Author's posts
The power of names: Superstition in the neonatal intensive care unit
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir. We work in high-pressure environments, where Dr. Death is often lurking. We can be superstitious. We can protect ourselves with a sense of humor. We can use words as a smokescreen to protect ou…
How a doctor’s clever approach restored a life—and a marriage
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir. Doctoring in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, I met Mrs. Snoop, a new patient at the clinic. She is 38 years old. Her chief complaint, according to her husband, is “not wanting to have …
A doctor’s life-saving instinct reveals the hidden danger in a patient’s crisis
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir. There are patients you can help. You can see them through a crisis, give them a magic medicine that makes everything better. There are others where there is little you can do. Their distress is…
