Doctors

Perhaps you know whether you'd want to use marijuana to relieve severe pain or nausea. But if you were a doctor, what would you tell patients who asked about taking something that's against federal law? The New England Journal of Medicine poses the question to its readers and on Wednesday presented arguments for and against from doctors. The hypothetical patient is 68-year-old Marilyn, who has cancer and who says the standard medications are not relieving her pain and nausea.

Re "Prosecutions worry doctors," Sept. 12 In my opinion, any physician who does an adequate history and physical examination and uses his education and training from medical school, an internship and his residency will properly be able to prescribe pain medication to control a patient's pain and not cause addiction. These responsible physicians have nothing to fear from the justice system. V.J. Carollo, MD Upland ALSO:

Your doctor gives you an expensive new drug to control your cholesterol, or recommends a certain brand of artificial hip, or says you need a stent to open a clogged artery. He's the expert. But how do you know his expertise is untainted? The makers of the drug, the replacement hip or the stent may have paid your doctor to deliver promotional talks extolling the virtues of the product. Or they could be paying him, or her, to consult on marketing plans. It doesn't necessarily follow, of course, that this kind of moonlighting influences the treatment you receive.

Re "Official vows to act on reckless doctors," Jan. 13 The Times has rightly been exposing those doctors in California who overprescribe narcotics and other addicting drugs for the profit they make and not to help patients. Now some in the Legislature want to give the Medical Board of California more investigators to help in this fight. I have a better idea how to stop those dishonest doctors: have the Legislature stop taking over one-third of the license fee money that doctors pay to fund the medical board and transferring it to the state general fund to cover the budget deficit.

Running the L.A. Marathon? Here's your chance to ask experts from the Keck Medical Center at USC how you can prepare for the race and recover from it as soon — and as gracefully — as possible. Three USC physicians will be available for a live chat at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time on Monday. To join us, click here: http://lat.ms/XQC7cV.

It's an annual rite most women would prefer to skip: a trip to the doctor for a checkup that includes shedding every stitch of clothing, donning a paper gown, placing feet in metal stirrups and enduring a pelvic exam. For a healthy adult woman, the exam typically doesn't hurt. However it can be uncomfortable, cold, embarrassing, time-consuming and, perhaps, unnecessary. Some doctors are beginning to question the need for every woman to have the exam every year. One of them is Dr. Carolyn L. Westhoff, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University.

Want to look and feel younger? Click on Dr. Oz's website. Seeking an alternative treatment to what ails you? Visit Andrew Weil's daily blog. Aren't sure whether it's OK to spank your kid? Ask Dr. Phil. Society has revered famous physicians for years, swallowing their directives like vitamins. Dr. Benjamin Spock helped parents raise a generation. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop pushed the nation to kick, or at least curb, its smoking habit. Ruth Westheimer, a.k.a. "Dr. Ruth," encouraged us to talk about sex without squirming.

A recent survey found that only 6% of Americans are familiar with a website operated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that allows consumers to look up information comparing hospitals on quality. There are probably several reasons why people don't make much use of the site -- called Hospital Compare -- in which ratings are based on data from standardized measurement tools. One reason may be that the public isn't invited to participate in the ratings process, say experts on healthcare quality.