Category: COVID-19 / coronavirus

Could a pause in screenings increase missed cancer diagnoses?

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. in 2020, most hospitals and physician’s offices paused elective and preventive care services to focus on treating large numbers of COVID patients, preserving medical supplies and bed space in hospitals, and …

The unvaccinated are not difficult patients

We’re getting into trouble. With headlines like “Why I am angry” and “Burnout rates at an all-time high,” physicians need to take a moment and breath. Unvaccinated people are presenting as very difficult patients that physicians dread. In his landmark …

Who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to them anyway. [PODCAST]

“I am a proud science-trained medical doctor and concerned mother. I am not going to remain silent when the biggest tragedies are yet to hit earth yet. Like seriously, I do not want to become like the dinosaurs. History wasn’t too kind to them. J…

COVID-19 vaccines: the state of the art

Effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines appeared in record time, with 68% of Italians, 60% of Americans, and 32% of all human beings already having at least one dose. Most of the 138 candidates quit by Phase 2; the German mRNA vaccine CureVac went through an ent…

Dying after leaving against medical advice [PODCAST]

“This is where we are: Hospitalizations rising, new variants that are more infectious, and many people believing that this is all a hoax, or that millions of people have conspired together to make injections that harm people rather than helping t…

Giving ourselves grace as physicians

“We must give others the dignity of their own path.” – Judith Orloff, MD As the Delta variant surges, few words can underscore what we as a physician community are grappling with. We struggle to make sense of humanity around us. As physicians, we trust…

As we wait for the joy to return to medicine

We liked science and wanted to help people. “I’ll help people,” we said, “I’ll be a doctor. I’ll do no harm and try my best.” We studied and studied and were terrified on our first months on the wards. Finally,…

How do we explain the unexplainable? Are there words for the things we’ve experienced?

I’m usually good with words. The last year and a half of being a “front line nurse” has left me struggling to find the words. The frustration, anger, trauma, and sadness have so muddied my mind that I find it hard to sort through all of the complexitie…

Is it a badge of honor to refuse the vaccine but choose to die?

You know that if you don’t get vaccinated and you don’t wear a mask, you potentially will die. You go to super spreader events, big groups at beaches, football games, baseball games … loads of people laughing and clapping, and shoulder to shoulder. You…

The end, through the eyes of a critical care nurse

On the day you die from COVID, many things will happen. A colleague and I will enter the room to carefully prepare and clean your body. We will shut off all the IV pumps. We will turn off the ventilator. We will silence and turn off the monitor that is…