Category: Hospital-Based Medicine

Why some patients refuse care

Vince Hamilton has no legs. For that matter, he has lost the tips to most of his fingers as well.  It made opening soda cans almost impossible.  So when I saw him for the first time, my immediate reaction was one of sympathy. He had been admitted from …

This looks a lot different from the trenches: from consulting to the COVID ward

As a young and optimistic business school graduate, I recall when the consulting firm I worked for was retained to evaluate “USA Hospital and Medical Clinics” (pseudonym). “USA” had grown quickly and was struggling to manage the recent expansion. We in…

Why COVID is so emotional for physicians [PODCAST]

“These encounters made my evening shift much more emotional than usual. I am still not sure what it was exactly that evoked such strong feelings of sadness. Was it having a patient who was a health care worker? Was it the rapidity in which all th…

Alone in the hospital in the midst of a global pandemic

I have never felt so alone. I was lying in bed with severe abdominal pain. Pain I never had before. Well, at least not for a reason. As I lay there, I kept thinking, what if I die while I wait until morning. It was the middle of the night. I had not fe…

To be in medicine is to know grief, pain, and heartbreak in a personal way

“Grief never ends … but it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith … It is the price of love.” – Anonymous The “price of love”: We are now paying that price with the passing of Debb…

Behind the scenes of a hospital’s COVID response [PODCAST]

“In the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic, getting a flu shot has never been more important. Many people are staying indoors, wearing a mask, and washing their hands frequently. In this environment, patients ask me, “With all this social distancing, d…

The laws of The House of God and Man’s 4th Best Hospital

Forty-two years ago, when I had finally finished the seven revisions of my first novel, The House of God, my editor said, “Why don’t you add a glossary and a list of The Laws of the House of God.”  Writing the Laws, I hardly needed to refer to the text…

Does your doctor’s age matter? [PODCAST]

“If I had $100 for every time I walked into a patient’s room, introduced myself as the doctor, and was immediately asked, ‘Hey, how old are you?’ I might be able to retire right now — at the age of 28. Of course, I am exaggerating, an…

Issues faced by LGBTQ individuals in the operative setting [PODCAST]

“Studies have repeatedly demonstrated a vast majority of pain physicians don’t feel like they have adequate training in meeting the unique needs of this patient population, though most agree that such efforts are very necessary. This disconnect b…

Medical residents signed up to live in the hospital, not to die there

I saw a tweet recently from a medical resident training at another hospital that really hit home for me: “In response to a rumor that health care workers who treat COVID patients will be prioritized for vaccination in our health system, one of my co-re…