Doctors dispense medical advice. That’s what we do. Folks come to our office with various medical issues. We talk to them. We poke around some of their body parts. Then, we exercise our medical judgment. We might order a CT scan. We might prescribe stu…
During the winter months, it’s common for many families to spend more time indoors due to colder weather and fewer daylight hours. Unfortunately, children may also end up spending an increased amount of time using electronics to entertain or dive…
An excerpt from Fallible: A Memoir of a Young Physician’s Struggle with Mental Illness. Jason had an entire group of voices in his head that he called “the committee.” They talked nearly constantly, sometimes in a flat roar but often escalating t…
An excerpt from Fallible: A Memoir of a Young Physician’s Struggle with Mental Illness. Jason had an entire group of voices in his head that he called “the committee.” They talked nearly constantly, sometimes in a flat roar but often escalating t…
What seems like a tidal wave of pages washes over you. Drowning in a torrential sea of order clarification, bowel regimens, and vital sign deviations — you struggle to stay afloat. Medical school did not prepare you for this. Patients and nurses are ca…
Mr. G* was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer two years ago and has been on a succession of medications to control a progressive cancer. His PSA never nadired after surgery, and adjuvant radiation only increased his urinary problems. Androgen depr…
I’d known Ellis for years — he once hired me for a social work job. Yet when I think of Ellis Ledger, I remember him best the night I encountered him outside of his apartment building. I was out late walking my dog. Ellis stopped to talk. He clea…
When my peanut-allergic son was five, he suddenly blurted out, “Mom, don’t worry about me, if I eat a peanut by mistake and it kills me, I can just hit the redo button and get another life, like in the video game.” I became really sca…
A person rolls into an outpatient clinic. A pleasant bleach smell emanates from freshly scrubbed chairs. Happy chatter about people’s lives, and this week’s health issues are dimmed by the local radio station playing in the background. The …
The sun sets a cascade of pink and yellow in the window of an ICU room. The slow hum of ventilation dampens the buzzes and beeps from machines. I stand in a room inundated by equipment. A machine to monitor vital signs with purple, green, blue, and red…
