Medical

An excerpt from Medical Myths: A Sceptic’s Journey. “Don’t go out tonight, ‘Cos it’s bound to change your life, There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise.” – Creedence Clearwater Revival, August 1969 On a summer’s night on the St. Lawrence River, I have sometimes extended my boat journey and navigated home by moonlight. It’s remarkable…

Signs encouraging mask-wearing compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic are posted in English and Spanish at my hospital. I was fascinated that a Spanish word for mask is máscara, since “mascara” in English signifies the cosmetic that darkens the eyelashes. While I am vigilant about wearing my máscara, I can’t remember the last time I put…

“What on earth are we doing here, folks? To try to save a tanking economy, workers were sent back to their jobs much too early, causing again a spike in cases of the virus. I realize that the loss of a paycheck is a major traumatic situation for any breadwinner, but so is the loss…

Amid the pandemic, when the world quieted to the sounds of our own breathing when the stillness of our isolation felt dark, who did the health care workers on the frontlines battling COVID-19 turn to, earnestly and urgently, for comfort and meaning? The artists. The skin on my face was weathered and raw from my…

I have observed with impunity, a silent form of racism that exists in our society and in just about every American health care delivery system against people of color. If you are on Medicaid, without health care coverage, or have a low cost/low premium insurance plan, you are more likely than not to be an…

Oh, Canada! Every presidential election cycle, my colleagues joke that if the election result is not to their liking, they will move to Canada. On election night 2016, “move to Canada” trended on Google, and the Canadian immigration website crashed. This election cycle America is having an existential crisis. What does America stand for? Who…

At a recent annual exam for one of us (Walter), the medical assistant had checked heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation. Inquiring cheerfully about the Fifth Vital Sign, she flashed the 10-point pain scale of emojis ranging from beaming to grimacing. The only mention-worthy pain was an occasionally aching meniscus from a forgettable…

During the global pandemic, we count the numbers of hospital admissions. Of respirators.  Of deaths.  Days of quarantine.  Days since our last morning swim. We count how many armfuls of laundry we do at dawn. We count how many dishes we wash, how many toilets we clean.   After all, home is the only sacred space…

“I have been depressed. I have been burned out. I have been both. I have been neither. How do you know if you are depressed vs. burned out when your chief complaint is, “I feel like crap?” It’s time to call a consult. I don’t mean curbsiding your colleagues to fill your medications off the…