“The nipples are equal and reactive” is a phrase I came across in the physical exam section of a note that I had dictated, courtesy of my Dragon. I have a Dragon. Not a cool Game of Thrones dragon, heroically swooping in at a critical moment, but a p…
“I recently represented a physician in a noteworthy peer review case at an academic medical center. The medical staff president initiated a complaint against a surgeon, who would later become my client. The complaint was that the surgeon inapprop…
On a recent trauma call, we had a busy night, culminating in a horrific motorcycle trauma that came in early in the morning. The patient had devastating injuries and ended up dying. The detectives finally tracked down the patient’s family. I cleaned my…
I have never felt so alone. I was lying in bed with severe abdominal pain. Pain I never had before. Well, at least not for a reason. As I lay there, I kept thinking, what if I die while I wait until morning. It was the middle of the night. I had not fe…
When you flick a domino, a chain reaction is inevitable. Joseph Epstein succeeded in creating such a reaction. His inflammatory Wall Street Journal op-ed deriding Dr. Jill Biden’s academic title has become a call to arms across the social media landsca…
Whether or not you’re a health care provider, chances are you’ve spent the year thinking, talking, and reading about health care. We’ve had national conversations about everything from the global pandemic to rising health care costs to rationing resou…
“Studies have repeatedly demonstrated a vast majority of pain physicians don’t feel like they have adequate training in meeting the unique needs of this patient population, though most agree that such efforts are very necessary. This disconnect b…
Imagine turning off your pager forever. If you are a solo-practitioner on call 24 hours a day, I suspect this thought has crossed your mind. Coordinating time off for vacation, being constantly interrupted at your children’s recital or athletic e…
You were a twenty-one-year-old Black man. When we received you, your eyes were open I asked if you could hear me You whispered a phone number and “Mom.” To the green sterile operating room With your breaths of anesthesia, Your final conscious moments Y…
An excerpt from The Healer’s Burden: Stories and Poems of Professional Grief. Leaning on the door of Trauma Bay 1, I survey the remains of my latest failure. The story is told in the bloody and jumbled instrument trays, monitors now silent and da…
