Category: Infectious disease

COVID-19: Time is the one thing we can never get back

When I look at his big blue-gray eyes, I see fear, sadness, resignation, and what only I can recognize as an attempt to reassure me. I can faintly make out small areas of moisture at the corners of his crinkled eyes, while I see him struggling for both…

I am an ER doctor on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight but I am counting my blessings

What a time to be alive. What a time to be a new emergency room doctor. Ten months into a hopefully long career and already facing the healthcare battle of my life. I’m in my early 30s. Not exactly the highest risk age group when it comes to the novel …

The front lines become the football field during Ramadan

I had been waiting for a FaceTime call back for a few weeks now, excited to share with my friend that I had decided which specialty I would pursue. It was when COVID-19 cast the darkness over New York City that I knew he would no longer be interested i…

I am a physician, and I am scared

I am a physician, and I am scared. I am scared for my patients, my friends, my family, and most of all, I am scared for my colleagues. As an oncologist, I am not someone yet on the frontlines treating patients acutely diagnosed with COVID-19, although …

When should we start having a discussion about palliative and end of life care?

Many of us are learning and refreshing our knowledge of critical care and vent management, but how about acknowledging that one of the most meaningful aspects of the art of medicine is simply to bear witness to, and ease the suffering of our fellow hum…

An emergency physician fighting on the frontline

Who saw this coming? The invisible invader from realms unknown, Marching through continents, Ravaging lives and souls. With its intangible touch, it composes, An orchestra of frenzy and fear, With notes of anger and ignorance, Conspiracy theories comme…

The absolute fear and loneliness of COVID-19 patients in the ICU

I am sure this comes as a surprise to no one, but taking care of hospitalized COVID-19 patients outside of the intensive care unit (ICU) is really emotionally draining. The absolute fear and loneliness in their voices pierce into you. They keep asking …

Choose not what’s easy, but what is right

“Dark times lie ahead of us, and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.” – Albus Dumbledore After Voldemort’s return in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, the students of Hogwarts are faced with much fe…

The role of cardiac electrophysiologists in the coronavirus pandemic

Cardiac electrophysiologists (EPs) – like many other medical and surgical subspecialists in New York City – are volunteering and being reassigned to care for ill patients with coronavirus (COVID-19), their cath lab skills put to rest for the time being…

COVID-19: Social distancing is our responsibility. Vaccines are too.

Our country is facing a national health crisis on a scale that has never been seen before in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 pandemic is unchartered territory—a new strain of an old virus that has so far claimed more than 1,000 lives. Right now, we are all…