Author's posts
In the emergency department: Patients ravaged by mental illness
The emergency department is fast-paced. Full of chaos. Incredible suffering. Frustration. Disappointment. Screams, tears, smiles. Reassurance. Good news. Bad news. Diagnoses. Failure to find a diagnosis. Getting a last-minute cardiac arrest coming in a…
Jealousy and missed opportunities in medicine
“Julie” began the telehealth encounter in her car, greeting me with a cheerful smile. The sun glimmered through the driver-side window, illuminating the water spots to sparkle like diamonds. “How are you doing with your suboxone dose? Do you feel that …
Instead of comparing, let’s nurture the next generation of physicians
Years and years ago, everyone always walked up a mountain of snow and ice barefoot while dragging a carriage behind them to get to school, and their stethoscopes were made of bamboo. They were hard, hard times, and it was a time-honored tradition to he…
A physician’s story of sexual harassment
Like many surgical specialties, the one I was aspiring to is a male-dominated field. As such, all my colleagues were male, and I often felt as though I was trying to be a part of a boy’s club. I shed my intrinsic femininity and instead equipped myself …
Critical care physicians have been through hell
It was a cold winter morning in January 2021. Another day in the ICU, another day caring for critically ill patients with complex medical conditions, another day caring for patients on their death beds, another day interacting with patients’ families a…
This looks a lot different from the trenches: from consulting to the COVID ward
As a young and optimistic business school graduate, I recall when the consulting firm I worked for was retained to evaluate “USA Hospital and Medical Clinics” (pseudonym). “USA” had grown quickly and was struggling to manage the recent expansion. We in…
The dangers of selective empathy
I go to medical school with a girl who is universally disliked, perhaps more than anyone I’ve met before. It began innocuously enough: She was too active in the group chat, too pushy about ordering class jackets, this and that. In lecture, she barked o…
Should playing football require informed consent?
I’m of Irish heritage and we love to tell stories. This story feels like it needs to be shouted from the rooftops. I grew up in Texas, where football is king. Here’s my story so parents can make a more fully “informed consent” when deciding if their ch…
Residents are not disposible. They deserve better.
I was a fellow physician in neonatology, and my contract was recently not renewed for my three-year fellowship at the end of the first year. My experience highlights the examples that, at times, physicians are treated in a disposable manner. COVID-19 i…
This physician was suicidal. Her partners told her to shut up.
To say that I grieved in the months following the unexpected death of my husband is an understatement. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. Thirty pounds evaporated from my 5’ 4”, 130-pound frame. Incessant crying left me dehydrated with cracked, bloody l…
