Written by Dr. Larry Just a simple truth I’ve been reflecting on a lot recently, and also on this Sunday. Coming to appreciate this more and more. So simple. So true. In order to get just about anything we want in life requires we put in the time and energy to make it happen. Want a better body? Do the …
An ER Doctor Reveals how Patients Suffered during PG&E’s Planned Power Outage
Written by Dr. Larry On Tuesday, October 8, PG&E, the electrical provider for the San Francisco Bay Area, announced a wide spread power outage, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. I was the doctor in an ER that did not have power during that outage. While I understand the intent to prevent fires especially given the 2017 fires in Santa …
An ER Doctor’s Explanation of Bernie’s Heart Attack
Written by Dr. Larry Bernie had a heart attack. I went on KTVU San Francisco’s Fox news as their medical expert on Wednesday, Oct 2, to discuss the blockage in his heart, that we were later told was in fact a heart attack. As an ER doctor over 10 years having attended countless patients with heart attacks who have gotten …
Why Performance and Training Matter: How Kaj Larsen Became a Navy Seal After Initially Walking Away From the Naval Academy
Written by Dr. Larry I just watched Episode 5 of “Life Can Change in A Moment” with navy seal Kaj Larsen, and there are several things that really impressed me. A post shared by Dr. Larry Burchett (@drlarryburchett) on Oct 1, 2019 at 2:45pm PDT PERFORMANCE MATTERSThere is a fatalism out there in the world, almost a spiritual “whatever is …
How I Got Ben Stiller’s Penis Out Of His Zipper: A Real Life ER Story Of Franks And Beans In A Zipper
Written by Dr. Larry Remember the Frank and Beans scene from “Something About Mary?” Ben Stiller gets his penis and testicles stuck in his zipper on prom night with Cameron Diaz, major bummer, great movie, not exactly true to life. How does it really go? I’ll tell you, since we just had a case. My poor patient, a middle aged …
When A Young Woman Got A Staple Penetrating Her Eye, This Is How We Treated Her
Written by Dr. Larry Don’t worry. This story has a happy ending. I met this young lady back in Feb 2019, and she requested that I post about her gnarly eye injury. Yes, that’s a staple poked in her eye (penetrating globe injury, we call it). She was sawing a piece of wood (without protective glasses ahem) that had a …
What Severe Anemia Is, And How You Can Identify It By Looking At Your Hands
Written by Dr. Larry Which hand isn’t like the other, and what’s the diagnosis? (I’ll give you a hint: which hand is anemic? Two of them have normal blood counts, and 1 has severe anemia.) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr. Larry Burchett (@drlarryburchett) on Aug 8, 2019 at 9:20am PDT A post shared by Dr. …
“If he couldn’t do it with his hair on fire, he didn’t want to do it.”
Written by Dr. Larry “If he couldn’t do it with his hair on fire, he didn’t want to do it.” On this stroke series, I’ve been talking about a case of a couple that came in where the man had a previous stroke, and he came to me in the ER weak, dehyrated with a UTI, but was ultimately depressed, …
Curious Case of Weakness In Stroke Patient, 2: Deconditioning, Depression, Fear Of Death, Powerless
Written by Dr. Larry In the previous article, we talked about stroke symptoms, the kinds of strokes, and when my patient came in with some weakness, what the possibilities (the differential, as we say in medicine) were that were causing his weakness. Again, I had run all the tests, and indeed found something, as we often do. He was dehydrated, …
A Curious Case of Weakness in A Stroke Patient, Stroke Symptoms, Stroke Causes and How to Prevent A Stroke, and Types of Strokes
Written by Dr. Larry Over the next 3 weeks, I want to tell you about a patient I had with a stroke that I still remember. It was a big of a detective case in the ER, so I want you to always be asking the question, “What is really going on here” and digging deeper. But it mainly impacted …