Honestly, I have never been a big fan of insurance. I am not much of a gambler, and paying for insurance feels like betting on my own misfortune. I have never purchased insurance for a cell phone or appliance. I would rather save the money and make an …
On an early August morning in 2010, my alarm clock went off. The day had finally arrived. Today was my first day as a medical student at the university I had always wanted to attend. High school had ended just a couple of months before, and today I fel…
I did my medical school training in a country where I saw many children die every day from preventable illnesses. Measles, diarrhea, and malnutrition were the norm. I still have vivid memories of a young child dying in my arms of severe diarrhea and de…
He struggled to breathe, progressing from deep breaths with wet sounds reverberating in his lungs, to guppy breathing — opening the mouth like a fish, contorting the entire face. His heart rate slowly decreased, from 150 beats a minute — a pace attempt…
This article concerns what I call the poor conversationalist. There are several common versions of this, and all of them have corresponding parallels in nonmedical settings. Often the most basic difficulty is one of manner. A good conversationalist is …
Mentorship is a common topic in medicine. We, as a profession, spend significant time discussing, attending workshops about, and researching the role of mentorship. Mentorship is key to personal development, career choice, and improved academic product…
My husband recently planned a beautiful evening for me at our favorite restaurant, complete with a night away at a boutique hotel in wine country, in honor of my “cancerversary,” which for me marked one year since being diagnosed with breast cancer at …
I want to write a book about the modern intern experience, a successor to The House of God, if you will. I’m going to call my book Seaport General. It’s about a young intern named Troy, who is starting his internal medicine training at a fictional un…
One night, a woman I’ll call Tonya got a compliment from a guy when she was out with her boyfriend. Tonya’s boyfriend cursed her because another man had complimented her. He said: “You give it to everybody, I want it too.” In anticipation of his physic…
The pain radiated from the top of Annette Monachelli’s head, and it got worse when she changed positions. It didn’t feel like her usual migraine. The 47-year-old Vermont attorney turned innkeeper visited her local doctor at the Stowe Family Practice tw…
