Volume 1 Issue 1

A little small talk in the produce section illustrates the challenges of small-town doctoring.

Responding to the public's demand to seek redress for injuries, real or imagined, at the hands of physicians, the established forces of organized medicine have turned inward in an attempt to better police their members. Out of these good intentions came the QA departments, to be found now in every hospital, HMO, and clinic. Their mandate is to weigh accusations, often brought secretly; investigate, often done selectively; deliberate, often done behind closed doors; and sentence, often without chance of appeal.

Dr. Tim Harlan didn't come to medicine the traditional way. At age 22, when most of his colleagues were plunging into their first year of medical school and comparing their impressive pre-med resumes, Harlan was opening a restaurant.

Russia is the largest country in the world, almost as big in size as the United States and Canada combined. It's so wide that a train journey across it would take eight days and nights of continuous travel.