For the past 12 years, I’ve dedicated virtually all my efforts to helping people get the right diagnosis. This is in memory of my brother.

As a Thanksgiving Gift, because I have a lot to be grateful for, I will, at zero cost, help the first 20 people who write me directly, to get the right diagnosis.

Getting older doesn’t mean you have to fall. But worrying about falling, ignoring your hearing, and racing to the bathroom could put you flat on your back.

There’s a cruel joke that comes with getting older. The more afraid you become of falling, the more likely you may be to fall.

You stop taking the stairs. You avoid long walks. You skip exercise. You start treating your living room like an obstacle course and your bathtub like a death trap.

It all sounds sensible. Why take chances?

Unfortunately, your muscles didn’t get the memo.

When you stop moving, your legs weaken, your balance gets worse, and your confidence disappears. Eventually, the very thing you’re trying to prevent becomes more likely.

Welcome to one of aging’s great catch-22s: The less you move because you’re afraid of falling, the more likely you are to fall.

And according to a new national survey from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, most Americans are missing several other warning signs.

Three Ways to Fall That Nobody Warned You About

Researchers surveyed 1,007 American adults in October 2026. What they discovered was surprising.

63% Didn’t know that fear of falling itself increases fall risk.

60% Didn’t know that hearing loss can increase fall risk.

74% Didn’t know that urgently needing to pee can increase fall risk.

That’s right. Your ears, your bladder, and your imagination may all be conspiring against your balance.

And the stakes are serious.

More than one in four Americans over age 65 falls each year. Falls are the leading cause of injury and injury-related death among older adults, contributing to roughly 39,000 deaths annually.

That’s about 107 deaths every day.

Here’s the good news: Falling is not an unavoidable part of aging. Many falls can be prevented.

The trick is knowing what puts you at risk before gravity delivers its own diagnosis.

1. Fear of Falling: When Playing It Safe Becomes Dangerous

Imagine deciding not to drive because you’re worried about becoming a bad driver. Then, after avoiding the road for years, you get behind the wheel and discover that you’re terrible at driving.

Your balance works much the same way.

When you’re afraid of falling, you naturally avoid anything that feels risky. Stairs. Uneven sidewalks. Exercise. Even walking to the mailbox.

But avoiding movement comes with a price.

Your legs lose strength. Your balance gets rusty. Your brain becomes less skilled at coordinating movement.

Before long, you’re walking like someone carrying a full cup of hot coffee across an icy parking lot.

And that stiff, cautious walk may actually make you less stable.

In one study involving 2,520 adults ages 65 to 84, roughly 33% of people who feared falling actually fell during the following 20 months. Among those who weren’t afraid, only about 18% fell.

That’s a substantial difference.

Of course, fear may also be a warning that someone already has poor balance. The study doesn’t prove that fear alone causes falls.

But it does show why fear deserves attention.

The solution isn’t to become reckless. It’s to rebuild the strength and confidence that make movement safer.

2. Hearing Loss: Apparently, Your Ears Have a Side Job

Most people think their ears have one job: hearing.

Turns out, they have another. Keeping you upright.

Inside your inner ear are two closely related systems. One helps you hear. The other helps you balance.

When one starts having problems, the other may not be far behind.

But there’s more to the story.

Your brain has limited attention. If you’re straining to hear what someone is saying, you’re using mental resources that might otherwise help you navigate a crowded room or uneven sidewalk.

And sound itself helps you understand where you are in space.

Think about walking through a busy restaurant. Your brain uses what you see, hear, and feel to help you move safely.

Take away some of that information, and the job gets harder.

One study found that older adults with hearing loss who wore hearing aids had about half the odds of falling compared with people who didn’t wear them. The association was strongest among those wearing their hearing aids at least four hours daily.

That doesn’t prove hearing aids prevent falls. Other studies have reported mixed findings.

Still, getting your hearing checked is a lot less painful than meeting the bathroom floor face-first.

And if you own hearing aids, consider wearing them rather than storing them in a drawer next to the batteries you keep meaning to replace.

3. The Bathroom Emergency: When Your Bladder Becomes Your Worst Enemy

There are few things that can turn a normally careful adult into an Olympic sprinter faster than a bladder announcing:

NOW. NOT IN TWO MINUTES. NOW.

Suddenly, you’re rushing down the hallway, skipping the walker, ignoring the slippers, and making a sharp turn into the bathroom.

Unfortunately, your bladder didn’t consult your knees, your balance, or your blood pressure before declaring an emergency.

Researchers have found that a strong urge to urinate changes how older adults walk. They may take shorter steps and move more cautiously or awkwardly.

Then there’s the nighttime bathroom trip.

You’re half asleep. The room is dark. Your blood pressure may drop when you stand. And you’re trying to reach the toilet before nature wins.

Research links waking at night to urinate with roughly a 20% higher fall risk.

The solution isn’t to stop drinking water. Dehydration can create an entirely different set of problems.

Instead, consider bladder training, pelvic floor exercises, appropriate fluid timing, and treatment for an overactive bladder.

And put a night-light between the bed and the bathroom.

Your bladder may still be impatient, but at least you’ll be able to see where you’re going.

The Other Usual Suspects

Falls rarely have just one cause.

It’s usually a collection of problems that quietly add up until something goes wrong.

In one study of adults over 75, each additional risk factor was associated with nearly double the chance of falling within a year.

Here are some of the biggest offenders.

Weak legs and poor balance. If you need both arms to push yourself out of a chair, your legs may be telling you something important. Listen before they decide to stop cooperating.

Medications. Sleeping pills, anxiety medicines, antidepressants, opioids, some allergy and bladder medicines, and certain blood pressure drugs can cause dizziness or drowsiness. Multiple medications can increase the problem. Sometimes your medicine cabinet is working against your balance.

Blood pressure that drops when you stand. If the room spins whenever you get out of bed, don’t assume it’s just age. It may be a treatable blood pressure problem.

Poor vision. Cataracts, glaucoma, and outdated glasses can turn an ordinary step into an unexpected adventure.

Medical conditions. Parkinson’s disease, stroke, arthritis, nerve damage, memory problems, and chronic pain can all increase fall risk.

Bad footwear. Loose slippers, backless shoes, slippery socks, and high heels are not exactly designed for stability. Even walking barefoot can be risky for some older adults.

Home hazards. Loose rugs, electrical cords, wet floors, poor lighting, and missing handrails are common culprits.

And, of course, alcohol. Because combining impaired balance with impaired judgment has never been a winning strategy.

The Most Important Question: Have You Fallen Before?

One of the strongest predictors of a future fall is a previous fall.

Unfortunately, many older adults don’t tell their doctors when they fall.

Why?

Some are embarrassed. Others think it’s just part of getting old. Still others worry that admitting they fell will lead their children to confiscate their car keys, cancel their independence, and start discussing assisted living.

So they say nothing.

That’s a mistake.

A fall is not a character flaw. It’s a clinical warning sign.

Even if you weren’t injured, a fall may reveal a problem with your balance, medications, vision, heart, nerves, or muscle strength.

A good clinician shouldn’t simply tell you to be more careful.

That’s about as helpful as telling someone with insomnia to get more sleep.

The important question is: Why did you fall?

And, more importantly, what can we do to prevent the next one?

Meet the 75-Year-Old Who Decided He Wasn’t Finished Yet

A former athlete from Columbus, Ohio, learned how quickly repeated falls can steal a person’s confidence.

After more than a dozen falls, he became terrified of stairs.

His final fall left him with a cut near his eye that required nine stitches.

At that point, he’d had enough.

He enrolled in Ohio State’s Fall Prevention Clinic and spent four months working with a physical therapist.

He strengthened his legs. Improved his balance. Practiced walking and climbing stairs. Began exercising at home. And switched to more supportive athletic shoes.

Eventually, his therapist told him he was ready.

For someone who had been afraid to climb stairs, those words meant a great deal.

He says he hasn’t fallen since completing the program earlier in 2026.

And he’s no longer afraid of stairs.

The important lesson isn’t that everyone will get the same result.

It’s that even after repeated falls, improvement is possible.

At 75, he didn’t need to accept losing his independence.

He needed someone to identify what was wrong and help him fix it.

The Best Fall Prevention Tool Isn’t a Pill. It’s Movement.

We have medications for almost everything these days.

Unfortunately, there’s no prescription that can replace strong legs and good balance.

Exercise remains one of the most effective ways to reduce falls.

Research shows that well-designed exercise programs can reduce the rate of falls by about 23%.

But not all exercise works equally well.

Walking is wonderful for cardiovascular health. It helps your mood, your metabolism, and your endurance.

But walking alone hasn’t been shown to reliably prevent falls.

To reduce fall risk, you need to challenge your balance.

That means practicing standing on one leg with support nearby, getting up from a chair without using your hands when safe, stepping over objects, and moving in different directions.

Tai chi has been shown to reduce fall rates by about 23%.

And programs involving at least three hours per week of balance and functional movement training have been associated with reductions of roughly 42%.

That’s impressive for something that doesn’t require a prescription, a co-pay, or a pharmaceutical commercial featuring happy grandparents running through fields.

Of course, if you’re already unsteady, don’t start practicing one-legged balance exercises alone beside a glass coffee table. A physical therapist can help you exercise safely.

Your House Shouldn’t Be an Obstacle Course

Most people spend years making their homes comfortable.

Unfortunately, some of those comforts become hazards as we age.

That beautiful throw rug? Potential trip hazard.

The dim hallway lighting? Another.

The extension cord running across the bedroom? A lawsuit against yourself waiting to happen.

Here are a few practical changes worth making:

• Remove or secure loose rugs and clear clutter from walking areas.
• Install bright lights and night-lights, especially between the bedroom and bathroom.
• Put handrails on both sides of stairways.
• Install grab bars and non-slip surfaces in bathrooms.
• Wear supportive, non-slip shoes, even indoors.
• Use your cane or walker every time you need it, not just when someone is watching.
• Have your medications reviewed at least annually.
• Get your vision and hearing checked.
• Stand up slowly, especially when getting out of bed at night.

None of these changes will make your home look like a luxury resort.

But they might keep you out of the emergency department.

And that’s a pretty good return on investment.

Three Questions That Could Save You From a Serious Fall

You don’t need a sophisticated medical device to begin identifying fall risk.

Start with three simple questions:

1. Have you fallen during the past year?
2. Do you feel unsteady when standing or walking?
3. Are you worried about falling?

If you answered yes to even one, talk with your healthcare professional.

These questions are used in fall-risk screening because they’re simple and useful.

A positive answer doesn’t mean you’re destined to fall. It means you deserve a closer look.

That evaluation may include checking your medications, blood pressure when standing, vision, hearing, muscle strength, walking pattern, balance, and medical history.

Sometimes the solution is surprisingly straightforward.

Sometimes it takes physical therapy or treatment of an underlying condition.

But ignoring the problem rarely improves it.

When a Fall Is an Emergency

Some falls require immediate medical attention.

Call 911 if someone falls and becomes confused, loses consciousness, cannot get up, has severe pain, or shows signs of a serious injury.

A head injury deserves particular attention, especially if the person takes blood thinners. Even without obvious symptoms, prompt medical evaluation may be needed.

Don’t assume that because someone can talk, laugh, or insist they’re fine, everything is fine.

Older adults can have serious injuries without dramatic symptoms.

The Bottom Line: Don’t Let Fear Steal Your Feet

Getting older comes with enough indignities.

You misplace your glasses while they’re sitting on your head. You walk into a room and forget why. You discover that getting out of a low chair now requires planning, momentum, and occasional negotiations with gravity.

But falling doesn’t have to be another unavoidable indignity.

The greatest mistake is thinking that preventing falls means avoiding life.

It doesn’t.

It means identifying risks, treating what can be treated, strengthening what can be strengthened, and making your surroundings safer.

Your ears may need attention. Your bladder may need better manners. Your medications may need a second look. And your legs may need a little more work.

Most importantly, don’t confuse caution with inactivity.

Because the goal isn’t to spend the rest of your life avoiding a fall. It’s to stay strong enough, steady enough, and confident enough to keep living it.

And if gravity insists on reminding you who’s boss, make sure you have the strength and balance to win the argument.

Source: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center national survey of 1,007 U.S. adults, conducted October 1–4, 2026, by SSRS. Survey margin of error: ±3.4 percentage points. Additional findings summarized from the fall-prevention research described in the source material.

The science is intriguing. The promises are extraordinary. The human evidence? That’s where things get a little embarrassing.

By Steven S. Charlap, MD, MBA

There’s a new craze sweeping through longevity clinics, fitness centers, anti-aging practices, and the darker corners of the internet. It promises faster healing, bigger muscles, less fat, sharper thinking, better sleep, younger skin, and perhaps a few extra years before you meet your maker.

All you have to do is inject yourself with something whose name sounds like a Wi-Fi password.

Welcome to the wonderful world of peptides.

Although GLP-1s are pepetides. They have clearly been human tested and approved.

BPC-157. TB-500. CJC-1295. Ipamorelin. GHK-Cu. MOTS-c. KPV. Semax. Epitalon. Different story altogether.

They sound like characters rejected from a Star Wars screenplay. But to their enthusiastic followers, they represent the next frontier in human health.

The pitch is irresistible. Heal faster. Age slower. Build muscle. Burn fat. Think better. Feel younger.

Who wouldn’t want that?

There’s just one small problem.

Nobody has convincingly demonstrated that these injectable wellness peptides actually deliver their promised clinical benefits in humans.

In animals it’s a very different story. And by that I mean many, and I mean man, animal studies with great results fail to demonstrate anything close to those results when tested in humans. I personally lost a lot of money investing in a company that had incredible results in rats, was fast-tracked by the FDA based on that data, and then completely failed in humans. Company went from half a billion dollar valuation to zero virtually overnight.

Don’t accept animal studies.

Peptides don’t yet have useful and acceptable human studies. And that’s a rather important detail that gets left off the brochure.

The Rats Are Doing Great. How About the Humans?

Let’s be clear. Peptides are real biological molecules. They’re short chains of amino acids, and many play important roles in human physiology. Insulin is a peptide hormone. So are GLP-1s and several other medications that have transformed modern medicine.

The science is legitimate.

The marketing, however, has gotten several miles ahead of it. Way ahead.

Consider BPC-157, perhaps the celebrity of the peptide world. Its supporters claim it can help repair tendons, ligaments, muscles, and even the gastrointestinal tract.

And there is a reason researchers are interested. Animal experiments have shown potentially beneficial effects on tissue repair.

Unfortunately, much of the research has been conducted in rodents, often in remarkably small groups, sometimes just four to ten animals.

That’s enough to generate a hypothesis. It’s not enough to recommend that a human being start injecting an experimental substance into his abdomen.

A 2026 review in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that human evidence for BPC-157 consisted largely of a small, uncontrolled retrospective case series involving knee injections. No rigorous randomized human trial has established a meaningful musculoskeletal benefit.

Other popular peptides, including CJC-1295, ipamorelin, and injectable GHK-Cu, have even less evidence for treating injuries.

TB-500, frequently confused with the related but distinct molecule thymosin beta-4, has no credible controlled human evidence establishing its effectiveness for musculoskeletal recovery.

In scientific terms, that’s a problem.

In marketing terms, apparently, it’s an opportunity.

But, It’s Working

It’s not just the marketers that are spreading the hype. It’s also users that swear by their results. Please ignore them. Here’s the reality. When you are young, your body can handle a lot. But, that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to pay the price down the line. For example, exposure to a single strand of asbestos can cause a lethal cancer called mesothelioma. It can take 30 years after exposure to develop the cancer. You can eat poorly when young feel no difference. Down the line you get heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

The point being that bad stuff in our bodies doesn’t happen immediately. How our body reacts today is no indication of what will happen a few years or more down the line. How can you take chances when you don’t know the risk? It would be like betting at blackjack without seeing your cards. And risks that kill are called “catastrophic risks.” The rewards, like a larger muscle, are never worth a “catastrophic risk.” You wouldn’t run across a busy highway to save ten minutes. The risk reward ratio would not be smart.

Now Meet the Peptide Hall of Fame. Or Perhaps the Hall of Hype.

Let’s meet a few of the current stars.

BPC-157: The Miracle Repairman Who Hasn’t Passed His Human Audition

Tendon injury? BPC-157.

Sore knee? BPC-157.

Muscle tear? BPC-157.

If the claims keep expanding, someone will eventually suggest it for a broken marriage.

The animal research is interesting, but we still lack reliable human evidence that it improves recovery, appropriate dosing standards, and adequate long-term safety data.

There are also theoretical concerns involving blood vessel formation and tumor biology. These are reasons for further investigation, not proof that BPC-157 causes cancer.

Verdict: Promising laboratory biology. Unproven human medicine.

TB-500: The Body Shop in a Syringe

TB-500 is marketed as a tissue-repair specialist, capable of accelerating healing and reducing inflammation.

Its reputation borrows heavily from research involving thymosin beta-4, a related molecule that has been investigated for tissue repair.

But related doesn’t mean interchangeable.

And healing an injured rat is not the same as restoring a 58-year-old tennis player’s Achilles tendon.

Verdict: Interesting hypothesis. No convincing human evidence for the marketed benefits.

CJC-1295 and Ipamorelin: Let’s Turn Up the Growth Hormone

These compounds stimulate pathways involved in growth hormone release.

That sounds attractive because growth hormone is associated with growth, tissue maintenance, and metabolism.

But here’s an inconvenient biological fact: More of a hormone is not necessarily better.

Elevating growth hormone or IGF-1 doesn’t automatically mean more functional muscle, less fat, faster healing, or longer life.

Potential concerns include impaired glucose regulation, fluid retention, joint discomfort, and other endocrine effects.

Ipamorelin was studied in patients with postoperative intestinal dysfunction. It failed to demonstrate the hoped-for clinical benefit in a controlled trial.

A beautiful theory, unfortunately, doesn’t always survive an encounter with actual patients.

Verdict: Biological activity is established. The advertised fitness and longevity benefits are not.

GHK-Cu: Copper, Collagen, and Considerable Optimism

GHK-Cu is a copper-binding peptide promoted for skin rejuvenation, hair growth, and tissue repair.

There is some scientific rationale for studying its effects on skin biology.

But using a peptide in a cosmetic formulation is very different from injecting it into the bloodstream.

Injectable GHK-Cu lacks adequate clinical safety and efficacy evidence. Concerns include impurities, immune reactions, and potentially abnormal copper exposure.

A topical ingredient with promising laboratory findings doesn’t automatically earn a promotion to injectable medicine.

Verdict: Worth studying for selected applications. Not established as a safe or effective injectable anti-aging treatment.

Semax, Epitalon, MOTS-c, and KPV: The Supporting Cast

These substances have been promoted for cognition, longevity, metabolic health, inflammation, and other appealing outcomes.

Some have intriguing preliminary research. Semax also has a history of clinical use and investigation in Russia, although much of that literature has not undergone the kind of independent evaluation expected for mainstream US approval.

For these compounds, the central issue remains the same: reliable clinical evidence supporting the claims made by commercial wellness clinics is lacking.

Longevity claims are especially difficult to establish. To prove that something extends healthy human life, you generally need substantial clinical evidence and, often, years of follow-up.

A few favorable biomarkers and a happy mouse don’t qualify.

Verdict: Research possibilities, not established longevity therapies.

The Side Effects Don’t Read the Advertising

When I evaluate a medical treatment, I want answers to three questions:

1. Does it work?
2. Is it safe?
3. Is the benefit worth the risk?

With many experimental peptides, we cannot adequately answer the first two questions.

That’s not a minor technicality.

Growth hormone pathway manipulation illustrates why.

In a clinical trial involving older adults recovering from hip fractures, MK-677, an oral growth hormone secretagogue rather than a peptide, was associated with a substantially higher incidence of heart failure. Approximately 6.5% of treated participants developed heart failure compared with 1.6% receiving placebo. The study was stopped early.

That finding doesn’t prove that CJC-1295 or ipamorelin causes heart failure. These are different substances.

It does demonstrate that manipulating growth hormone pathways can have unexpected and serious consequences.

Other concerns associated with this broader hormonal pathway include elevated blood glucose, insulin resistance, fluid retention, and joint pain.

The irony is hard to miss.

People are injecting experimental compounds to become healthier while potentially disrupting the very metabolic systems they’re trying to improve.

And then there’s the question of what’s actually in the vial.

Your Peptide May Not Be What You Think It Is

Many unapproved peptides are sold online under the reassuring label For Research Use Only.

Sometimes the label also says Not for Human Consumption.

This is an interesting marketing strategy for a product accompanied by detailed injection discussions across the internet.

Unlike FDA-approved medications manufactured under validated quality standards, peptides purchased through unregulated supply chains may contain incorrect concentrations, contaminants, bacterial endotoxins, or even the wrong ingredient.

The FDA has specifically raised concerns about impurities, product characterization, and immune reactions involving several compounds promoted for human injection.

You may think you’re purchasing a sophisticated product of modern biotechnology.

You may actually be purchasing an expensive mystery in a small glass bottle.

And the fact that someone wearing a white coat sells it doesn’t transform the substance into proven medicine. There are plenty of unscrupulous doctors.

Even the FDA Is Wrestling With This

The regulatory picture is complicated and changing.

Beginning in 2023, the FDA identified significant safety concerns involving several peptides proposed for pharmacy compounding. These concerns include manufacturing impurities, inadequate safety data, and difficulties establishing the identity and quality of the finished products.

Debates about expanding access have continued.

I support scientific innovation. I also believe patients should have meaningful choices.

But we need to distinguish between the freedom to investigate an experimental treatment and the claim that the treatment has already been proven effective.

Those are two very different things.

A regulatory change might make a substance easier to obtain.

It does not magically create randomized clinical trials demonstrating that it works. These studies matter.

Congress can change a law. It cannot change the results of an experiment.

Some Peptides Really Do Work. And We Have the Evidence.

Here’s where the story gets more interesting.

Peptides aren’t the problem. Inadequate evidence is.

Several peptide-based medications have shown meaningful benefits in human studies and received FDA approval for specific medical conditions.

Consider the remarkable success of incretin-based drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide (GLP-1s). These medications have demonstrated substantial benefits for weight management and metabolic health in large clinical trials.

Other examples include:

• Tesamorelin, approved to reduce excess abdominal fat in certain adults with HIV-associated lipodystrophy.
• Setmelanotide, approved for obesity associated with certain rare genetic conditions.
• Bremelanotide, approved for acquired, generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder in premenopausal women.
• Afamelanotide, approved to improve light tolerance in people with erythropoietic protoporphyria.
• Elamipretide, which received accelerated FDA approval in 2025 to improve muscle strength in patients with Barth syndrome meeting specified criteria.

These treatments aren’t interchangeable, and their approvals don’t mean they’re appropriate for general anti-aging or wellness use.

But they demonstrate something important.

When peptides work, good clinical research can show us.

That’s how medicine should advance.

Not through testimonials, influencer endorsements, or spectacular before-and-after photographs taken under suspiciously different lighting.

The Question Patients Should Be Asking

If you’re considering an injectable peptide, don’t start by asking whether it increases growth hormone, activates a receptor, promotes angiogenesis, or improves a laboratory measurement.

Those are mechanisms. They’re not necessarily meaningful health outcomes.

Ask something simpler.

Has this substance been shown in well-designed human studies to improve the problem I’m trying to solve? 20 random people with no control group receiving a placebo is not statistically a well-designed human study.

Then ask whether the benefits outweigh the risks.

If you want to lose fat, we have treatments with robust clinical evidence.

If you want to recover from an injury, established rehabilitation approaches can improve recovery without requiring a personal collection of experimental syringes.

If you’re tired, losing muscle, or struggling with sexual function, the answer may lie in identifying an underlying condition, poor sleep, medication effects, metabolic disease, or hormonal abnormalities.

Finding the cause may be considerably more useful than injecting something because a muscular stranger on Instagram says it changed his life. A number of these guys have died prematurely.

And if you are already using growth hormone-related peptides, tell your physician. Unexplained swelling, changes in blood sugar, joint pain, or abnormal hormone tests warrant a closer look. Depending on the clinical circumstances, testing might include glucose, HbA1c, IGF-1, and selected additional endocrine studies.

Athletes should also remember that many of these compounds are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Winning a competition with an experimental peptide is one thing.

Losing your medal and your eligibility is another.

The Fountain of Youth Is Still Missing Its Clinical Trial

I’m enthusiastic about biotechnology. I believe peptides could become an increasingly important part of medicine.

The biological possibilities are fascinating, and some genuinely deserve serious research investment.

But scientific curiosity and clinical proof are not synonyms.

We’ve been here before.

Human growth hormone was supposed to reverse aging. Increased cancer. Testosterone was supposed to restore everyone’s youth. Increases clotting and arrythmias. Supplements promised sharper minds, stronger muscles, and decades of additional life. Expensive urine.

Some interventions turned out to have legitimate, carefully defined medical uses. Creatine monhydrate has a safe profile at 5 mg a day. Consistently improves high-intensity exercise, strength, power, lean mass and training adaptations.

Others became extraordinarily successful businesses long before anyone demonstrated meaningful benefits.

Peptides may ultimately follow both paths.

For now, the evidence for most injectable wellness peptides remains far behind the marketing.

My advice is simple.

Be curious. Be open to innovation. Support good research. But don’t confuse a compelling biological story with a proven treatment.

The future of medicine may well include remarkable new peptides.

Just don’t mistake the future of medicine for something a guy on TikTok is selling today.

Selected scientific references

1. Tewari et al. Peptide Supplements and Their Therapeutic Applications in Sports Medicine. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2026.
2. Injectable Peptide Therapy: A Primer for Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Physicians. 2026.
3. Injectable Peptides in Sports Medicine: A Structured Narrative Review of Evidence, Safety, and Antidoping Implications. JBJS Reviews, 2026.
4. US Food and Drug Administration. Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding That May Present Significant Safety Risks.
5. US Food and Drug Administration. Forzinity (elamipretide): Accelerated Approval for Barth Syndrome, September 19, 2025.

This article is for educational purposes and is not individualized medical advice. Patients should discuss prescription medications, experimental treatments, and hormone-related symptoms with a qualified clinician.

Sage Journals

+3

I never fully understood the scope of the fear and hatred she experienced. Although I’ve been to Germany and Poland, and seen the camps, its still hard to fully fathom that people were capable of such mass killing and cruelty just some 80 years ago. It boggles my mind that this took place in the 20th century when so many great scientific advances were made.

When ever I complained about the difficulties of living a Jewish life, her quick retort was “Schver zu zeyn a Yid” (Yiddish: שווער צו זיין א ייד), a famous Yiddish saying that translates directly to: “It is hard to be a Jew.”

It captures a mix of cultural weariness, historical perseverance, and dark humor regarding the challenges, struggles, and persecution Jewish people have historically faced, balanced with the deep responsibilities of keeping the faith and tradition.

I love people. So understanding why so many hated her and now me for my religion is difficult to understand. Yesteday was election day. Many voted for their preferred choices. Some of these choices really scare me not for myself but for my children. Often disgusied as “anti-Israel”, such rhetoric is often abject antisemitism. Why else focus on a small democratic country surrounded by Authoritarian regimes. These Israel repudiations are no better than blood-libels that resulted in the deaths of many Jews.

Why does such a small majority of people capture so much hatred? Particularly, when the small number of Jews have made so many outsized contributions to the betterment of humankind. Many of us believe in Tikun Olam. (Hebrew: תיקון עולם) translates literally to “repairing the world” or “world repair” in Judaism. It represents the human responsibility to act as partners with God in improving, fixing, and elevating the physical and moral state of the universe.

On October 7, 2023, many Jews died. Many antisemites found cause for celebration. Suffice it to say it was incredibly nasty attack and acts of unimaginable cruelty were part of the process. Israel reacted harshly swearing to exact revenge on Hamas and prevent a reoccurance. The Palestinian people have clearly been caught in the cross-fire of war. I blame Hamas for starting a war it couldn’t win that has resulted in deaths on both sides. I can appreciate that some feel that Israel overreacted. But I remember learning about the bombing of Berlin and Hiroshima and Nagasaki as examples of responses that were brutal and necessary to dissuade continued war. Far more died in those efforts.

I hate to see anyone die especially children. But I believe that brutally condemning Israel and its Jewish citizens over Gaza is just cover for anti-semites, including liberal Jews, to condemn Israel as a proxy for Jew hatred. Yes, Jews are famous for “Jew hating Jews.”

Most of my career has been dedicated to upholding the principles of medicine. “First, do no harm” has been front and center. I have always put patients interests first and tried to be there for my customers by freely sharing my cellphone number with all. Even today, my cell number is prominenetly displayed on my website Medome.ai. My mission is now to save lives in memeory of my brother who truly cared for his patients, whom he always put first and foremost. He mentored me to do the same.

Those who know me, also know I rigidly stand behind my philosophy to only “do well by doing good.” Any by good, I mean, measurable and impactful good. People from all over the world, including Palestinians and Muslim Arabs from many countries have reached out for my mentorship and I have gladly offered it. I count among my friends Muslims from various countries and more Christians than I can count. I see people as people, who just want out of life what I want. Safety, nourishment, a home, an occassional vacation and party, and access to affordable quality care.

Yet, like my pre-teen mother in Europe during the Second World War, when the Nazis furiously hunted Jews for extinction, I find myself now obscuring my Jewishness just not to draw the ire of haters who are going to hate me for no good reason other than my family faith at birth. When asked any question that might reveal my belief system, I hesitate. I’m genuinely afraid that the asker will think differently about me. That is a horrible feeling.

I go to Temple with my family on Saturday surrounded by armed men hired to fend off those who would do me and others harm. I’m afraid to wear a skullcap, my yarmulka in public. Most observant Jews are and often wear baseball caps instead. I discourage my wife and children to wear any symbol that gives away our identity. Is that fair? Should anyone live in fear in the US because of their beliefs?

But I beleive in my fellow Americans. You care about justice and fairness, freedom of religion and speech, and inalienable rights. That is why I am proud to be an American. Because of what unites versus divides us.

Yesterday, a very aniti-Israel and anti-Jewish coalition of Congress People and Senators were elected who would be happy to see the end of Israel and the elimination of the many positive Jewish contributions to society. In Michigan, where the most hateful Senator was elected, 61% of Jews reportedly supported him. Makes me wonder how many Jews voted for Hitler’s rise to power?

That data is not available. However, German Jewish voters generally supported non-Nazi parties, including liberal, centrist, and Social Democratic parties. The Nazi Party’s explicit antisemitism made it overwhelmingly unattractive to Jewish voters. At least those Jews understood the threat. Let’s hope today’s Jews that voted for anti-Israel candidates and alleged antisemitic individuals know something that I don’t know.

No doubt if the US doesn’t overcome its current economic challenges, many will blame the Jews. We are easy scapegoats. There have been some horrific Jews such as Epstein, Maddoff, Berkowitz. But they pale in comparison to the vast number of Jews who have distinguished themselves positively. They include.

• Jonas Salk: Developed the first successful polio vaccine in 1955, choosing not to patent it so it would be widely accessible and safely eradicating a devastating disease.
• Albert Einstein: The world-renowned physicist who became an American citizen in 1940; his theories of relativity transformed modern physics, and his letter to FDR helped initiate the Manhattan Project.
• J. Robert Oppenheimer: A theoretical physicist who served as the wartime director of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is widely remembered as the “father of the atomic bomb” for leading the Manhattan Project.
• Richard Feynman: A brilliant theoretical physicist who redefined quantum electrodynamics, won the Nobel Prize, and famously served on the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
• Gertrude B. Elion: A biochemist and pharmacologist who won the Nobel Prize for developing groundbreaking drugs that treated leukemia, herpes, and gout, and paved the way for organ transplants.

Law & Public Service

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A transformative Supreme Court Justice who spent her career advancing gender equality and women’s rights, first as a litigator and later as a cultural icon on the high court.
• Felix Frankfurter: A Supreme Court Justice and co-founder of the ACLU who heavily influenced New Deal legislation and advocated for judicial restraint.
• Henry Kissinger: A diplomat and political scientist who served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, pioneering the policy of détente with the Soviet Union and opening relations with China.
• Emma Lazarus: A poet whose iconic sonnet, “The New Colossus,” was inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, permanently cementing the statue’s identity as a beacon for immigrants.

Literature, Arts & Entertainment

• Irving Berlin: A legendary composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, who wrote “God Bless America” and “White Christmas.”
• George Gershwin: A composer who fused classical music with jazz to create uniquely American masterpieces like Rhapsody in Blue and the opera Porgy and Bess.
• Steven Spielberg: One of the most commercially successful and influential directors in cinematic history, who shaped American pop culture with Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones, and Schindler’s List.
• Arthur Miller: A towering American playwright who authored Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, deeply impacting American theater and social commentary.
• Stan Lee: A comic book writer and editor who co-created the Marvel Universe (including Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Iron Man), fundamentally reshaping modern global entertainment.

Innovation, Business & Philosophy

• Jonas Salk & Albert Sabin: (Sabin is included here alongside Salk) Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine, which used a live-attenuated virus and became the primary tool for global polio eradication.
• Milton Friedman: A Nobel Prize-winning economist who advocated for free-market capitalism and heavily influenced American monetary policy and economic thought in the late 20th century.
• Sergey Brin: A computer scientist and entrepreneur who co-founded Google, revolutionizing how the world accesses, organizes, and processes digital information.
• Hyman Rickover: An Admiral in the U.S. Navy known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy,” who directed the development of naval nuclear propulsion, changing naval warfare forever.
• Barbra Streisand: An entertainment powerhouse who became one of the few EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winners, profoundly influencing American music, theater, and film.

Going further back in American history, here are some more.

1. Haym Salomon (April 7, 1740 — Jan. 6, 1785)

When people think about the American Revolution, names like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton often come to mind. But behind the scenes, Haym Salomon played a crucial role in helping keep the young nation afloat.

Born in Poland to a Sephardic Jewish family, Salomon immigrated to New York before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. A successful broker and merchant, he quickly became a supporter of the Patriot cause. During the war, he was arrested by the British on suspicion of spying, later escaped, and resumed helping the revolution.

As the Continental Congress struggled with mounting debt and a lack of reliable funding, Salomon used his financial expertise to raise money for the fledgling government. He brokered loans, sold government securities, and personally advanced funds to government officials and military leaders, often without expecting immediate repayment. Among those he assisted was James Madison, who relied on Salomon to cover expenses while serving in Congress.

Historians continue to debate exactly how much of the Revolution’s finances flowed through Salomon, and some popular stories about his role have been exaggerated over the years. But there is broad agreement that he was one of the most important financiers of the Patriot cause and helped sustain the revolutionary government during some of its most difficult years.

Salomon died in 1785 at just 44 years old, leaving behind significant debts because many of the loans he made were never repaid. Today, he’s remembered as one of the earliest Jewish Americans to leave a lasting mark on the nation’s history.

2. Levi Strauss (Feb. 26, 1829 — Sept. 26, 1902)

Few pieces of clothing are more closely associated with the U.S. than a pair of blue jeans, and they exist thanks in large part to Levi Strauss, a Jewish immigrant who helped turn a practical solution into an American icon.

Strauss immigrated to the U.S. from Bavaria with his family in 1847 after his father’s death. Like many immigrants of the era, he was searching for opportunity in a rapidly growing country. After spending several years working in the family dry goods business in New York, he headed west during the California Gold Rush. In 1853, he settled in San Francisco and founded Levi Strauss & Co., selling clothing, fabrics, and other supplies to miners, merchants, and settlers.

One of his customers was Jacob Davis, a tailor from Nevada who had devised a way to make work pants stronger by reinforcing stress points with copper rivets. Davis lacked the money to patent the invention, so he approached Strauss, who agreed to become his business partner. In 1873, the two men received a U.S. patent for riveted work pants, creating what would become the first blue jeans.

Originally designed to withstand the demanding conditions of mining camps and ranches, jeans quickly became popular with workers across the American West. Over the following century, they evolved from durable workwear into a global fashion staple embraced by everyone from cowboys and factory workers to Hollywood stars, musicians, and world leaders.

3. Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 — Nov. 19, 1887)

Millions of immigrants have entered New York Harbor, greeted by the words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Those iconic lines were written by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American poet whose words became synonymous with the American dream.

Lazarus came from a prominent Sephardic Jewish family in New York City whose roots in the U.S. stretched back generations. Her ancestors had fled religious persecution in Spain and Portugal centuries earlier, before eventually settling in the American colonies. She was a gifted writer from a young age, publishing her first book of poetry as a teenager.

Although she was already an accomplished poet, Lazarus became increasingly engaged with Jewish causes in the 1880s as thousands of Jewish refugees fled violent pogroms in the Russian Empire. She volunteered to help newly arrived immigrants, advocated for Jewish refugees, and wrote passionately about the importance of ensuring their safety and opportunity.

In 1883, she was asked to contribute a poem to help raise money for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Her sonnet, “The New Colossus,” reimagined the statue not as a symbol of military victory, but as a beacon of hope for immigrants arriving in the U.S. Although the poem received little attention during her lifetime, it was cast onto a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903, nearly two decades after her death.

Today, Lazarus’s words have become some of the most recognizable in American history. For generations of immigrants arriving by sea, her poem captured both the promise of the New World and the hope that newcomers, including countless Jews fleeing persecution, could find freedom and build new lives in the U.S.

4. Joseph Pulitzer (April 10, 1847 — Oct. 29, 1911)

Every year, the highest honor in American journalism bears the name of Joseph Pulitzer. But long before the Pulitzer Prize existed, Pulitzer helped transform the way Americans consumed the news.

Born to a Jewish family in Hungary in 1847, Pulitzer immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager with little money and limited English. After briefly serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, he settled in St. Louis, where he worked a variety of jobs before entering the newspaper business. His sharp reporting and political instincts quickly propelled him from reporter to newspaper owner.

In the 1880s, Pulitzer purchased the New York World and turned it into one of the country’s most widely read newspapers. He championed investigative reporting, exposed government corruption, and covered the lives of ordinary Americans alongside national politics. At the same time, he embraced eye-catching headlines, illustrations, and human-interest stories, helping pioneer what became known as mass-market journalism. His fierce circulation battle with William Randolph Hearst also contributed to the rise of sensationalist “yellow journalism,” a legacy that remains debated today.

Despite those controversies, Pulitzer believed journalism should ultimately serve the public. Before his death in 1911, he left much of his fortune to Columbia University to establish a graduate school of journalism and create annual prizes recognizing excellence in reporting, literature, music, and public service.

5. Louis Brandeis (Nov. 13, 1856 — Oct. 5, 1941)

When Louis Brandeis was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1916, he became the first Jewish justice in the court’s history, a milestone that reflected both the growing role of Jewish Americans in public life and the barriers they still faced.

Born in Kentucky to Jewish immigrants from Bohemia, Brandeis built a reputation as one of the nation’s most respected lawyers. Known as the “People’s Lawyer,” he fought monopolies, championed workers’ rights, defended consumers, and argued that businesses should be held accountable to the public.

During his 23 years on the Supreme Court, Brandeis helped shape modern constitutional law, particularly in the areas of free speech, privacy, and government regulation. His opinions continue to influence American law, and he remains one of the most consequential justices in the court’s history.

Brandeis also became a leading voice in the American Zionist movement, believing that supporting a Jewish homeland and embracing American citizenship were complementary, not contradictory. His life helped redefine what it meant to be both proudly Jewish and fully American.

6. Henrietta Szold (Dec. 21, 1860 — Feb. 13, 1945)

Henrietta Szold proved that one person could transform Jewish life on both sides of the Atlantic.

Growing up in Baltimore to a family of rabbis and educators, Szold devoted her life to expanding educational opportunities and improving healthcare. In 1912, she founded Hadassah, which began as a small volunteer organization and grew into the largest Jewish women’s organization in the U.S.

Under her leadership, Hadassah funded hospitals, trained nurses, and helped build a modern healthcare system in what would later become the State of Israel. During the 1930s, Szold also led Youth Aliyah, rescuing thousands of Jewish children from Nazi-controlled Europe and helping them find safety in British Mandatory Palestine.

Today, Hadassah remains one of the largest Jewish organizations in the U.S., a lasting testament to Szold’s vision and leadership.

7. Julius Rosenwald (Aug. 12, 1862 –Jan. 6, 1932)

Julius Rosenwald believed wealth should be used to create opportunity for others. As the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, he helped transform the mail-order retailer into one of the largest businesses in the U.S. But his greatest legacy may be what he did with the fortune he earned.

Inspired by educator Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald partnered with Black communities across the segregated South to fund the construction of nearly 5,000 schools, along with teacher homes and vocational buildings. At a time when public education for Black children was chronically underfunded, the “Rosenwald Schools” educated hundreds of thousands of students, including future civil rights leader John Lewis and poet Maya Angelou.

Rosenwald also gave generously to Jewish causes, museums, universities, and scientific research, but he believed philanthropy should solve problems during a donor’s lifetime rather than build a permanent family fortune. His commitment to education and equality made him one of the most influential philanthropists in American history.

8. The Warner Brothers

Long before Hollywood became synonymous with the movie industry, four Jewish immigrant brothers helped build it from the ground up.

Harry Warner (Dec. 12, 1881 — July 25, 1958), Albert Warner (July 23, 1884 — Nov. 26, 1967), Sam Warner (Aug. 10, 1887 — Oct. 5, 1927), and Jack L. Warner (Aug. 2, 1892 — Sept. 9, 1978) were born to a Jewish family in what is now Poland before immigrating to the U.S. as children in the late 19th century. Their family settled first in Canada before moving to Ohio, where the brothers took on a variety of jobs to help support the household. Like many immigrant families of the era, they saw opportunity in a rapidly changing U.S.

That opportunity came in an unlikely place: the brand-new motion picture industry. The brothers began by purchasing a projector and traveling from town to town screening silent films before opening their own movie theaters. The Warner brothers were among a generation of Jewish immigrant entrepreneurs, including the founders of Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Columbia, who transformed a small California town into the center of the global film industry.

The Warners quickly earned a reputation for taking risks. At a time when many studio executives doubted audiences wanted to hear actors speak, the brothers, led by Sam Warner, invested heavily in synchronized sound. Their gamble paid off in 1927 with the release of “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson. Although not the first film to experiment with sound, it was the first feature-length movie to successfully combine synchronized dialogue with a compelling story, ushering in the era of “talkies” and permanently changing the film industry.

Over the following decades, Warner Bros. became one of Hollywood’s defining studios, producing classics such as “Casablanca,” “The Maltese Falcon,” and “Rebel Without a Cause.” The studio also introduced generations of audiences to characters like Bugs Bunny and later became home to franchises including Harry Potter and the world of Batman.

The Warner brothers weren’t just successful movie producers. Alongside other Jewish immigrant studio founders, they helped invent Hollywood itself, creating an industry that would become one of America’s most influential cultural exports and forever change how stories are told around the world.

9. Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 — Sept. 22, 1989)

Few people have shaped the soundtrack of America more than Irving Berlin. Over a career spanning more than six decades, the Jewish immigrant wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, helping define American popular music in the 20th century.

Born in the Russian Empire, Berlin immigrated to New York City as a young child after his family fled antisemitic persecution. Growing up on the Lower East Side, he worked a series of odd jobs before breaking into the world of Tin Pan Alley, where he quickly became one of the country’s most successful songwriters.

His catalog includes classics such as “God Bless America,” “White Christmas,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and “Cheek to Cheek.” His music helped define Broadway, Hollywood, and the Great American Songbook, while “White Christmas” became one of the best-selling songs of all time.

Few artists have shaped America’s cultural identity as profoundly as Berlin, whose songs have accompanied the nation through celebrations, wars, holidays, and everyday life for more than a century.

10. George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin

Few creative partnerships have shaped American music as profoundly as George Gershwin (Sept. 26, 1898 — July 11, 1937) and Ira Gershwin (Dec. 6, 1896 — Aug. 17, 1983). Together, the brothers helped create a distinctly American sound by blending jazz, classical music, blues, and popular song while producing some of the country’s most enduring works.

The sons of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, the Gershwins grew up in Brooklyn and found success at a young age in New York’s Tin Pan Alley. George composed the music while Ira wrote the lyrics, a partnership that produced dozens of beloved songs, including “I Got Rhythm,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and “Embraceable You.”

George also composed groundbreaking orchestral works such as “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris,” while the brothers collaborated on the landmark folk opera “Porgy and Bess,” which featured classics like “Summertime.”

Although George died in 1937 at just 38 years old, the Gershwins’ music has endured for generations. Together, they helped define the Great American Songbook and forever changed the sound of American music.

These are all just American Jews. How many incredibly talented Jews lost their lives during the war and what amazing contributions could they have made if they lived their full lives. What price has society paid for their unjustified killing and targeted hatred? I know the cost is priceless. So should you. Stop wishig for our destruction. One of us may save your life or someone dear to you. I hope to be one of those people with Medome.ai.

The bottom line is that Jews have contributed to every aspect of American society. So please, stop hating us for no good reason and stop blaming us for Israel. We are Americans. We bleed like you do. We want what you want. We contribute our part to a functioning society.

Let’s all respect each other so my children and the generations that follow can also remain proud Americans living to be their best versions that includes helping others do the same. Let us continue in peace to contribute to making this a better world. Let’s make Tikun Olam a reality for all.

Ever since I lost my brother to a misdiagnosis, I’ve spent the last 12 years trying to prevent the same from happening to other families.

That included five and a half years at Stanford and Harvard trying to better understand why mistakes happen in the first place. There are many reasons. Plenty of blame to go around.

This article will not rehash all the inherent problems and misincentives in medicine that cause mistakes. Instead, it will focus on why no one sems to care.

Let’s generate a list of who you would think would be concerned.

1. Doctors
2. Hospitals
3. The government
4. Payers (insurers)
5. Malpractice Insurers
6. Patient advocacy organizations
7. Academic researchers
8. Orginizations focused on preventing diagnostic errors
9. Patients

Well, I’ve spoke to several in each category and they are not.

I speculate that there are several reasons.

First, let’s consider the usual. Money. Misdiagnosis is a big business, by some estimates, a trillion dollar business. If it was eliminated, that money would come out of the pockets of doctors, hospitals, pharma, equipment companies, and the US economy. It would be the end of malpractice, the need for insurance, and the companies that issue the policies.

Second, no one cares until it hits home. This has been described as “unrealistic optimism,” which means we think its not going to happen to us.

Third, prevention has never really caught on in the US for health care. Yes, for cars and air-conditioners, but not for your health.

Fourth, people would rather spend money for the illusion of longevity that to catch disease earlier. The marketing is working.

Finally, the patient advocacy groups and other related organizations would have nothing to advocate for if the problem was eliminated.

What about patients, you might ask? Why are they not rallying their legislators? Simple. They trust their doctors to do their best and likewise, still don’t trust AI. So what is there to really do? Particualrly, when pundits are arguing that AI will destroy us. Quite the paradox to demand for it to save us.

This will change. Like many other paradign shifts, e.g., bottled water, paid TV, its day will come. I just hope in time to save you or someone you love.

It’s often said that men, shouldn’t let their “little head” dictate to their larger one.

It turns out that popular bromide is sometimes very wrong.

The penis is made up of small blood vessels. Like other blood vessels, cholesterol can build up in them due to high cholesterol, low HDL, high HDL, high triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, etc.

When that happens, it can interfere with blood flow to the penis needed to create and sustain a firm erection.

Given that the penis has small blood vessels, they are often the first to start clogging and they have more narrow lumens. That’s a warning bell that it’s happening in general and that the bigger blood vessels, like those around the heart, are also at increased risk.

Studies have indicated that progressive softening of the penis can predict and pre-date a heart attack by 2–5 years, 3 years on average.

This is not the type of problem you want to address by taking a pill to improve the erection. First, the pill may not work.

Second, you don’t disconnect the fire alarm without checking for smoke.

Third, if the underlying problem is not treated, it will simply get worse and pills that once worked may stop working.

Lastly, if you ignore the warning sign and get a heart attack, it may kill you.

So, listen to your penis because its a bellwether of your overall health and heart health, in particular.

Use https://medomemen.com for support.

Next month, marks 13 years since my brother, a physician, died following an avoidable misdiagnosis.

I should have mourned and moved on. I couldn’t.

Every 40 seconds someone dies or becomes permanently disabled form a medical error. That’s a lot of fathers, mothers, children, and partners. The Institute of Mediicne predicts that everyone will be victimized by such an error ove rtheir lifetime.

In memory of my incredible brother, who always put his patients first, I became consumed to solve this problem.

Since then, I have spent nearly 40,000 hours, more than $4 million of my own money, and helped bring in another $2 million in support and research funding, including work involving the NIH, NHS, Stanford, and Harvard, trying to solve one enormous problem:

How do we stop people from being harmed or killed because the right diagnosis was missed?

That mission became Medome.

It took years. It took millions. It took two issued patents, with two more pending. It took building technology designed specifically to attack misdiagnosis differently from anything I knew existed.

And now it works.

Recently, Medome faced 28 extremely difficult hematology cases using history alone. It identified the correct diagnosis or the right diagnostic test in 28 out of 28.

That should matter.

Yet while technology like this is becoming available, much of the public conversation remains consumed by what AI might someday do to humanity.

I worry about AI safety too.

But I also worry about the human being sitting in an exam room today whose cancer is missed.

The father whose heart disease is mistaken for something benign.

The mother whose rare disease remains undiagnosed.

The child who loses a parent.

The parent who buries a child.

We can continue to discuss the hypothetical dangers of tomorrow, but can’t afford to ignore the preventable suffering happening today.

I often tell entrepreneurs: Start with something simple. Prove it works. Then expand.

I didn’t follow my own advice.

At HealthDrive, Dr. Alec Jaret and I started with dental care for nursing-home patients. Once that worked, we expanded into a much broader specialty-care platform.

With Medome, I went straight after the monster.

Misdiagnosis.

Some venture capitalists called it “boiling the ocean.”

They weren’t entirely wrong.

Medicine has tens of thousands of diseases, overlapping symptoms, incomplete histories, medication effects, rare conditions, cognitive biases, and countless ways for important information to be missed.

It was brutally difficult.

But we did it.

What breaks my heart now is not whether the technology can work.

It is how slowly medicine is willing to test, validate, and adopt technologies that could make doctors more accurate and patients safer.

I believe every physician should want a second intelligence looking over their shoulder, asking:

What are we missing?

What doesn’t fit?

What else could this be?

What test would prove us wrong?

People including Zeke Emanuel, Vinod Khosla, RFK Jr., and policymakers at Utah’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy are challenging long-held assumptions about who and what can safely deliver medical care.

Good.

Medicine exists for one reason: the patient. At least it should.

Not doctors. Not hospitals. Not insurers. Not technology companies. Not regulators.

The patient.

So test these systems rigorously. Compare them head-to-head with physicians. Measure accuracy, safety, outcomes, cost, and access.

Then let the data speak.

If AI fails, expose it.

If it works, use it.

And if it saves lives, get it into the hands of doctors and patients as fast as responsibly possible.

I have even put my personal phone number on our website because this is not simply another company to me.

It is personal.

I couldn’t save my brother.

Maybe we can save yours.

Please share this.

The next missed diagnosis will not be a statistic to someone.

It will be their mother, father, husband, wife, partner, brother, sister, child, or best friend.

Maybe someday we can make the Institute of Medicine’s prediction that most of us will experience a diagnostic error something that used to be true.

There is an old Chinese saying:

“A man will sit in chair for a long time before roasted duck flies into his mouth.”

It is funny because it is true.

We spend an extraordinary amount of our lives waiting.

Waiting to feel better.
Waiting to lose weight.
Waiting for our blood pressure to come down.
Waiting for our marriage to improve.
Waiting for someone to recognize our talent.
Waiting for the promotion.
Waiting for the right opportunity.
Waiting for more energy.
Waiting for our sex life to magically return to what it once was.
Waiting for tomorrow.

And tomorrow has a remarkable habit of becoming next year.

A roasted duck never flies in.

Hope Is Not a Strategy

Hope matters. Faith matters. Optimism matters.

But none of them substitutes for action.

You can hope your cholesterol improves, but hope does not replace exercise, diet, testing, or treatment.

You can hope your relationship gets better, but relationships rarely repair themselves while two people sit silently waiting for the other person to change.

You can hope your career takes off, but opportunities usually find people who are already moving.

You can hope to become stronger, healthier, wealthier, happier, more confident, or more fulfilled.

But hope without action is often just procrastination wearing nicer clothes.

Your Health Will Not Manage Itself

I have spent much of my life in medicine.

One lesson becomes clearer every year:

The person with the greatest stake in your health is you.

Doctors can advise you.

Tests can warn you.

Technology can guide you.

Medications can help you.

Your family can encourage you.

But none of them can make you take care of yourself.

You have to go to the appointment.

You have to ask the questions.

You have to get the tests.

You have to exercise.

You have to pay attention to what you eat.

You have to admit when something isn’t working.

You have to stop ignoring the symptom that has been bothering you for six months because you are afraid of what it might mean.

And increasingly, you have to educate yourself enough to ask whether the first answer you received was actually the right one.

Your body sends messages. Listen.

Your body changes. Notice.

Something feels different? Investigate it.

The worst health strategy imaginable is: “I’ll wait and see.”

Sometimes waiting is medically appropriate. But sometimes waiting is simply easier than acting. Those are not the same thing.

The Same Rule Applies to Relationships

People often tell themselves:

“She knows how I feel.”

“He should know what I need.”

“Things will get better.”

Maybe.

But strong relationships are rarely built on mind reading.

Say something.

Listen.

Apologize when you are wrong. Put the phone down. Take your partner to dinner or make one for both of you.

Tell your children you love them while they are still young enough to hear it every day. You will never regret doing the right thing. Choose “happy” over “right” every time.

There are no shortages of compliments, enthusiasm and love. Don’t be afraid of running out of them. Share them as often as you can.

Call your parents.

Call the friend you keep meaning to call.

Life has an uncomfortable way of eventually making certain conversations impossible. Do not wait until then to wish you had made them possible.

Careers Don’t Usually Knock on the Door

The same principle applies to work.

Many talented people spend years waiting to be discovered. They work hard and assume someone will eventually notice. Sometimes someone does. Often nobody does.

Ask. Apply. Build. Write. Call. Introduce yourself.

Start the company. Learn the skill. Send the proposal. Take the meeting. Risk hearing no. Every no is one step closer to maybe yes. Chance favors the prepared mind.

Every meaningful career contains doors that never would have opened if someone had not first knocked on them.

G-d Helps Those Who Help Themselves

There is wisdom in the familiar expression:

G-d helps those who help themselves.

Faith is not passivity. Prayer does not require paralysis.

You can believe deeply that there is a greater plan while also recognizing that you were given hands, legs, a brain, judgment, curiosity, courage, and free will for a reason.

Maybe the opportunity G-d sends you is not a roasted duck flying through the window. Maybe it is the idea that entered your head this morning. The person you happened to meet yesterday. The symptom you finally noticed.

The second chance you were given. The phone number sitting on your desk. The opportunity you are afraid to pursue. The door may appear.

You still have to open it.

Nobody Is Coming to Live Your Life for You

This may be the most important point.

Nobody else can exercise for you. Nobody else can repair your marriage for you. Nobody else can pursue your dream for you. Nobody else can tell the people you love what they mean to you. Nobody else can decide that today is the day you stop tolerating something in your life that desperately needs to change.

Advice is everywhere. Information is everywhere. Excuses are everywhere.

What remains scarce is action.

So take control of the things that only you can control.

Get healthier. Make the call. Have the conversation. Ask the question. Get the second opinion. Change the job. Start the business. Take the trip.

Tell someone you love them.

Fix what can still be fixed.

And stop waiting for perfect circumstances, because they almost never arrive.

Life is moving whether you move with it or not.

The chair is comfortable. You can sit there as long as you want.

But the roasted duck is not coming.

Get up. Life is waiting for you.

Want smaller testicles?
Kiss sex goodbye?
Never have kids?
Risk prostate cancer?

Then just treat the symptom, miss the disease, and suffer the consequences.

Sure, go ahead and let an online clinic diagnose you with a questionnaire, a credit card, and a shipping label.

Erection problem? Sildenafil.
Want it to last longer? Tadalafil.
Hair thinning? Finasteride.
Feeling tired? Testosterone.
“Low T”? Clomiphene.

Some of these drugs can be excellent medicines for the right man.

But a prescription is not a diagnosis. Extra testosterone can suppress your own testosterone and sperm production. Badly.
Finasteride can cause permanent sexual side effects. No erections ever again.
ED drugs can improve an erection while doing nothing to explain why the problem started, in which case they will progressively stop working as the underlying problem worsens.

And clomiphene is not some harmless “T booster.” First, it’s not FDA approved. Second, It changes hormonal signaling and should be used for a clear reason under proper medical oversight. That’s not an online pill pusher.

Sometimes the cause is hormonal.
Sometimes it is vascular disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, medication effects, obesity, poor sleep, stress, depression, relationship problems, porn, or something else entirely.

Therefore, the real question you should be asking is not: “What pill fixes this?”

It is:
“Why isn’t this working and what’s the safest solution?”

That is why physicians built Medome Men for the 1 out of 2 men suffering needlessly.

Not to start with a profitable pill; rather, to start with putting you first and figuring out together what’s best for you. No pills sold.

Medome. Confidential. HIPAA protected. HSA/FSA eligible.

Treating a symptom is easy. Finding the cause is smart.

And one last question: Are you going to figure out what is changing now or wait until you try to explain to your partner what’s wrong?

https://medomemen.com

I have spent years studying clinical AI, reviewing the literature, building diagnostic systems, and comparing machine reasoning with physician reasoning.

My conclusion is clear:

AI is already better than doctors at important parts of diagnosis.

Not every AI. Not every doctor. Not every task.

But on defined diagnostic problems, the best systems can already outperform physicians by considering more possibilities, processing far more medical knowledge, avoiding fatigue, and systematically challenging their own conclusions.

That changes the supervision question.

Healthcare keeps assuming that because AI is practicing medicine, a doctor must supervise it.

That is the wrong assumption.

The primary job of supervising autonomous AI is not practicing medicine.

It is supervising AI.

Did the model drift?

Did retrieval fail?

Was critical data missing?

Did it hallucinate?

Did it close too early?

Was uncertainty handled correctly?

Did it escalate when it should have?

Those are AI-system questions.

Most physicians are not trained to answer them.

An MD is a credential in medicine.

It is not a credential in artificial intelligence.

The people supervising autonomous clinical AI should be trained primarily in AI, with enough medical knowledge to understand clinical reasoning, risk, terminology, escalation, and patient safety.

That is a new profession.

There is another reason this matters: accountability.

Medical malpractice generally asks whether a clinician acted negligently and fell below the applicable standard of care.

Product liability can impose a tougher form of accountability. In some circumstances, a defective product can create liability even without proving that a particular human acted negligently.

That is a fundamentally different mindset.

A machine should not get tired, become distracted, forget a rare disease, or have a bad day. If a clinical AI fails because it was defectively designed, inadequately tested, poorly monitored, or unsafe in foreseeable use, the focus should be on the system itself.

That is exactly how we should think about autonomous medical AI: engineer it, test it, monitor it, and hold it accountable as a system.

Doctors should remain where doctors add the most value: examination, procedures, complex bedside judgment, communication, empathy, and difficult human decisions.

But requiring a physician to approve every AI decision simply because the AI is medical makes no sense.

If the AI is more accurate on a defined task, inserting a less accurate human back into the loop can add cost, delay, and error.

Human oversight is essential.

Physician oversight is not automatically the right form of human oversight.

The question is not:

How do we keep doctors in control of AI?

The question is:

What system produces the safest, most accurate, most accountable care?

If that system is AI supervised by people trained specifically to understand AI, professional tradition should not stand in the way.

Medicine has always claimed to follow the evidence.

It should do so even when the evidence changes who is in charge.

Put the patient ahead of the profession.