Author's posts
The unexpected truth behind these misdiagnosed medical cases
I worked in rural health in Kentucky for twenty years, then in urgent treatment centers in Denver. All sorts of patients pop up in primary care and in UTCs. Most have easily identified complaints: UTI, sinusitis, flu. Others are there for regular refil…
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…
