The PMD Critical List: California Doctors Change Stance on Physician-Assisted Suicide

After opposing physician-assisted suicide for the past 3 decades, the California Medical Association has changed its stance to give physicians more autonomy if the state legislature makes the practice legal. That story, plus a look at top investment advice and a warning about earbuds, top this week's list of must-read news stories for physicians.

• California Doctors Change Stance on Physician-Assisted Suicide (Reuters)

Dropping its 30-year opposition to doctor-assisted suicide, the California Medical Association now says it’s neutral on the question. The group says physicians can “determine between themselves and patients” the best course of action. State legislation making the practice legal for terminally ill patients is now pending.

• Books to Make You a Better Investor (Forbes)

Physicians, who focus mind, body, and soul on healing humanity, seldom have time to worry about their money. But they must. Here are some recommendations from “leading financial pros who swear by these top-notch investing books.”

• Physician, Who Proved Aspirin Helps Prevent Heart Attacks, Dies (The Boston Globe)

David Sackett, MD, MSc, “known for helping to develop evidence-based medicine,” died of cancer at age 80. The pioneering doctor was proud of his “ability to translate, demystify, explain, promote, and popularize research methods.”

• Generation Deaf: Doctors Warn of Dangers of Ear Buds (NBC News)

More physicians must be on the lookout and “warn that a steady onslaught of loud noise, particularly through ear buds, is damaging the hearing of a generation wired for sound.” And most of today’s audio-screening protocols are unsophisticated.

• Should Doctors Get Paid More If Their Cancer Patients Live? (National Journal)

Obamacare’s new Oncology Care Model "is based on doing a better job of managing symptoms so that patients don't end up in the hospital or emergency room." A Texas oncologist explains: “There is a better way; I think everybody knows that.”

• Physicians May Soon Say Goodbye to the Stethoscope (DarkDaily.com)

It’s called AbStats and it could replace the doctor’s traditional diagnostic accouterment. Now awaiting FDA approval, this device invented by a California physician “uses computer algorithms to analyze bodily sounds.”

• In ‘Do No Harm,’ a Brain Surgeon Tells All (The New York Times)

Here’s a review of an “unflinching book” by one of Britain’s foremost neurosurgeons. In it “he gives us an extraordinarily intimate, compassionate and sometimes frightening understanding of his vocation.”

• Why Do Some Doctors Reject Evolution? (Pacific Standard)

It isn’t only a renowned neurosurgeon/2016 US presidential candidate who has doubts the “foundational principle of biology.” Many docs question evolution, according to this report. Why? "Most physicians are not scientists … they're more akin to engineers."

• 99% Physicians Unready To E-Prescribe Controlled Substances (Forbes)

With opiate addiction and ODs mounting nationwide, new research finds that nearly all doctors are unprepared to electronically-prescribe these drugs, which health officials believe can greatly diminish prescription fraud and abuse in the country.