An excerpt from PLAYING DOCTOR – Part One: Medical School: Stumbling through with amnesia. As was her habit, she [the surgical chief resident] had called to check in with a surgical nurse to see how each of her patients was doing. They were discu…
Category: surgery
How do we embrace the plot twists in our life?
The most memorable books have twists, turns, and surprises. A plot twist is a literary technique involving a radical change in an expected outcome. It involves withholding critical information until the time is right, changing our perception of precedi…
The healing power of thank you
Recently, I had a patient die unexpectedly in the operating room. I consider myself mentally tough, but this was the first time I’d ever experienced a situation like this, and the impact on me was far greater than I would have anticipated. On its…
Men in power seem to have a serious zipper malfunction problem
My respected neurosurgery colleague just ended his career inauspiciously — having had an affair with a resident. While I don’t know the details, I do know that many a male leader, like my friend, has fallen from his perch due to “zipper malfunction.” H…
A reflection on stomach surgery
One of the most dramatic changes from my training to the present is the nearly complete disappearance of elective ulcer surgery. (Reminder: as I’ve said before, “elective” means non-emergent, as opposed to unnecessary.) The revolution…
Think again: Get a second opinion
Most patients believe and trust a diagnosis and treatment plan their physician provides them. So why is a second opinion in medicine so important? The “practice of medicine” is a term used to imply a variety of diagnoses and treatments. Yes…
Protein calorie malnutrition is devastating for patients [PODCAST]
“My practice consisted of patients who suffered from serious injuries and illnesses. Concerning the latter, a significant number had cancer, especially breast cancer. The issue all patient groups have in common to a certain degree is protein calo…
My patient and I were born on the same day. It took a tragedy to bring us back together.
It was a hot afternoon, but no dog day humidity yet. I was driving back from a satellite office when our nurse practitioner called. A patient with a condition we’d seen many times before, a brain hemorrhage, her consciousness waning. The CT scan showed…
War is really not all it’s cracked up to be
An excerpt from All Bleeding Stops. 42nd Surgical Hospital Phu Bai Republic of Vietnam December 1967 Private Ira Stein has so many wounds, has lost so much blood, that the corpsmen nearly bring him straight to Graves. Steve Benson can’t get a pressure….
The pain of doctoring and a call for change
Below are moments from my intern year of general surgery residency. They represent moments that occurred over three years ago, which I took home to my journal to process and work through. Back then, the moments left me speechless. And today, re-visitin…
