Fifty years ago, in a golden moment of television comedy shows, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In program regularly featured “The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate” award. Wikipedia says it “recognized actual dubious achievements by public individuals or institutions.” Do a Google search. You’ll quickly see how popular this award became. Yes, I’m dating myself by going […]
Category: Oncology/Hematology
The key to this patient? Horseshoes.
“Those who suffer illness learn by hearing themselves tell their stories, absorbing others’ reactions, and experiencing their stories being shared.” – Arthur Frank We stand together at the clinic room door, preparing to enter. “Tongue cancer. This is a 78-year-old man with an oral cavity mass and some memory loss. He had an ulcer on […]
What my mother needs is a daughter, not a doctor
My mom was recently diagnosed with cancer. I can’t even begin to describe the shock I felt or how my heart just sank. In an otherwise healthy person with no family history, this is not something you ever expect to happen. My mind immediately jumped to so many different conclusions, and I immediately wanted answers. […]
MKSAP: 56-year-old man with painless intermittent bloody urine
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 56-year-old man is evaluated for painless intermittent bloody urine of 6 weeks’ duration. History is significant for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly known as Wegener granulomatosis) diagnosed 10 years ago, which is now in remission; he was treated with prednisone for […]
MKSAP: 56-year-old man with painless intermittent bloody urine
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 56-year-old man is evaluated for painless intermittent bloody urine of 6 weeks’ duration. History is significant for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly known as Wegener granulomatosis) diagnosed 10 years ago, which is now in remission; he was treated with prednisone for […]
A breakdown of your pathology report
I’m a pathologist and the main way I communicate to the outside world — to your doctor and ultimately to you, the patient is via the pathology report. But the short missives I send from behind the microscope lack any excitement and can fall short of full communication. Here’s the usual story: Skin left scapula, […]
The dismantling of informed consent is a disaster
Informed consent is the cornerstone of medical ethics. And every physician must defend this sacred principle from every form of evil that would seek to dismantle, degrade and debase it. If informed consent is the sun, then privacy, confidentiality, dignity, and trust are planets that go around it. For without informed consent, the descent of […]
100 percent satisfaction doesn’t work in our health system
“I want answers!” My mother was upset over the care for her ill husband. Previously able to converse normally, he was now incoherent and disoriented. The recent recipient of a bone marrow transplant to treat his advanced leukemia, he probably experienced a brain infection because of the immune suppression therapy needed to accept the marrow. […]