Short, opinionated pieces on a range of health subjects, from Newsday's medical columnist. Colen (Karen Anne Quinlan, Born At Risk) largely skips what-to-do-till-the-doctor-comes matters in favor of wider issues-interpreting scientific studies, choosing an appropriate physician, placing medical discoveries in perspective. Among the topics--and subtopics: ""Pregnancy and Birth""--rooming-in-, bonding; ""Pediatrics""--children's shoes, if and how the Heimlich maneuver should be used on children; ""Adult Health""--the annual-physical debate, stress, colds and flu. Other groupings include: ""Diet and Fitness,"" ""Choosing a Doctor,"" ""Financing Health Care,"" ""Serious Diseases,"" and ""Ethical Issues."" Colen raises the dangers of self-help (citing the infamous case of the infant poisoned by potassium overdose when his mother followed an Adelle Davis guide) and counsels seeing a doctor first. He's against the proposal that pharmacists run clinical practices, and charge fees for giving advice and monitoring medications: ""one has to suspect that. . . the American Pharmaceutical Association wants to survey the depth of your wallet and your willingness to empty it."" He's caustic about parents who turn from proven treatment programs--in the case, for instance, of leukemia--to ""useless"" measures like Laetrile: ""are they afraid of what the treatment will do to their children, or do these parents really fear what watching the treatment will do to them?"" Little specific advice; rather, the informed (but not inarguable) views of a popular columnist.