Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Good News

After heart disease cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the US. There was very good news that came out today that revealed that death rates from cancer have been dropping by an average of 2.1 percent a year recently, a near doubling of decreases that began in 1993 when they began decreasing by an average of 1.1 percent a year.

The biggest drop belongs to the number of colorectal cancer deaths which is still the number 2 killer after lung cancer. This is personally gratifying because I started screening aggressively for colon cancer in 1996. I have also been nagging my patients to quit smoking and for my female patients to get their mammograms.

There is still a lot of work left. Patients who get a screening colonoscopy remain the minority. The challenge is how to convince these patients that the procedure is painless, private and rapid.

This entry will be brief because I am going back to work.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dr. Bautista,

On your recent blogs it appears that you are back in the U.S. practicing Gastroenterology. This is after the fact that you ran for senate in our country the Philippines. I have to ask how are you able to do it?
You are either an American Citizen, a Filipino Citizen, Immigrant or Dual Citizenship. If you are currently a:

1) American Citizen: Hence you are able to practice in the U.S. However, did you not sign a form relinquishing your Citizenship when you ran for Senate? If you did, You are in breech of that form in the Philippines. Also, by U.S. law , while being a citizen of the U.S. you are NOT allowed to participate in another country politics (evidence of running for office) and therefore grounds for removal of your citizenship.

2) Filipino Citizen - then you should not be allowed to practice in the U.S. this is also against the U.S. laws.

3) Immigrant - same as number one.

4) Dual Citizen -U.S. and/or Philippine Law does not grant you to be part of Philippine politics. Same scenario as number one since the U.S. will not allow its citizen to be part of another country's politics (even just by running for senate - does not have to win).

Please answer the above. I will then forward your response to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as well as the Philippine consulate.

Anonymous said...

He can practice with a temporary worker's visa or a permenant resident's status, neither of which require him to relenquish his citizenship to the Philippines. That tidbit of information required about 45 seconds of research on the internet...Get real.

Anonymous said...

In addition, an H1B (medical worker visa) or an O visa (person with advanced degree) would allow him to work in the U.S. while maintaining his Philippine citizenship.

Anonymous said...

In addition, contrary to what other people believe in the Philippines, a permanent residency (green card) does not give you much rights except to live and work in the US. The United States will still treat you like a citizen of the country of origin (whatever your passport is). They will not allow you even to give donations to political candidates, vote, or run for office in the US.