Throughout history, entrepreneurs have faced harsh critics. From Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice through Oliver Stone’s movie Wall Street (“greed is good, greed works.” etc.) entrepreneurial efforts are cast in a dim light. To paraphrase Lifebook founder Job Butcher, though, “no other social system can compete with the free market, entrepreneurial system in terms of productivity, raising living standards, and creating prosperity … Yet, despite its overwhelming contributions, some elements of society still associate profit-making …
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July/August 2009
June 2009
A Short Course in Tort
John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP I just completed teaching a semester of Health Law and Ethics at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Over the next few months in this column, my goal is to distill te 40-hour course down to a few pages chock full of practical legal information. Lesson 1: Torts A tort is a civil wrong committed against a person or property interest for which the court …
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May 2009
Pull Up! Pull Up!
I am often asked what inspired my love of flying. Although this is the first time I have admitted it in public, I am proud to say that it all began with the movie Airplane! Dr. Rumack: You’d better tell the captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital. Elaine Dickinson: A hospital? What is it? Dr. Rumack: It’s a big building with patients, …
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April 2009
Safety First When Consummating Relationships with Vendors
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP One of my favorite Seinfeld exchanges is this prickly dialogue between George and his fiancée, Susan, regarding his disdain for (and challenge with) condoms: GEORGE: Oh, no, no … condoms are for single men. The day that we got engaged, I said goodbye to the condom forever. SUSAN: Just once … for the make-up sex. GEORGE: Make-up sex? You have to have that right after the fight, we’re way …
Read MoreBeware the BFRF!
John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Remember the scene in Ghostbusters when Gozer (the Gozarian) asks Ray Stantz if he is a “god?” Stantz, compulsively honest, says, “No.” Gozer says, “Then die,” as he tries to blow them off the roof of the building. After recovering, Peter Venkman yells at Stantz, “If someone asks if you are a god, you say YES!” The question Gozer asked Stantz was a red flag – one of those …
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