot be broken, no password that cannot be deciphered, and no medical record that is not shared. These facts affect your health and will impact some of the decisions you will make to survive.

Which are you: a statistic or a person with a problem? If you ask the government, or many of the “managed” health care plans, you are seen as a “life”—as in, how many “lives” will be treated and at what cost? If you ask a doctor who has your best interests at heart, you are a person. But if he or she says they must follow a guideline for your arthritis care, walk out. Here is why.

If all of us were organ donors, there would not be a shortage of the life-saving tissues that go to waste every day. And I’m talking about more than kidneys, hearts, and lungs. Orthopaedic tissues, such as meniscus and articular cartilage, are also in short supply. Here is a little insight into a solvable problem.

When you see a doctor, you have three choices: Ignore their advice and go somewhere else, trust them to solve your problem and move on, or engage with them as an advisor for life. Magic happens when doctor and patient bond forever.

Hospitalization can be a pretty bad experience. Almost everyone needs a guardian to protect them while there. Here are some observations that may help you.

The PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) can be ruptured in car accidents when the knee hits the dashboard and in ski accidents when knees get impacted in wild falls. If left alone, the injured knee degrades over time. Understanding the injury and novel ways to treat it has changed its natural history.

Artificial Intelligence-enabled systems that interpret radiologic studies are advancing to the point where they often match the best radiologists in the world. And they are getting better every day. From CT scans to MRIs, angiograms to Doppler studies, the data captured is digital—and digital data can be read by machines.

If you want to be treated with a better than 75% chance of success—and if you value excellence as much as kindness—I suggest you demand that creativity be part of the doctor’s repertoire.

Forget about privacy. Accept the fact that all things digital are public. The fact is indisputable.

Every surgeon has a different skill set—and it’s important that their preferences align with yours.

Keeping down health care costs is a good idea—but not when it stifles innovation and hobbles new medical techniques.

Does “Big Data” equal Big Health Care—or just a Big Mess?

In the 21st Century, knowing is better than not knowing—so there are good reasons for looking up your symptoms online.