Medical
We are not trying to be conservative or liberal. We are human.
My mother has a tattoo. Really. She does. There is a small blue crucifix on the inner aspect of her right wrist. Let me pause here to point out a few things. First of all, my mother is not a “tattoo” person. Secondly, the inner aspect of the wrist is one of the most sensitive…
Read MoreWhat about the mental health of clinical trial participants?
“Why is my disease less important than COVID?” Donna asked me toward the end of our phone call. Two years ago, after celebrating her 65th birthday, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia—an aggressive type of blood cancer—which turned out to be refractory to conventional chemotherapy. After spending hundreds of hours with doctors and social workers, she…
Read MoreI can’t stay home. I am a health care worker.
We have all seen the memes and picture frames on social media. I can’t stay home – I am a health care worker. I am a health care worker. But I have been mostly home the past eight weeks, and the thought of returning to the office full-time has left me grappling with anxiety and…
Read MoreProtect and serve. Do no harm. Both are failing.
Protect and serve. Do no harm. These are covenants our public servants promise to us. Police officers and clinicians are both entrusted with attending to our health and safety. Both are failing. We must be able to trust clinicians and police with the intricate details of our living and dying. When they deliberately lapse in…
Read MoreAbout your salary: We value you
Doctors across America are getting strikingly similar messages from their hospital administrators—that we are highly valued, but that they will reduce our salaries due to the pandemic. Whether you are working on the frontline and risking your life (and your family’s health) with limited PPE available (and indeed locked up and rationed), or whether you…
Read MoreImmigrant and minority physicians at the frontline of pandemics [PODCAST]
“It is no secret that we started off combating COVID-19 with disadvantages. Lately, news is rampant with coverage of the paucity of ventilators, hospital beds, and N95 masks. But it is important not to forget the deficits in our workforce. Last year, the American Medical Association estimated that our nation faces a projected shortage of…
Read MoreExtending lessons learned to a post pandemic world
Since COVID-19, the way that we practice medicine has changed. Every patient we see, test we order, and treatment we prescribe is under closer scrutiny. Direct patient interaction has been cut to the bare minimum. This has proved to be a challenge in many ways, forcing us to adapt to a new model of medicine.…
Read MoreThe black physician’s burden
I remember clearly the first lecture in which I began to feel the painful knot of despair clenched in my chest. We were being taught about piebaldism, a disease that impacts the pigment-producing cells of the body. It was not the description of the condition that alarmed me, but rather the picture that was chosen…
Read MoreThat was me: a millennial physician’s experience with racism
A black girl was called the N-word on the playground in elementary school in the ’90s. That black girl was me. A black girl was called ugly because of her dark black skin in elementary school in the ’90s. That black girl was me. A black girl created and independently executed a project for the…
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