SPOILER ALERT! If you have not yet seen the fourth episode of the third season of Downton Abbey and wish to be surprised by it, read no further. And if you aren't watching PBS's addictive costume drama currently set in 1920--and, seriously, why aren't you?--read on anyway.

This is about medicine, then vs. now.

I saw 17 patients in my primary care practice yesterday. Six of them were coughing.

Welcome to Boston in January.

One of the most basic parts of my job is sorting out who's a little sick from who's very sick, or in danger of getting very sick. How do I do that when so many people have the same symptom? And, as a patient, how do you know when your own cough is worth a trip to the doctor (especially when it's cold, you feel rotten, and the waiting room is likely to be full of...coughing people)?

It's enough to make you tear out your hair--or run to the refrigerator. Just when you've made your New Year's resolution to lose weight, pulled the laundry off your treadmill, and replaced the egg nog with Crystal Light, an article comes out showing that being overweight may actually make you live longer.