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 functi…
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this news,” I said to the couple, who were hugging each other as their baby slept in his bassinet. “I know it is very hard to hear. But I want you to know that we are here for you and your family, and our team will walk e…
A 4-day-old term, formula-fed male infant with an uncomplicated prenatal course and no ABO set up or other identified cause of excessive jaundice was admitted to the hospital for phototherapy treatment of hyperbilirubinemia with a peak bilirubin of 19….
Three months into my intern year, I was asked, “Tell us your name, where you went to medical school, and one thing you have learned about yourself during the COVID-19 pandemic.” For an icebreaker, the question caught me off guard. Moments later, the an…
If you ignore the masks, the missing exam room toys, and the “astronaut doctor” PAPR on my head, you might think it was a regular day in my pediatric office. But it’s not. It’s a day where we are still all trying to push through the thickness in the ai…
The recent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in North America, particularly among young people ages 20-29, is a cause for concern. The reason for this increase seems to be related to poor compliance with public health recommendations. The past f…
“With COVID-19, all of those memories have come flooding back. It is as if I am back in the NICU staring at that tiny infant and worried that she would get sick. Only now I have to pull myself out of that horrific daydream and stare at my teenage…
A recent edition of Pediatrics has some disturbing research: “Trends in Capability of Hospitals to Provide Definitive Acute Care for Children: 2008 to 2016.” What the paper really does is document what many of us who work in referral hospitals have not…
“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” – Steve Jobs I was rusty. I felt rusty, at least. It had been forever, seemingly, since I attended patients as an emergency physician. A couple of years earlier, I’d be…
“We haven’t been to the doctor since COVID started.” “It was just a checkup; we didn’t need to go to it.” “We are trying to avoid going to the doctor unless it is really important.” I have taken care of many children and their families who have postpon…
