As a fourth-year orthopaedic surgery resident, we had some surgical autonomy. Always at arm’s length from the attending oversight, this was just enough to push us past our comfort zones. My problem was I loved my comfort zone. The single most influent…
Empathizing with others’ suffering is one of the most human expressions in life. For empathy to nurture, like any other emotion, it needs time and space, and in none other professions, this maxim is codified as profoundly as in medicine. Even in …
I found this note waiting for me this morning in the kitchen. It was from my daughter, who is home for the holiday week from New York. I made her a cup of coffee yesterday morning, and it was waiting for her on the table when she woke up and meandered …
Medicine is for the birds, or it should be. Hear me out. A day before I wrote this, I was on the trail in northwest Ohio, binoculars in hand, trying to tell one warbler from another. This was the final weekend of the biggest week of birding in Magee …
An excerpt from Long Walk Out of the Woods: A Physician’s Story of Addiction, Depression, Hope, and Recovery. As a young child’s heart rhythm faded to a stop, I walked off the hospital floor and got in my car with a plan to end my own life. For w…
An excerpt from Long Walk Out of the Woods: A Physician’s Story of Addiction, Depression, Hope, and Recovery. As a young child’s heart rhythm faded to a stop, I walked off the hospital floor and got in my car with a plan to end my own life. For w…
Graduation from my residency program was a bittersweet experience. At the time, my specialty was suffering from a crippling job shortage, so our futures were uncertain, and a dark mood had come to permeate my radiology residency. We were disgruntled wi…
I work in the ER. It’s not an easy job. Not glamorous either. At least not as glamorous as my mother-in-law used to think. Years ago, when I declared I was going into emergency, she looked at me askance. She didn’t ask why. She looked at me with her wi…
Everything in life starts as a dream. Big or small. My dream was to become a physician since I was quite young — the first one in my family to walk the path. I wanted to understand the science of the human body and help the sick. Heal with my skills, k…
Recently, a fellow physician mom ended her life. While outwardly, a very vibrant, lively, and happy woman, she fought her own internal demons for some time. From what we know, she struggled with depression but was still committed to being a good mom, p…
