The fertility clinic waiting room is a space where many people will find themselves at some point in their lives. In spite of cheery music, shared success stories, infertility awareness weeks, and positive media campaigns, this can be a challenging and…
The fertility clinic waiting room is a space where many people will find themselves at some point in their lives. In spite of cheery music, shared success stories, infertility awareness weeks, and positive media campaigns, this can be a challenging and…
In my very first job as a doctor — working in a London hospital in the 1980s. I always took a ridiculously detailed past medical history for every patient I saw. I started to notice how many elderly women had had septicemia, a life-threatening infectio…
There is good news and bad news in the world of women’s health. The good news is that women do not need annual Pap smears. The bad news is that, upon hearing the good news, many women incorrectly assume they no longer need annual pelvic exams, either. …
I wanted to go the extra mile for my patient. The resistance I found was unexpected. She was young. Her life — an incredible journey in diplomatic circles — was crippled too soon by a recurring disease that would ultimately prevail. Day after day, I…
It is a fluke of the news cycle that if we don’t hear a product warning frequently, we can “forgive” that product and think it has somehow become safe. While no one would “forgive” cigarettes, lead in drinking water or mer…
The first time a woman went into the final stage of labor, I watched from a corner of the room. As a third-year medical student, I was on my six-week clinical rotation in obstetrics and gynecology, and it was day one of the two-week portion on the labo…
The Somalian government should be ashamed of condoning the widespread occurrence of female genital mutilation. According to UNICEF, 98 percent of women from the ages 15 to 49 have undergone FGM in Somalia from 2005 to 2014. As defined by the World Heal…
The debate over the safety of giving birth at home, both for the mother and for the infant, has continued for years. I’ve written about the issue myself. From time immemorial until about 75 years ago or so, most babies were born at home. Now it’s aroun…
To put it simply, I’m scared by news headlines and conversations about the climbing rates of maternal mortality among Black women. I’m not surprised, however. As an internist, I regularly marvel at the advances that have been made in Western medicine, …
