Medical

A few years back, I took care of a frail elderly gentleman who, accompanied by his wife, had come to the ER with an elbow injury after tripping over a curb in front of a local restaurant. They had been traveling from Buffalo to Cleveland and had stopped for a quick bite and a bathroom…

I wake when the sky begins to darken. As the sun buries itself beneath the horizon, the hospital beckons. Nights bring a kind of calm. I find that wakefulness, while others sleep, grants me something sacred — time, untouched. Circadian rhythms align us with light: The sun guides us through our days, the moon lulls…

I thought the pandemic would be over by now. And I’m not alone; there were sophisticated models predicting a dramatic drop in the number of infections by the summer. And while there was understandable worry about the second wave, re-infection, and the coming flu season, there was good reason to believe we’d have the worst…

As the burden of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) plateaus into a perpetual state of public health emergency for 2020, examining the United States’ forgotten epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) offers insight to a COVID-19 solution. STIs are the long-neglected contagious disease that echo many of the same socioeconomic, political, racial, and structural problems feeding…

“The daily email update on COVID-19 affecting our hospital system is a glaring reflection of the health disparities amongst those in marginalized groups. The farther south you go, generally in San Diego, the higher the number of socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, and that tends to include a disproportionate number of persons of color.  These populations may…

Medicine and dentistry are two professions that on paper seem to be rather similar. Both professions require extensive studying, grueling exams, and rigorous training. Both are experts at following procedures and guidelines, using evidence-based data and science to provide care to their patients to the highest possible standard. Patients trust us with their health because…

She had me in her terrifying grip, and I was paralyzed.  Stuck to my chair, my heart racing, instantly isolated in my desperate confusion.  I heard ordinary sounds like two nurses chatting, papers shuffling, and a telephone ring, but they seemed distant, happening in some safe place far away beyond the dark tunnel I was…

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” –…