Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Toby Terwilliger
Georgia faces a dire physician shortage in the near future if we don’t act
Why medicine? Like many current or future physicians, we spend countless hours considering our “why.” For most of us, a deep commitment to service, a curiosity for the unknown or unsolved and a knack for understanding human biology underpin our calling to medicine.
Why we need closure, and why we may not
A friend once asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. Not externally. Internally. I am a highly verbal person inwardly, and while the conversation continued around me, another one had already begun in my head. Earlier that day I had been cataloging the various grievances I believed had been inflicted upon me by another person I had once counted as a friend. After listening patiently for some time, my friend asked: “Why exactly do you need closure?” At first, the answer seemed self-evident.
A poem for everyone fighting the health care system
The steel cage door slams shut. Its metallic echo reverberates through the arena, a warning bell for a contest already decided by those selling tickets. Under the harsh lights stands the patient. Thin, weary, clutching a stack of medical records instead of weapons. Across the cage wait towering opponents. Corporate health systems, their muscles swollen with profits and policies. Government regulations, thick rulebooks wrapped around their fists.
The physician who refused to follow the crowd
I grew up as the son of a dead Air Force officer who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. In Boston in the 1970s, that lineage didn’t shield me. It marked me. I walked around with a crewcut, government-issued BCG glasses (“birth-control glasses,” as every military kid knew), and a stubborn refusal to follow the crowd. That was enough to get me spat on more than once. Those moments didn’t make me bitter. They made me strong.
Kentucky’s abortion ban has no rape and incest exceptions
In 2019, Kentucky lawmakers passed the Human Life Protection Act (2019 HB 148), a law designed to take effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned. On June 24, 2022, following the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that law went into effect, banning abortion in nearly all circumstances. Today, the only exception permitted is for serious medical risk to the pregnant patient. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. Since then, Kentucky has revisited aspects of this law.
Physician moral injury, not burnout, is the real wound
“Have you seen The Pitt?” This question has become commonplace; patients want to know if it is realistic, colleagues want to compare reactions, and many of us find ourselves dissecting the commentary on an imperfect health care system captured in weekly, one-hour installments that mirror physicians’ everyday reality. The show does many things well: It is medically accurate, faithfully depicts interdisciplinary teamwork, and reveals the humanity and vulnerability of health care workers.
Why doctors hide their own depression until it nearly breaks them [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! For 23 years, an emergency physician stayed calm in the chaos and held the line. Then one night he sat in the hospital parking lot, unable to start his car and drive home. In this episode, Kenneth Scott Burnham shares how depression crept up on him gradually, how his clinical training gave him the tools to deny it for years, and what he learned once he was the patient instead of the doctor.
Medicare for All is the solution Georgians deserve
During the recently concluded legislative session, one of the most consequential bills in a generation was dropped in the Georgia House of Representatives: the Georgia Medicare for All bill (House Bill 1480). The legislation, had it passed, would lower costs for working families, protect bodily autonomy, reduce administrative waste and stabilize dozens of rural hospitals that are now on the brink.
Proactive monitoring can prevent emergencies by catching heart signals early [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Health care executive Chris Darland discusses their article “Why remote patient monitoring needs a preventive shift.” Chris explains that remote patient monitoring is currently too reactive, functioning as a safety net that tracks problems rather than preventing them.
AI could end the administrative nightmare for doctors [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Internal medicine physician Shiv K. Goel discusses his article “Claude for Healthcare vs. administrative burden: a physician’s review.” Shiv contrasts the two hours he spent fighting a prior authorization with the promise of Anthropic’s new “Claude for Healthcare,” an AI system designed to handle claims and verify coverage in minutes.
Why doctors ignore their own advice on hydration and health
“I’m surprised I haven’t had a kidney stone.” It’s a running joke among my co-residents, when it’s 3 o’clock in the morning, with over 20 patients in the waiting room, and nobody can remember the last time they had water. Most days, my fluid intake is limited to the sips needed to swallow my antidepressants (to quote my parents, “you can’t just take them whenever you feel sad,” and “it’s not ibuprofen”). During a shift, I’m too busy in a perpetual state of fight-or-flight to think about hydration.
Artificial intelligence demands that doctors become architects of digital health [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Family physician Tod Stillson discusses his article “Why AI in medicine elevates humanity instead of replacing it.” Tod explains how his career evolution revealed that artificial intelligence is not a threat to the medical profession but a necessary tool for reshaping care delivery.
Why young people need to care about bone health now
We all know high blood pressure and cholesterol can kill, but what about low bone mineral density? Bones are composed of calcium and phosphate, which is their mineral content. Bones low in calcium are said to have low bone mineral density, which can result in a condition known as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis develops over a lifetime and is impacted by your peak bone mass as a youth.
Is it time for the VA to embrace virtual care?
Is it time for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to fully embrace virtual care? The VA has long been one of America’s great health care innovators. From pioneering electronic health records to building one of the first truly integrated care systems, the VA has often been decades ahead of the private sector. But today, the system is straining. Nearly , and 79 percent lack enough nursing staff.
Can flu shots prevent heart attacks?
As an internist and lipidologist, I’ve spent decades parsing data on statins, ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, and the endless parade of “LDL-lowering breakthroughs.” Yet the most potent, and perhaps the most underappreciated, intervention to prevent heart attacks each winter doesn’t come from a cardiology journal or a pharmaceutical rep. It comes from your local pharmacy fridge.
Small habits, big impact on health
As an internal medicine physician practicing in Southaven for more than eight years, I’ve learned one simple truth: Prevention is often more powerful than treatment. Every week, I see patients who wish they had come in sooner, before diabetes, hypertension, or heart disease quietly took hold. These conditions rarely appear overnight; they build over years of small imbalances in diet, stress, and lifestyle.
Why doctors are losing the health care culture war
The interview ends. The line goes dead. A senior CDC official has resigned, not because the science changed, but because the room did. Within forty-eight hours, CDC Director Monarez is fired by tweet, three senior leaders walk out, and a deputy from HHS (Jim O’Neill, a Silicon Valley investor turned political enforcer) is slotted in as acting CDC chief. The headlines say turmoil. That is the polite word for capture.
Tofacitinib: a lesson in heart-immune health
When the FDA put a black box warning on tofacitinib in 2021, the message was blunt: more heart attacks, more cancers, and more blood clots. The warning came from the ORAL Surveillance trial, which followed over 4,000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis already at high cardiovascular risk. Compared to TNF blockers, patients on tofacitinib had: Heart attacks and strokes: About one extra event for every 111 patients treated over four years. Cancers: About one extra case for every 83 patients treated.
Treating the economy like a crashing patient
We all know the look of a patient about to crash. The monitor has not flatlined yet, but the story is already in the vitals: The pulse is racing, the pressure is dropping, the skin is clammy. That is the U.S. economy right now. Debt overload looks like a chronic hemorrhage. High interest rates are a sustained hypertensive crisis. Political paralysis is the family arguing in the hallway while the patient deteriorates. All we are missing is the shock that tips the system over the edge.
The crisis of antisemitism in our hospitals
On October 7, 2023, more than 1,200 people were murdered in a single day in the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel, and over 250 individuals were taken hostage. This was the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust. For many Jewish health care workers, it marked a devastating shift: Our hospitals and clinics were no longer safe, not because of external conflict, but simply because we are Jewish.
A lawyer's guide to physician side gigs
Remember the “before times” pre-pandemic, when most doctors had a single job that they went to every day, saw patients, did surgeries, took call for the same employer or practice? Then in March 2020, the unthinkable happened. There was a worldwide shutdown of almost everything, including physicians’ offices, except for emergency rooms, ICUs, and other essential health care functions.
How physician burnout and system reform are shaping the future of U.S. health care
As a young pediatric anesthesia attending, I would often roll my eyes at resident trainees who prioritized their personal needs and required mental health days. I may have even looked down upon them as lazy, weak, and lacking grit. I prided myself on my work ethic, sacrificing time with my two children and aging parents for the sake of my patients. Medicine is a calling, not just a job, I would repeatedly tell myself. The stark reality is that physicians are leaving the workforce in droves.
Why doctors must fight for a just health care system
“We do not have the money! You took it all!” Startled, I moved the phone away from my ear to dampen the screaming voice on the other end. I had just explained to my patient’s son that his 95-year-old mother could walk again; she just needed surgery to repair her hip fracture. This was good news, or so I thought. His mother had insurance, “good” insurance, and needed a fairly routine procedure. So why was he furious?
Why real growth in psychotherapy takes time, courage, and teamwork
What is the purpose of psychotherapy? What are the goals? Psychotherapy is a talking process between a patient and a psychotherapist that involves looking at feelings, behaviors, impulses, and thoughts through a process of self-reflection. The purpose of psychotherapy is to explore life patterns and to learn what works and what gets in the way of feeling successful and fulfilled. The goals are to reach one’s fullest potential.
A female doctor’s day: exhaustion, sacrifice, and a single moment of joy Original
When I was unemployed, I applied for countless positions. For months, I have been waiting for a call letter regarding a test or an interview. Now that I have accepted a job at a hospital located far away, I receive call letters in the mail almost every day. This makes me uncomfortable because I know that, being new in my position, I cannot take time off for any test or an interview. As a result, I continue to filter out these options.
How Donald Trump can fix American health care
America is more polarized today than it has been at nearly any point in its history. Again, President Donald Trump has capitalized on this division to rise to the most powerful office in the land. As he enters his final term in office, he has a historic opportunity to bridge this divide and heal our fractured nation. Though we remain deeply divided on most political matters, there is one issue that most Americans agree upon: the U.S. health care system is broken.
Full Medicaid expansion needed to retain Georgia's physicians
Georgia was ranked 5th worst place to practice in a recent Medscape article (“Best and Worst Places to Practice 2024”), using five criteria: physician compensation, cost of living, malpractice premiums, the health of the state’s residents, and physician burnout levels. As current and future physicians and health advocates, this column will add context by detailing our experiences practicing in Georgia. The article identified challenges that Georgia physicians encounter.
How the time-honored tradition of a baseball catch became a "test" for a brain injury
I find myself becoming more passionate with age, swept into a sea of emotions during certain movie scenes, and even crying during my favorite rock songs as the lyrics and melody crescendo and become one. The brain’s ability to adapt and change over time, known as neuroplasticity, means that our emotional responses can evolve based on the kinds of experiences and stimuli we are exposed to over the years.
The first time I walked again after a spinal cord injury
Once upon a time, I’d imagined myself the Lone Ranger physician, self-sufficient and incapable of weakness, and when I had my spinal cord injury in 2008, I really felt alone, in the negative spiral of a victim mindset, my own worst enemy and in a dark space where my idea of myself felt entirely lost. Then one day, in December 2009, I heard about a center for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery in San Diego, United States.
Is a full-time job preventing you from fulfilling your potential?
A little over a year ago, unforeseen circumstances led me to walk away from the security of a full-time job and all the benefits that came with it such as employer-based health insurance and retirement contributions. At the time, I had applied for another position without even realizing that I would be leaving my job. The position seemed to be an ideal next step, being a senior leadership position in academic medicine and would not have involved moving to another location.
It’s time to evolve how we measure the success of EHRs to make us healthier
We’ve known for the last decade that electronic health records (EHRs) have a significant impact on physicians’ ability to deliver high-value care. It not only has a largely negative influence on their quality of life, which bleeds over into the entire health care landscape, but also impacts their ability to successfully adapt practices to evolving payment models intended to improve patient health outcomes — especially important for primary care.
Opinion: Ga.’s limited Medicaid ‘pathway’ costs more, covers less
Hector visits the emergency room every month when he runs out of insulin. Like 1.4 million Georgians, Hector falls into the “coverage gap,” meaning he does not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford the subsidized insurance offered on the healthcare exchanges. This is despite working multiple jobs – employment that puts food on the table but does not provide health insurance or guarantee reliable hours.
Opinion: Maintaining Medicaid makes Georgia healthier
Sally became a mom and it nearly cost her her life. In early 2020, a full 4 weeks prior to her due date, Sally was hospitalized with leg swelling and difficulty breathing, telltale signs that her heart -- her baby’s vital source of oxygen --was failing. With little time to spare, her obstetrician took her for an emergency C-section. Miraculously, Sally and her baby survived, but both would spend several tumultuous nights in intensive care.
A medical trainee's experience with mental health
In May 2018, I stood in disbelief as I learned that two of my colleagues took their own lives in a single week. I had only recently come to accept my own struggle with mental illness, and I understood how isolating the battle could be. I grieved for them, for their families. But I also wondered at how a culture of concealing mental health disorders among medical trainees may have contributed to their suffering.
Is now the time for single payer?
With the news that nearly $6 million Americans have lost their employer-sponsored health due to COVID, it is finally time to ask ourselves: is the “American Model” of health care working? The “American Model” is a system of fragmentation: one in which changing jobs can mean lapses in insurance, moving to a new state can mean losing Medicaid eligibility, and getting a raise can mean financial ruin when you no longer qualify for subsidies.
A physician wedding in the age of COVID
April 2020 was to be a month of personal milestones. I would be traveling to Mexico with sixty closest friends and family to marry the woman of my dreams. Twelve days later, I would celebrate my thirtieth birthday. Suffice it to say, I was looking forward to April with the excited anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve. But that was before COVID. Before all eyes were focused on the novel virus that was devastating the Hubei Province in China.
Democrats can't afford to spurn Medicare for all: A doctor’s plea for single payer
OPINION Toby Terwilliger, Guest Columnist Published 12:51 p.m. ET Jan. 2, 2020 Toby Terwilliger (Photo: Provided) In 2019, post-Obamacare America, there are more than 60 million Americans who are living without or with inadequate health insurance. Each year, 45,000 of them die preventable deaths. Two-thirds of all bankruptcies (or half-a-million a year) are the result of out-of-control health care costs.
We are suffering the grave consequences of a single survey question
“You’re nothing but a punk ass kid. And you’ll die a punk ass kid!” With that, she stormed out of the exam room, leaving me sitting on a stool, slamming the door behind her. Apparently she walked straight up to the front desk and asked to file a complaint about me, but left prior to receiving the paperwork. Most all physicians will immediately know what the interaction involved. I hadn’t been mean to her. I hadn’t called her any names. I hadn’t even raised my voice.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Toby
Contact Toby, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack