Opinions

Week nine of 2024 legislative session


Hello neighbors, relatives, and friends alike.  Reporting from the Capitol on my last week in Pierre of the 99th legislative session.  We usually resort to all sorts of ways to do our work timely and according to calendar about this time of session.  I have seen us cover the clock to continue to debate and work on negotiations to make […]

Praying for Palestine


My son called me last night completely frustrated with what is happening in Palestine. It makes him crabby and he is cranky at his daughter and grandsons. That is not what he wants. I always tell him to call me and vent. My son is one of the old kind of men that feels the pain in the world, not […]

Week eight of 2024 legislative session


Hello neighbors, relatives, and friends alike.  Reporting from the Capitol on my seventh week in Pierre of the 99th legislative session.  We are deliberating over the few remaining bills left on our calendar for the session, most of which are appropriation bills.  The biggest appropriation we are debating over is SB144, a $19.5M request to use for grants to “support […]

Prairie Doc Perspective: Sexual function and aging


As husband and wife urologists, we talk a lot about sex (mainly at work). There are several issues that commonly arise in our patients that can lead to a less than satisfactory sex life. The great news is many treatment options exist. There are many factors affecting men and women as they age that can interfere with sexual relations. In […]

Week seven of 2024 legislative session


Hello, neighbors, relatives and friends alike.  Reporting from the Capitol in Pierre on my seventh week of the 99th legislative session.  We wrap up in the next two weeks. The big debate this past week was on SB201, the carbon pipeline proposed across the northeast part of the state (sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/25010/265775). I voted against it as I believe that eminent domain […]

Prairie Doc Perspective: The Nagging Cough


“I’ve got this cough that just won’t go away,” my patient says, and I know this story all too well. Chronic cough, a cough that lasts more than two months, is a common ailment which in most cases is benign. But for the patient it is both bothersome and worrisome. If your cough has lasted for less than two months […]

Week six of 2024 legislative session


Hello neighbors, relatives, and friends alike.  Reporting from the Capitol on my fifth week in Pierre of the 99th legislative session. We are coming down to the wire with the final three weeks to go in the session this year.  This means it is time for us to start sorting out programs that we want to continue to support and […]

Prairie Doc Perspective: No Man is an Island


“No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” This is the beginning of a poem from 1624. In it, the poet John Donne appreciates how humans are all connected. Indeed, humans are social beings, and social connection is a factor in our health. We all know the […]

Week five of 2024 legislative session


Hello neighbors, relatives, and friends alike.  I am reporting from the Capitol in Pierre on my fifth week of the 99th legislative session. On Tuesday of last week, I was in the Senate Education Committee trying to get free tuition for Native kids from South Dakota.  I don’t know how this one gets no support from some legislators.  We just […]

Prairie Doc Perspective: Fundamental Functions: Ear, nose, throat


I confess that occasionally even doctors get squeamish. Or perhaps more honestly, this doctor does. My personal list has gotten pretty short, but one of the things that still makes me squirm is something I nevertheless frequently recommend to my patients. So what is this mysterious and rather ominous medical recommendation? Nasal saline irrigation. The practice of rinsing the nose […]


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