Author's posts
We are all out of ideas for how to convince you to get vaccinated
We in Southern Oregon saw how the pandemic raged in other areas of the country. We were waiting. It would hit here, eventually, we knew it. It came to our city slowly, and then we had a spike. Still, it was much milder than many other places, and we we…
Physicians who work themselves into the ground are nothing to be proud of
There were recently many news articles and coverage exalting a physician for working 250 straight days during COVID. 250 days, that’s nearly 8 1/2 months without a day off. While this physician displays dedication and caring, I don’t think we should ce…
We are losing the COVID-19 war. Here’s how we can turn the tide.
As I sit here writing this, one of my friends and colleagues is on a ventilator. He’s fighting for his life. He’s a very healthy guy who runs marathons; we even did some race training together a couple of years back. And now, he’s in critical condition…
How far are you willing to go to survive COVID-19?
As doctors, we know how this disease progresses. We know the prognosis for patients who need to be on a ventilator. We know that if we have a cardiac arrest during the course of COVID infection, our prognosis gets much grimmer. Faced with this knowledg…
Now is not the time to vilify doctors
Doctors used to be heroes. We used to be universally respected. Our opinions used to mean something. And now? Now the president of the United States goes on live TV and vilifies us. Pointing the finger, shifting the blame to us as the reason you can’t …
It’s scary as hell to be a doctor right now
I’m not gonna lie. It’s scary as hell to be a doctor right now. In Italy, which is our projected immediate future, up to 10 percent of infected people are health care workers. Health care workers are also more likely to experience severe and critical d…
I thought COVID-19 was overblown. I was wrong.
I’ll admit that a month ago, I thought COVID-19 was going to be another overblown SARS or MERS or even H1N1. I talked about it with my friends in the medical field, and we had a bit of a “been there, done that” attitude. But I was wrong, and in the tim…
I had just witnessed my first patient die
Stepping into a hospital for the first time as a clinical medical student is a strange dichotomy. There is still so much you have to learn before you will become a physician, but you are quickly thrust into life-and-death situations. One of my early ro…
