- Archives Home →
- Author Archives
Jeffrey I. Barke, M.D.
-
August 31, 2022
Remember what they did when you vote in NovemberWe were told to be patient — two weeks to flatten the curve. At the time this recommendation was made, it made some sense, since we were not sure what this novel virus was or how to treat the infection caused by the virus. We lear...
-
July 14, 2022
Snack and Die EarlyRecently, I sat in my airplane seat before takeoff and watched a parade of the obese squeeze down the aisle. Many seemed barely able to shuffle through the narrow space; how they would maneuver their bodies into the 18”-wide seats that awaited ...
-
July 7, 2022
Follow the COVID MoneyIf the COVID-19 vaccines have been a disappointment from a public health standpoint in stopping the continuing spread of new variants of the disease, why is Big Pharma as well as its government allies in the FDA, CDC, and NIH still pushing them? A...
-
April 16, 2022
Behind the masksBehind the masks these days are frightened children and nervous adults who are being carefully schooled to see the world as scary and dangerous — and coerced to take ineffective defensive measures. Just recently, I saw an older man with wide...
-
December 30, 2021
COVID treatment protocols and the death of 'trust your doctor'Recently, President Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, said: "For the unvaccinated, you're looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm." That unva...
-
December 6, 2021
Here We Go Again -- COVID 3.0It’s not about the variant -- it’s about the fear. Like a magician who gains his reputation for sleight-of-hand -- getting the audience to concentrate on one aspect of a trick while manipulating another -- so government authorities around...
-
November 19, 2021
The utter Orwellian stupidity of masks on airplanesI recently traveled across the country to Hillsdale, Michigan. My wife and I sat for five hours each way on airplanes with a mesh mask pressed across our faces. It made the absurdity of the mask mandate we live under both clear ...
-
July 15, 2021
It's past time to stop masking children in schoolsAs we come into the middle of summer, our attention naturally shifts to thoughts of our kids soon having to return to school classrooms. Unfortunately, the unelected health bureaucrats who have exercised so much power in the last year and ...
-
April 7, 2021
How 'It's Covered by Insurance' Wrecks Health CareA 58-year-old patient came to see me one Monday morning not long ago. He was like so many in his age group — he had spent the weekend getting in a week's worth of exercise. His left knee was sore, and he wanted an MRI....
-
March 24, 2021
Crony capitalism, vaccine styleIn 1986, the United States Congress authorized the national Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) to respond to adverse reactions to vaccinations. The program was designed as a no-fault alternative to settling disputes in place of a t...
-
February 17, 2021
Faith over fearAn eight-year-old boy came into my office the other day. He sat on the examination table while his father waited in an adjacent chair. The boy had a mask on — you know the type, homemade with a cute design on the front....
-
February 11, 2021
As Things Stand with COVIDIn medicine we often use the abbreviation PRN, the initial letters of the Latin phrase “Pro Re Nata.” The English translation of this is “As Things Stand.” It signals a moment to pause, to sum up, to take stock of an ongoing m...
-
December 31, 2020
Our modern American royalty don't have any skin in the gameThey tell us we must stay in our houses and leave only if we have essential business. They tell us we should not gather with family or friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, weddings, funerals, the birth of a child, ...
-
December 24, 2020
'Put your damn mask on,' the man on the plane snarled..."Put your damn mask on," said a guy three seats behind me on a Southwest Airline flight heading to Washington, D.C. to the passenger walking down the aisle. The man's mask had slid down under his nose as he negotiated hi...
-
December 17, 2020
COVID Vaccination -- Warp Speed AheadAn investigational vaccination against COVID-19 has now been approved under FDA Emergency Use Authorization and is available to designated groups. This will be the quickest scientists have ever been able to develop a new vaccination for a major di...
-
August 25, 2020
She died aloneShe was alone in her room in the nursing home. For the past two months, she had been receiving hospice care for heart failure and a chronic lung disease. Several years before, her family had made the decision to transfer her to ...
-
August 9, 2020
Fear fatigue is more dangerous than COVID-19Our daily lives are filled with risks — lots of risks. Just look at these examples: • Every year, 30,000 to 40,000 Americans die in automobile accidents, yet none of us is willing to give up cars to avoid the possibility of dying in a c...
-
July 26, 2020
Treating early saves lives: A tale of three COVID patientsI have been treating those infected with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Our interventions have made it abundantly clear that early treatment is critical to preventing hospitalization and death, regardless of the underlying r...
-
July 13, 2020
No more pandemic panic, pleaseAs expected by most observers, the number of cases of Covid-19 continues to increase across the country. There are primarily three reason for the spike in cases: 1. More testing is being performed 2. People are moving a...
-
July 7, 2020
Not dying is bad for headlinesAs the bumpy COVID-19 path back to normalcy bounces along, you would never know that we were headed in the right direction. Teasers on television and headlines in newspapers report a "surge" in new cases of COVID-19 and hospitali...
-
June 16, 2020
Immune systems matterPlans and demands for school reopenings are coming in fast and furious from government and nongovernment organizations alike. Some are hundreds of pages long, requiring a phalanx of Ph.D.s to sort through the details before implementation....
-
June 10, 2020
Open the schools without politicsAs of June 3, 2020, the CDC reported that there have been 20 deaths in children in the U.S. due to COVID-19. In my home county of Orange in California, no child has died due to COVID-19. JAMA Pediatrics for May 11, 2020 had this...
-
May 31, 2020
Primum non nocere. 'First, do no harm'Hippocrates was a Greek physician who lived c. 460 - c. 370 B.C. He is often referred to as the father of modern medicine because he was one of the first to describe his observations in a scientific manner. He wrote more than 70 books. He might ...