Category: KevinMD

A gut punch against COVID-19?

“You are what you eat.” Jean Anthelme Brillant-Savarin, a French lawyer, epicurean, and father of the low carbohydrate diet, penned these words in the 18th century. As we struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic, we search for personal ways to influence …

The new words from the coronavirus pandemic

With any new illness comes metaphor. It is humanity’s attempt to incorporate the mystery of disease into our own stories. We like to personify illness, give it human characteristics as a way of visualizing it. We name its actions to help lessen its unp…

COVID-19 misinformation: To respond, or not to respond, that is the question

Recently, I ran across a post on social media with multiple bullet points of theories targeted at the current COVID-19 pandemic. Having encountered handfuls of previous posts running along the lines of these factually incorrect claims, I decided it was…

Take a gratitude perspective on coronavirus

I often turn to my children when facing life’s vexing moments. So I did just that recently. “Kiddos, what do you think coronavirus is here to teach us?” My 11 year old spoke first, “To be thankful for our health.” Gratitude, huh? I step back from…

Ventilator rationing is guided by rules that could worsen health inequities

Imagine there are two individuals who have been admitted to a hospital due to COVID-19, and both desperately need ventilators. One is a 60-year-old with a heart condition, and another is a 63-year-old with chronic kidney disease. Because of resource co…

An internal moral and ethical conflict doctors face every day during this pandemic

One of the most memorable milestones in my life was my journey to becoming a doctor. A path that I look upon so fondly as it marks a time that molded much of who I am today. Charles Dickens describes my experience perfectly, “It was the best of times, …

The truth about research: Lessons learned by an aspiring physician-researcher

Many people looking in on the world of research have perceptions of brilliant minds at work, rapidly putting forth groundbreaking ideas.  While they’re not entirely wrong, I discovered that this arena of fascinating new discoveries is not always so rap…

5 reasons why your anesthesiologist is a medical ninja

1. Anesthesiologists are your protector Think about this: An anesthesiologist’s job is to protect you from the harm your surgeon is causing.  Seriously. A surgeon’s job, at its very essence, is to damage your body. Now undeniably, it is wit…

COVID-19, Georgia, and racial disparities: Do all lives still matter?

I learned to call Atlanta home after college. It was at Grady Memorial Hospital that I first shadowed doctors, and decided that I would go to medical school. Two and a half years into being an ATLien, I cried inconsolably because it was time to leave. …

How grit in the face of hopelessness brings out the best of the medical profession

The only drawback to reading The Plague by Albert Camus for the first time while experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic is that I will never get the experience of reading it from a less personal perspective. As the plague in the novel begins to unfold slow…