“As the mother of a child born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, besides going through four open-heart surgeries and coding, my son has also had eight abdominal surgeries, including a Ladd’s procedure and resection of his colon. William also …
Category: Pediatrics
Maybe life is happening: the power of language in patient hand-offs
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” – George Orwell The “difficult” family At 2 a.m., on my first night shift as a pediatric resident, a patient, Casey, transferred from another hospital. She had a rare, p…
Being a pediatrician did not prepare me for parenting
“Your child should always sleep on the back, by themselves, in their crib, bassinet, or pack and play with no stuffed toys or loose blankets.” These words are ringing in my ears as I put my newborn baby in the bassinet for the millionth time, only to g…
Have crib deaths vanished?
An excerpt from Medical Myths: A Sceptic’s Journey. It may be a long while since you’ve heard of a very small infant being found dead in the crib. As a young doctor, I recall the encounters on cold February nights with devastated young parents. P…
Immigrant children struggle with COVID-induced schooling modifications
Our clinic is a place rich in diversity and culture. Many of our patients are recent immigrants, coming from over 50 different countries. While they bring a zest for opportunities living within the United States, they often face many barriers in seizin…
Being a pediatrician in a pandemic
I have been a general pediatrician for over a decade. I chose pediatrics because I saw the children as our future. The only way to make the future bigger and brighter is to give them the best. So with all of my academic accolades through high school…
How ocean plastic picking made me a better pediatrician [PODCAST]
“It has been over a month since I started this new hobby. I told my middle-school-aged daughter tonight, ‘I am going to write a post about how ocean plastic picking has made me a better pediatrician.’ She replied, ‘You mean bett…
Why public schools need to open for the most vulnerable
Pandemic. COVID-19. Quarantine. The words will forever be etched in our memories. While for all the pandemic has been a challenge, it has also meant more time with family, time to learn a new hobby, and the flexibility of working from home. Its memory…
Bottles and pacifiers: advice from a Latinx pediatrician [PODCAST]
“Growing up in Puerto Rico, ‘babas’ (bottles: biberón/botellas) and ‘bobos’ (pacifiers: chupetes/chupón) were very common among the families and children of the island. I still remember our Abuelita giving us milk in our…
A pediatrician reflects on his past moments of clarity
I was lucky to do my pediatric residency training in Brooklyn. I connected seamlessly with the city and its people as if I lived there all my life. One evening in the hot summer of 2009, I counted hours on my last shift as a pediatric resident in the e…
