“I absolutely insist that you accept this 5-dollar bill,” said the slightly hunched, distinguished-looking Caucasian man in khaki shorts and a T-shirt. He held my big brown hand firmly open with the fingers of one hand while placing a five-…
Category: Public Health & Policy
Unethical policy: Resuming federal lethal injections during a global pandemic
The United States government has resumed capital punishment after a 17-year hiatus. Even setting aside questions of whether the death penalty is legal, ethical, or humane, the renewal of the practice of lethal injection poses some grave concerns, parti…
Discrimination kills: What to do about implicit bias training
An African American female had been to the hospital three times in the last week for severe abdominal pain. Yelling for pain medication, she returned with the same complaint. The abdominal imaging two weeks ago was normal, and doctors had labeled her a…
Debunking false arguments about COVID-19 racial disparities
Black Americans are dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19. In Chicago, nearly 70% of deaths involve black individuals, who comprise only 30% of the population. At a closer look, these deaths were initially concentrated in just five neighborhood…
The unseen debt of the pandemic
Some images stick in the mind as unreal and incandescent things, despite their lived experience. My mind holds onto the gray-haired woman, stooped from age and wearing the hospital-issue facemask, standing alone with her hands clasped tightly behind he…
Declaring racism as a public health crisis from the lens of two Latinx student doctors
“I often heard as a child that Mexicans were lazy and dirty. As a Mexican-American, I did not wear shorts for years despite the heat because I thought my knees looked dirty. Now I fully embrace my identity. However, as a medical student, I still feel t…
Empower residents: It’s important now more than ever
On March 20th, as the chaos of the unfolding pandemic enveloped New York City, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.10, which, among other directives, suspended work hour restrictions for residents in New York. These regulations, which had been en…
Uninsured medical students are at risk
During clinical training, medical students worry about caring for patients, learning how to do procedures, memorizing drug interactions, and documenting their work in the electronic medical record —they shouldn’t be worried about paying medical bills a…
Physicians in a failing state set an example
As of October 2019, the small country of Lebanon began its descent into its worst economic collapse in modern history. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lebanese currency has lost nearly 85 percent of its value on the black market, and the infl…
The uncertainty of an international medical graduate during the COVID-19 pandemic
A quarter of the physician workforce in the United States consists of international medical graduates (IMGs). This year 4,222 non-U.S. citizens matched in first-year residency positions. I am an IMG from Guatemala, where I completed medical school. In …
