Saurin Patel, MD

Today, CMS issued a memo to every hospital telling them to stop serving sugary drinks + inflammatory processed food to patients or risk federal reimbursement. Bold, common sense action that will save lives. We are anxiously awaiting how the media spins this negatively.

How about we call it 1st Street ? We don’t need to rename it to honor someone the majority of the city doesn’t even know. Council should focus on real things.

Random thing that improved my life: I got this ring light that I put next to my desk to shine bright light in my eyes early in the morning. I wake up at 430am and definitely saw an improvement in morning alertness and sleep quality. Also felt like it helped avoid winter lows.

Tucker Carlson stops by the desk to talk Oscar nominations

Cybercab out and about

AI should allow med schools to rethink whether 4 years is still necessary for med school. If students can focus more on clinical practice and less on memorizing the Krebs cycle and molecular bio, many programs could eliminate a year, reducing both costs and physician shortages.

A recurring conversation among my mom friends in the US is how lonely and unsupported they feel in motherhood. It comes up constantly. After having a child, you realize pretty quickly that it really does take a village to raise one. Yes, a mother and father can do it alone. But it isn't optimal. Not for the parents and not for the child. Kids who grow up with a few consistent, caring adults around them tend to be more socially confident and emotionally grounded. And kids who run around outside with other kids without an agenda or an adult directing every move will figure out how to solve problems and handle conflict on their own. You can't teach that in a structured playdate. For the parents, it's pretty simple math. Women who have real support after birth are far less likely to deal with postpartum depression. Loneliness after having a baby is one of the biggest risk factors for PPD. But in the US, this barely exists. Moms have to schedule playdates days in advance. Neighbors don't drop by to say hello. Kids are locked inside doing God knows what instead of running around outside together. There's no built-in community. No one is coming to help unless you ask, and even asking feels like a burden. I don't see how this changes anytime soon at a cultural level. The only thing you can do is deliberately build your own village. Join a local mom group. Be the neighbor who drops in. Invite kids over without making it a production. Find two or three families and make it a habit rather than a special event. The village isn't coming back on its own. You have to build it yourself.

The average person and mainstream media doesn’t grasp what a monumental moment in human-AI history we’re witnessing with this Claude/DoW battle.

for those who have never worked in healthcare, I made a simulation to get a sense of how difficult it is to do something even very simple like order Tylenol. WARNING: this may be infuriating to some providers