Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, and we all have sorrow. But if we are wise, we know that there’s always a tomorrow. Lean on me when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend; I’ll help you carry on, for it won’t…
Category: Conditions
Breast cancer surgery: Liking my doctor mitigates the feeling of violation
On waking up from anesthesia-induced unconsciousness, I was dressed in an unfamiliar pink surgical bra with multiple Velcro straps. As if I were a doll, someone had clothed my limp body without my knowledge, and I had no idea who. Even then, I had a va…
The urgent need for widespread CPR and AED access
Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills safety, collapsed on the field during the Monday Night NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals with nearly six minutes left in the first quarter. The incident rattled sports fans and left everyone emotionally distraught. The…
The dangerous language of “crazy”: How stigma and judgment affect patient care
“He’s batshit crazy,” fellow physician Karen eagerly confides while describing another colleague, Kevin, in a private office conversation. I laugh, assuming intended hyperbole. “No. Really. He is,” Karen says. “He…
The reality of CPR: a powerful tool with serious consequences
The shocking scene that unfolded during the Bills-Bengals game Monday evening was a play that I’ve seen countless times on a very different stage. Yet as a hospital physician, watching Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest was unexpectedly…
The worst illness this physician ever had
An excerpt from Fifty Years a Doctor: The Journey of Sickness and Health, Four Plagues and the Pandemic. Our favorite internist and chairman of the internal medicine department was lecturing us on sensitivity to patients’ suffering when they have…
Maternalism: a better approach to psychiatric care
Patient autonomy, one of the pillars of medical ethics, now shines brightest of the four pillars in modern medicine. While medical ethics was meant to take beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy in equal consideration, the balance is now of…
Clinicians serving under-resourced populations should seize opportunity for free lifestyle medicine education
As a pediatrician serving under-resourced families in Washington, D.C., I was glad to see health leaders converge for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Solutions to food insecurity and diet-related diseases are urgently neede…
The emotional side of CPR: Reflecting on the challenges of resuscitation in the wake of Damar Hamlin’s collapse
First, I want to extend my thoughts, wishes, and prayers to Damar Hamlin, his family, and his teammates. Seeing his collapse on television stirred many emotions in me; I can’t imagine what those who were on the field or in the stadium experienced…
My journey parenting with chronic depression as a physician mom
I remember feeling like I was on an island, and any time I separated from her and put her down, I frantically looked around for her, daydreaming she was lost at sea. When I was pregnant, everything was contained and controlled. Her womb gymnastics, eve…
