Author's posts
Could you solve this medical puzzle?
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir. Doctors like to solve puzzles. These are ideally diagnostic puzzles. The following is a story about a patient whose illness was unsolvable: the pieces of the puzzle did not fit together. No mat…
Could you solve this medical puzzle?
An excerpt from Yankee Doctor in the Bible Belt: A Memoir. Doctors like to solve puzzles. These are ideally diagnostic puzzles. The following is a story about a patient whose illness was unsolvable: the pieces of the puzzle did not fit together. No mat…
Would someone please explain to me how to reconcile different versions of reality?
I traveled to Denver to California via train in mid-October. The train is aptly named the California Zephyr. It is a 33-hour trip, across the high mountains of Colorado — with magnificent views of rocky canyons flanking the Colorado River – and …
Patients should never underestimate the self-flagellation of the physician
Patients die. This is a tragic truism in the world of medicine. Usually, the patients who die are elderly. Patients die from diabetes and kidney disease, or from alcohol abuse and liver failure, or from heavy smoking and lung disease. Or patients die f…
9/11: In memory of the blue man
I was working as a doctor in a Kentucky clinic when I first met Mr. Stroud. The year was 2013. Mr. Stroud was memorable for several reasons. The first reason? He was blue. He was a 45-year-old stocky guy, pleasant in demeanor, with blue eyes and red ha…
I was thinking about retiring, and COVID-19 gave me a push
Last March, I was working in a small primary care practice on the west side of Denver. COVID-19 came to town. On Thursday, March 12, we were told the schools would be closing. On Friday, we were told that clinic staff had to wear masks — and the …
