“I don’t know if I can keep doing this” “I can’t see a way out.” “I feel stuck – trapped.” What is it like? That feeling of being exhausted, stuck, not feeling like there is a way out. I think of it as running a marathon where you can’t stop. Y…
Category: Conditions
Clearing the air our kids share: a prescription for healthy schools
As a pulmonary and critical care doctor and the mother of three children too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, life has been harrowing. At the beginning of the summer, however, I was beginning to breathe a sigh of relief. My children had been in sch…
Advocacy for better transgender health care
“I feel like I have to educate my doctors about my gender identity and transgender health-related needs, including insurance coverage,” my transgender male patient, V, told me on interview. A series of interviews with V for a community outreach project…
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Charles Darwin have a COVID conversation
By now, many of you would have read my article, “Who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to them anyway.” So, let me tell you another fiction story. But, first, I need to give you some background to this story. Many of you would…
A perspective on comorbidities and severity of illness in children with COVID-19
“Children don’t get as sick with COVID-19” and “only children with comorbidities get very sick from COVID-19” are two statements that have concerned me during the pandemic. They have been used as statements to support loosening COVID-19 prevention mea…
One can’t always assume congratulations are in order
“Congratulations on losing that much weight! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up,” my attending says as she bobs her head vigorously in approval, then turning back to the EMR computer to type up some notes. And all I could see was the p…
If I already had COVID, do I need the vaccine?
I used to think, “I had COVID. I don’t need a vaccine… not for now at least, and maybe not ever.” November 2020: I was a few hours into my 12-hour shift in the emergency department. I had been treating COVID at every shift for about 1…
The COVID killing fields
I go to the hospital cafeteria to unwind from this night — another unpredictable one with irrational patients that randomly attempt to assault the staff. This time, they missed. Behavioral health. Land of the psychotics and schizophrenics. But an incre…
Why now is the time to get patients back to in-person routine care
As the next wave of the pandemic unfolds, the rise in cases is once again straining health care systems. But that’s not the only reason hospitals and health systems could experience an influx of emergency or critical care visits. Findings from the Nati…
We hold the power to safeguard our children: an physician’s plea
As a primary care physician on the front line, I have witnessed tremendous disability and death due to COVID. I have grieved with mourning family members and spouses – watching their lives be uprooted due to a preventable infection. I have counseled wo…
