Alan D. Cato M.D.

I am a, recently retired, sixty-four-year-old family physician, whose medical career chronologically spanned the decades that saw an economical and effective healthcare system, under the guidance of local-hospital boards and a proud medical profession, transform itself into today's pricey, dysfunctional, and commercialized medical industry. After retiring, I authored the book, The Medical Profession Is Dead and the Doctor Is “Critically ill!” (Oct, 2010), ISBN 978-0-557-17882-7, Available at Amazon Books.com, BarnesandNoble.com & Lulu.com

The book was born piece-meal fashion. Initially begun as a self-venting diary—kept during my thirty-four years of practice—it ultimately evolved into a passionate message for consumers and politicians that my heart needed to deliver. A major part of the book’s message is that poor quality of care and excessive costs are intimately related, and both are ubiquitous in the current healthcare system. Unfortunately, both go entirely unrecognized by consumers. The responsible culprits for this are numerous, and some of their identities are quite surprising. All of them, however, are taken on boldly, if not provocatively, in this work.

Educational and professional credentials include: B.S degree from Western Kentucky University with double major--Biology and Chemistry. While at Western Kentucky, inducted as charter member into Alpha Epsilon Delta International Premedical Honorary Society. M.D. degree from University of Louisville School of Medicine. Diplomat of National Board of Medical Examiners. Diplomat of American Board of Family Practice. Past Fellow of American Academy of Family Physicians.

I enjoy writing and commenting on quality and cost issues within the U.S. health care system—particularly the need for more primary care MDs, the waste due to self-serving case management decisions by health care providers and misuse and overuse of resources by naïve and demanding consumers.