The Medical World Is Fighting A Major Battle: Who Wins Matters

Neurology Rounds With The Maverick:
Adventures with Patients from the Golden Age of Medicine

Author: Bernard M. Patten, MD

Publisher: Identity Publications, location unknown, 2019

The author’s credentials are “par excellence” – Undergraduate from Columbia College summa cum laude; MD from Columbia University; Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Royal Society of Medicine, Texas Neurological Society, and American Academy of Neurology; and certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Practical work experience too long to list, but Bernard Patten is not shy about telling it to you throughout his book.

In fact, he is anything but shy. This is one of many books he has authored, but the first one I’ve read. His style is bold, taking no prisoners when it comes to arguments, and pulling no punches when it comes to describing situations and events. We could hope he really did not talk like that to patients or colleagues or supervisors – but alas we would be disappointed.  This guy was born a “maverick” and it suited him well throughout his career and beyond as he now takes up writing.

His emphasis throughout the book is “facts” and where there are no facts, there should be no assumptions. He applies this to his field, but also the media, big companies, and medical institutions – with considerable success.

But here’s why Patten wrote the book. He wants this book’s shared knowledge to increase the reader’s intensity and range of experience – for the purpose of examining and clarifying one’s life and the lives of others.  He will have succeeded if after reading it, the reader will be able to decide for themselves, “if it is better for a doctor to function at the junction of art and science and practice medicine NOT as a STRANGER, or is it better for a doctor to enter the survival mode, knuckle under, and muddle through. . . to your detriment. . . Decide: is it better to let your insurance company make medical decisions for you or better to let your doctor?”

Patten’s career was based on getting complete histories of his patients and relating to them as friends, giving them the time, the attention, and the honesty, they need. He was a master at that. On the other hand, while modern medical advances have saved millions of lives, almost all of today’s doctors are more concerned about covering their butts from lawsuits and understandably so.

Time after time, Patten presents a case from his experience, really scores of them, gives you all the facts, medical and otherwise, and then says, “Attention reader: your diagnosis, please. How would you handle this situation and this patient? How would you handle her/his family?” Often, I felt I was part of a TV’s Dr. House episode.

The lesson about work and research and evidence and thinking are all outlined clearly in the text – you can’t miss them. And they’re great lessons that can be applied to anyone’s life.  Two examples (garnished with the author’s sense of humor) follow.

Lesson: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. If you see it, you may believe it.  If you don’t see it, you don’t know. If you don’t know, then suspend judgment.

Lesson: This is important: turning off the respirator makes the brain dead. It doesn’t prove the brain was dead before the respirator was turned off.

Patten is not a big fan of insurance companies and he explains with real cases, why not.

He has an approach-avoidance conflict with the existence of God, prayer, afterlife, heaven, or hell. For the most part, he appears to ridicule all believers in those things. But when they work in his favor, he seems to be thankful for them. As for miracles, he would tell you that he is the miracle-worker and he gets very ticked off when people give God the credit, although he does admit that is a weakness in his character. So, you understand where he’s coming from.  He worked in the age when people did see their doctors as at least a ‘god’ – I remember them well.  In his case, he actually believed it, or so he leads you to think. I must, however, admit he has a great response to a patient who thinks God is telling her to kill her clients.

Patten is also very opinionated on the issue of the media, to the point where I wonder what planet he’s from when he says Fox News in his opinion, “is almost all false witness and false information.” He also is no fan of the current President, yet in his own life, time and again, he acts like him and brags about it. He would have done well to leave politics out of his book, but alas, he has reached the point where he feels he has no need to impress anybody, considering he was freed from such troublesome conditions earlier in life. With that freedom, he proceeds to tell jokes throughout his stories (some not so funny) and some quite surprising coming from a doctor. While I’m at it, if you squirm at the talk of sex (even when it is related to medicine) this book may make you a little uncomfortable.

At the same time, Patten has some great lines. One example is, “There is free speech in America, but you have to pay a price for it.”

He is not a big fan of TV, often yelling out at live cameras, “If you are watching, you are damaging your brain. TV is junk food for the mind.” And on ‘reality’, he writes, “Oh well, reality is nice to visit, but most Americans can’t live there and wouldn’t want to live there even if they could. That’s one of the reasons people watch TV – to get away from the realities of life. In modern America, we have escapism on a planetary scale.”  The context is well worth the price of the book.

But then again, so is just about every one of the 32 chapters or tableaus as he calls them.

His biggest disappointment though is the reception his research in the area of breast implants received from his medical colleagues, many of whom thought he was just plain wrong in his findings. But when asked if they had read the published work, they responded they had not, but got all they needed from TV.  Bummer to say the least.

Before I tell you this book is a must read – for doctors, patients, families of patients, hospital administrators, government health officials – let me just mention a few of the topics he covers: Aristotle Onassis; a horse admitted to hospital for humans (yes, you read correctly); placebos; mistakes; patients predicting their own death accurately; malpractice suits; and breast implants (including what happened to famous celebrities like Pamela Anderson Lee, Mary Tyler Moore, Cher, and others.

Patten ends his book with some advice for any potential scientists who may pursue research into the consequences of implant materials and techniques. I’ll let you discover that on your own.

Here’s my advice on the book: First -- read it. We all need to better understand the worlds of hospital administrators, doctors (surgeons vs. medical team), labs (and what often goes wrong). This book provides that understanding and more.  Second – if you’re a God-believing person, don’t stop praying for your loved ones who are under the care of doctors for serious ailments or diseases. Regardless of what Patten himself thinks, his book clearly proves the need for divine intervention – certainly in term of discernment, diagnosis, and treatment – in this very business- and finance- driven world.

Most highly recommended.

n  Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, October 2, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

A message to the Democrats from Napoleon III

In 1834, young Louis Napoleon (later the III) at age 26 wrote to his brother's tutor these thoughts as shared by T.A.B. Corley in his 1961 biography entitled Democratic Despot: A Life of Napoleon III:

"Political parties, he maintained, would have would have more strength if, instead of merely comprising a few individuals, they had ideas and interests in common with the nation as a whole. 'It is true that with a party you may wage war, but you cannot consolidate your gains, because you have no roots in the country.'"

Nearly two centuries later and one of America's two major political parties have not learned that lesson.  The current Democratic Party of America is being controlled by the wishes and goals of a few individuals.  It has no ideas and interests in common with the majority of the nation as a whole.

A.O.C. and the rest of The Squad are waging war indeed.  But their gains cannot be consolidated, because they have no deep roots in the country when it comes to what people want and need. Yet they do all in their power to destroy all that is good in America.

The rest of America suffers for yet a while. But hopefully that suffering will not allow them to sleep.  Hopefully they will wake up, as they are doing by the millions, including Blacks and Hispanics, and all legitimate immigrants to Lady Liberty's great land, and they will see that the Democrats are morally and spiritually, not to mention, economically, spent.  They are running on empty fumes.

Americans and America deserve better.  They are getting better.  They will keep getting better.  But it will be no thanks to the Democrats.

• Ken B. Godevenos, September 1, 2019.  www.accordconsulting.com

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No, You Can't Do It ALL.

Catching Faith 2: The Homecoming (2019)

Directed by:John K.D. Graham  Produced by: RLJE Films

Official Website: http://www.catchingfaith.com

No, You Can’t Do It All

Here’s a film you can watch with the whole family. And you can stop it just about anywhere and commence a discussion that is bound to be beneficial to all participating. It’s the story of a family, more specifically Alexa -- a mother, wife, daughter -- who is struggling to “do it all” on her own.  As is true for many of us, while thinking she is a ‘superstar’, she starts failing miserably.

The film is a sequel and stars many of its original (2015) cast including 

Lorena Segura York (Hollywood Heights), Bill Engvall (“The Bill Engvall Show”, “Last

Man Standing”) and Garrett Westton (Buried Secrets). The lead cast does its job, but you won’t be seeing some of the supporting actors on the big screen just yet.

Promotional material claims the plot is about a family trying desperately to keep their faith afloat, but as I watched it, I could only see this, and that unexpressed, in the life of Alexa.  And even there, references to her faith were basically depicted only when she met with her girlfriends for support and the group’s leader kept taking them back to scripture for answers to life’s troubles.  While the other characters were faced with personal challenges, there was no indication that it was a spiritual battle for any of them. Some viewers might even take objection to the women’s Bible study footage. The scenes lacked credibility.

However, the production did have many redeeming features and well worth the 95 minutes it requires to watch it.  These ‘pros’ can be summarized nicely by saying the film covers areas that many of us face or have loved ones that do. We all know of someone dealing with an aged parent that makes life difficult.  Losing one’s job, or worse still a career, is something that many people experience. Having disappointed children is an experience many parents live with. Injuries are always a setback. And sooner or later many of us have to deal with the planning of a wedding – either our own or that of a child. A potential or actual in-law who doesn’t know her (his) place can test the patience of any woman (or man, for that matter).

The film, through its main character, Alexa, requires us to stop and think of others as we pursue our goals and desires, or as we try to prove we are self-sufficient. It helps us realize we are not. It forces us to realize our actions have a significant impact on those we love very much.

Catching Faith 2does an excellent job of addressing the topic of older women returning to today’s workforce after taking several years off, perhaps to raise children. That aspect of the film deserves a miniature Oscar.

The world needs productions like this that we can watch and discuss with all our family-members. And it’s a bonus when such a film makes us laugh (Alexa’s aged mother gets into some real pickles).

The movie is Available on DVD, On Demand, and Digital HD from September 3^rd, 2019. 

FREE DRAW: FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES, WE ARE RUNNING A DRAW -- POST A COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR NAME, AN EMAIL WHERE YOU CAN BE REACHED, AND A MAILING ADDRESS.  WE'LL DRAW ONE NAME AND THE WINNER WILL BE SENT A FREE DVD VERSION OF THE FILM BY RLJE FILMS.  ENDS September 10th, 2019.

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n  Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, August 31, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

If You’re Not Writing After Reading This Book, Reach for the Remote

Everybody Has a Book Inside of Them:
How To Bring It Out

Author: Ann Marie Sabath

Publisher: Career Press, Newburyport, MA, 2019

Ann Marie Sabath is smart. Period. Full stop. I’ll tell you why later.  But first, let me tell you about her 10^thbook, Everybody Has a Book Inside of Them: How To Bring It Out.

In writing this book, Sabath practices what she preaches.  It’s jam-packed with advice on just about every topic, issue, and question she could come up with to help her readers find their topic and start to write.

That means covering things like the right writing age, how long it will take, the best catalysts to motivate you, fighting excuses not to write, and a “sounding board advisory group”. She covers what to wear when writing, where to write, when to write, knowing your readers, etc.

Sabath shares her way of doing things, openly admits there are other ways, and utilizes the words of other successful authors to share alternatives.

Central to her book is what she calls your “Writing Voice”.  You have to find it and listen to it. She gives us some detailed advice on what to do and what not to do with your manuscript, and whether or not you should consider a ‘pen name’ – pointing out the pros and cons.

My review can’t do the book justice in terms of what it covers.  It’s loaded as evidenced by a section entitled“Answers to Questions You May Not Have Thought to Ask”. She also provides her readers with a substantial list of recommended reading and very helpful resources.

The book is a great start for anyone who wants to write.  For me, it was full of surprises as well as a great relief.  I’ll let you read the book and try to figure out what the relief was – chances are it will be a relief for you too.

I started out by telling you Ann Marie Sabath is smart. I promised to tell you why I thought so. Sabath has the ability to identify a topic she excels in (after all, this is her 10^thbook) and one for which there is a great market (I mean has anyone who can read and write not thought about writing a book sometime?) and given readers what they need to know in a way that both informs and entertains.

Her goal is to help you write. She can only ‘mentor’ you – she can’t move the pen or click the keyboard.  You’ll have to do that. But you’ll find it much easier if you take heed to what she has to share.

That’s where her ‘smartness’ comes in.  Smart authors just share their experiences and knowledge. And they succeed – with fame, with fortune.  Sabath is there. This book has valuable information – but it does not “make you write”.  You’ll have to write that one. 

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n  Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, July 23, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

A Scholarly Look At How Religions Attract, Operate, Compete, and How They Interact With The Economy

The Wealth of Religions: The Political Economy of Believing and Belonging 

Authors: Rachel M. McClarey and Robert J. Barro

Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2019

I have read many research books over my life but this one was different. It covered a topic I never thought could be, or should I say, ‘should’ be, analyzed from an economics perspective. And yet these two authors/researchers, both from Harvard University -- Rachel McClarey, lecturer at the Department of Economics, and Robert Barro, the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics, did just that. Together they provided this reader a “wealth of knowledge” on how religion, including my own, interacts with the economy, attracts adherents, operates, and even competes with other religions.

McClarey and Barro present their data factually (making great effort not to let their own faiths or lack thereof bias them in their work). Their writing style is quite comprehensible to non-academics as well as suitable for those in the field.

The book explains how religion is indeed a ‘market’ that operates like any other market does in a given economy. It defines what the researchers consider as evidence of ‘religiousness’ and then takes the various aspects of the definition and describes the relationship of each to economic growth (and decline).

Having been born in a country with a ‘state religion’, I personally found the section of the book on that topic most informative and interesting. The history and modern-day accounts of state religion(s) are well described.

The authors also address how religion impacts terrorist organizations as well as describing the crowd power of ‘religious clubs’. In particular, there’s an excellent detailed study of Tibetan Buddhism.

The section on competition among religions focuses primarily on the Catholic Church’s reaction to what would be considered the raiding of their people by Protestant groups. The research shows that the Catholic Church seems to react by increasing the number of beatifications and canonizations of individuals on route to being declared ‘saints’ when this competition is most prevelant. An interesting piece of work on its own.

The book is full of economic theory and facts, drawing extensively on the work of many others, but especially Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nationsand Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

What makes individuals join a religious group, and stay in the group, or leave it is well-explained and very insightful. The theory and research findings both ring true for this reader who has been observing such activity for decades. The impact of the economy on these actions seems strange to accept, but at the same time very difficult to deny.

McClarey and Barro make some basic and most interesting statements throughout the book. One example is, “declining religiosity is not the same as rejecting religion”.  Another is, “…there is something about Harvard – presumably along with similar top universities – that tends to attract nonreligious people.”  There are many more.

The book helped me understand why I can’t expect “moderate Muslims” to stand up to the proponents of “Islamic terrorism” – something I thought should be happening. The authors helped me see, in their chapter on Islam and Economic Growth, why Muslims will never ‘war’ with other Muslims.  That same chapter goes on to give some amazing explanations as to why Islam is today “intellectually rigid, having declared itself perfect without any need of reassessment.”  Fascinating reading.

I recommend the book highly – both for its professional and scholarly treatment of the material, but also as a “must read” for those who have anything to do with religion, or religious organizations – not only their own, but the religion of those they interact with. Definitely useful to ministers, pastors, priests, rabbis, imans, members of religious organization boards, and the ordinary Joe who sits in the pew or kneels on a prayer bench, or rug for that matter.

n  Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, June 19, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Young Lincoln of New Salem:A Historical Novel, Wonderfully Heavy on Fact

Young Lincoln of New Salem: Abraham Lincoln’s spiritual journey during his time at New Salem and beyond

Author: Sam Rawlins

Publisher: Yorkshire Publishing, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 2019

A Historical Novel, Wonderfully Heavy on Fact

Full disclosure: I love America and Abraham Lincoln. I have always thought of Lincoln as a man of faith, a regular reader of the Bible, and one who had a personal relationship with the Creator. However, I was lacking two pieces of the puzzle that portrayed the full life of the 16^thPresident of the United States.  First, I had no idea about his childhood experiences.  Second, I had no idea of how it was he became such a spiritual person.  Sam Rawlins’ book provided me those two pieces.

The author’s research is extensive, spanning three years of focusing on 121 different sources available to him.  From these, he paints for us a powerful image of what life was like for ‘young Lincoln’ and those who knew him best.

The story starts off with his arrival in New Salem where he catches a glimpse of the young woman who becomes the love of his life while she lived and the angel that guided him after she died. From there, through Lincoln’s memory, we are allowed to share his childhood, living with a man who had no right to be called a ‘father’ as he treated his son like a slave, or perhaps worse.

There are several themes throughout the book that Rawlins uses to drive home some key ideas about Lincoln: his devotion to Ann Rutledge; his honesty; his commitment to his friends; his losses; and his desire to do God’s will.

Lincoln became the man he ultimately was after he faced and conquered his past growing up under a drunken tyrant. He had to deal with his enemies slowly turning each one of them into a valued friend that stood by him to the very end.

Rawlins gives us a very intimate look into life for American settlers in the early 1830s. It wasn’t pretty in many respects.  Only the strong and the faithful could handle it. Lincoln seemed a natural for it.

He had to learn to accept opportunities to lead others in very difficult circumstances, when he felt he didn’t deserve them. He cared and attended to the needs of weaker or ill neighbors during the ‘Winter of the Deep Snow’ which hit the community hard. And then he enlisted in the great War against Chief Blackhawk who had had enough of the maltreatment that his people were receiving from white Americans. Through that he saw death and war like he had never imagined it before.  Many were lost including young men close to him. He hated war. And this experience served to mold his character into what was needed for him to later end slavery in the United States.

Another theme that Rawlins drives home is Abe’s thirst for knowledge. He devoured whatever book he could get his hands on. And soon, a dream emerged that was supported not only by his true love, but also some of the older, wiser men who came to see him as a young man of promise or a true brother, and also one who came to see him as his own ‘son’. Young Lincoln, who could hardly read or write his name when he arrived in New Salem, now wanted to become a lawyer someday.  And what a journey that was.

But as fate would have it, the loss of his mother as a young child, the loss of his sister, the loss of his friends in battle, was soon to be followed by the loss of his beloved. Could fate have served him a more bitter pill? Abe now had to fight extreme depression, no appetite, and a desire to end it all. But God had other plans for young Lincoln, and the friends He had arranged for Abe to have, helped him survive.

Resolving to do all he had promised his love before she died, Abraham Lincoln put his life together with the help of others and embarked on the necessary steps to accomplish their joint dream. How all of this came about makes this historically based account an incredible read.

Eventually, Lincoln becomes a famous attorney and through an unfortunate event ends up marrying someone who could never be what he had lost in losing his fiancée many years earlier. You’ll have to read about that for yourselves. Suffice it to say that his legal partner, William (Billy) Herndon wrote a book entitled, “Lincoln and Ann Rutledge and the Pioneers of New Salem” which positively exposes Abe’s true and only love for Ann, to the unending opposition of his wife, Mary Todd and her family. 

Rawlins uses real names of people and places as well as their accounts of what actually took place from other historical sources. The skill with which he does this, is alone worth the ‘price of admission’ to his book.  At the back of the volume, Sam Rawlins shares how the book came about, his sources, his appreciation of those that remained true to their word in writing about Abraham Lincoln as they knew him, and what today’s readers could actually experience themselves by visiting the actual sites that provide the setting for the book.

Personally, this is a book I wish many would read. It helps us understand Abraham Lincoln who was born just ten years after George Washington died (210 years ago). It helps us grasp how his life experiences made him who he was and enabled him to achieve what he did. It makes us reflect on what may be missing in the lives of our modern leaders – and perhaps our own.  It certainly made me more aware of the difference God can make in the lives of people and their life’s accomplishments for the good of others. Even ordinary folks like you, and me, and a mistreated young man, who felt he would be better off dead, named Abraham Lincoln.

Highly recommended for those who love history, those who enjoy a great romance story, and those who want to be challenged about how to live a productive life for God and for others. I intend to take it with me when I visit Springfield, Illinois, and Lincoln’s New Salem Historic State Park in Menard County, Illinois.

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n  Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, April 13, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.