Oh no, it’s a doctor hopper. You know who I’m talking about: the patients with twenty previous doctors documented in their chart. The ones who took years to be diagnosed. The ones who still have not been diagnosed, but insist something is w…
Category: Patient
Advocating for a sick parent by confronting physician bias
I spent the first three days sitting next to my dad’s hospital bed, watching his chest rise and fall slowly. He was asleep the majority of the time, fighting off something unknown. Anytime he moved, I jumped up from my chair and stood where he co…
We must help patients recognize how important their opinions are
A recent article in Smithsonian Magazine lauded a man in Indonesia for removing a motorcycle tire that had been stuck around a crocodile’s neck for six years. Known by locals as buaya kalung ban, which means “crocodile with a tire necklace,…
Sometimes an ounce of compassion feels like a waterfall
My husband Jeremy and I stood just inside the entrance of the NICU, between the front desk where we used to get our bright orange stickers, permitting our entry as proud parents of Reed Robinson, Room 363, and the washing station, where we meticulously…
The dark horse of the care team: a parent’s perspective on hospital chaplains
When you think of a hospital chaplain, what comes to mind? A bearer of bad news? An imminent turn for the worse? A symbol of death and dying? That’s what I used to think. Chaplains showed up in end-of-life situations, and I’d give anything …
In a moment of crisis, I made a decision to survive.
One day in a moment of crisis, I made a decision to survive. I did not ever expect to make such a decision. Just the week before, I had high hopes for a new beginning. “Are you sure you want to do this?” my husband smiled. “We can jus…
Words often spoken, but go unheard
I want to scream out loud: “Wake up people, we’re circling the drain!” Does anyone notice the state of our country, the state of the world that we are living in? The world is torn apart by something we cannot even see. Millions of liv…
Does an HMO hinder the efforts of concierge doctors to address patient needs?
A man discovers an unsettling sight during a bathroom visit. It leads to a sequence of rapid medical events with laggard resolution. “Jillian Palmer” is an independent bakery chef. She shares a sample-size blueberry pie with a personal frie…
Medical errors? Sorry, not sorry.
You know that feeling you get from an insincere apology? Your stomach flip-flops. Your heart pounds. You feel irritated, disgusted even. A vague dissonance nags at you. It’s the same disorienting feeling you get from an insult wrapped in a compli…
That time my patient swallowed an entire bag of crack
He was the middleman — the man that took the crack cocaine from the main guy, the drug dealer and then sold it to his “clients” and kept a percentage of the money for himself and the rest to the dealer. It was a fine-tuned operation. You co…
