Medical

“Empathy is more than just loving an elderly loved one. It is more than simply making the decision we may feel is best for our loved one. Empathy is different from sympathy. Empathy means putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes and making an informed decision. Empathy is seeing through our loved ones’ eyes, hearing through…

Currently, we are in a transition time. Many of us are still healing from the shock brought on by the beginning days of the COVID crisis. While it has been nice to enjoy the warmer weather both from a distance but also amongst friends given the lifting of many social restrictions, life still does not…

Let me start by saying that I am a diplomate (i.e., “board-certified”) by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. I was completely in agreement that to display competence in my specialty after four years of residency, I should pass the oral and written exams required by the ABPN, further to prove I have maintained…

You are outraged. You realize you are part of the problem. You abhor rampant, unchecked police brutality and centuries of systemic, institutionalized racism. It sickens you. OK, awesome. Now what? In recent days following the death of George Floyd and the massive uprisings of the American people from all across the country demanding decisive justice…

As the COVID-19 pandemic quickly moved across the nation this spring, state governments and health systems rushed to create or revise their crisis standards of care that contain medical rationing guidelines. In light of the crisis, how can we distribute health care resources equitably and without discrimination or bias when they are in short supply? …

By now, you’ve heard that meditation has many health benefits, including stress management. You’re probably thinking, that’s great for my single friend with time for self-care, but I’m a busy working parent, there’s no time for that! Wrong. There is time for it. Granted, it is different than what you have been traditionally taught about…

“Three Fleet enemas?” I ask the nurse. She isn’t much interested in a conversation with me about anything. She is busy. “This man, so far as I understand it, does not have a colon.” It looks to me like they want to reconnect his colon,” she says as if I hadn’t said what I just…

As I held the shaky, sweaty hand of my 52-year-old African American patient, lying in her ICU bed, trembling with fear, tears rolling down her eyes, she gathered enough strength to utter “I can’t breathe.” Her words felt like a punch in my gut, eliciting a visceral reaction, with flashes of George Floyd’s body pinned…

As medical students with backgrounds in public health and global health care operations, we were shocked by the action on the part of the Trump administration to defund the World Health Organization (WHO). This decision undermines the global community’s progress in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and will ultimately cost the lives of thousands of individuals.…