Category: Conditions

What are the limitations of COVID-19 testing?

COVID-19, first identified in December 2019 and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has taken a toll on everyone around the world. After months of varying levels of lockdown and quarantine, people are developing pandemic fatigue, and craving huma…

Uninsured and undocumented: a resident perspective

A middle-aged man lies on a gurney. Anxious. Work boots. Blue jeans.  Stained white shirt. Rough hands. “Hi! I’m your doctor. What brings you to the emergency room?” The patient looks at me, puzzled. He’s Spanish speaking. It’s the mi…

COVID-19 will kill 500,000 Americans. Here’s why.

Among the questions I’m asked most often as host of the podcast Coronavirus: The Truth are: “How have other nations effectively contained the pandemic?” and “Why can’t the United States copy their success?” For months, health experts have answered thes…

COVID-19 anosmia: Unmasking a new dark “twist”

A 4-day-old term, formula-fed male infant with an uncomplicated prenatal course and no ABO set up or other identified cause of excessive jaundice was admitted to the hospital for phototherapy treatment of hyperbilirubinemia with a peak bilirubin of 19….

Help the public understand what more can be done to support loved ones affected by a serious illness

“Is ere anything more we could have done?” I am not the first person to ask this question, and I will not be the last. This past week I learned that an ex-boyfriend from my graduate school years, who had moved overseas in 2016 and disappeared off the g…

Despite struggles with my own mental health, I’d never exchange them for an ordinary existence.

What are you doing to take care of your mental health on World Mental Health Day? Tell me, is something eluding you, sunshine? Today, I’m listening to Pink Floyd for 2 reasons: 1. This morning, I did a 10-minute yoga flow with Denis Morton, who played …

Research in the midst of a pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists, physicians, and public health epidemiologists have come together, and there has been a surge in research worldwide. Basic science research has been leading the way in developing vaccines and genome sequencing t…

A hospitalist’s COVID reflection

Amidst the height of the COVID pandemic in New York City, I turned to Netflix to find morsels of yesterday, which seemed so distant then. During this time, I discovered Mindy Kaling’s creation, Never Have I Ever. The show tries to tell the story of a p…

Thank a health care worker. Get a flu shot.

I evaluated the patient in one of our designated exam rooms for persons under investigation (PUIs) for COVID-19, fully doffed in personal protective equipment (PPE): an uncomfortable, resonant face shield over my surgical mask, looking like Big Bird in…

Can we separate Donald Trump, the patient, from Donald Trump, the politician?

When the president of the United States contracts a dangerous disease, the story is big news. When the same disease has taken the lives of 200,000 people and the same president has been under fire for grossly mishandling the response, the tale takes on…