Medical

On Friday, March 27, 2020, California went on lockdown in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It changed every Californian’s life, including my own. As the newly appointed chief scribe, the possibility that I would be jobless by the time Monday rolled around, was the last of my worries. What would happen to the patients…

An excerpt from Fragile: Beauty in Chaos, Grace in Tragedy, and the Hope That Lives in Between. I remember standing motionless in the doctors’ lounge, staring at my hands. Things had changed. I was someone different, someone my family and friends might not recognize if I let them in, really let them see my true…

Little did I know when I selected my sub-specialty during residency that 15 years later, we would be at the forefront of a pandemic. Over the last eight weeks, I have, just like many physicians trained in pulmonary and critical care medicine, spent countless hours in the intensive care unit (ICU) treating patients with COVID-19,…

Since the arrival of COVID-19 in America, most health care systems have adopted a policy delaying non-essential or non-urgent procedures and appointments in the hopes of preserving PPE and minimizing interpersonal exposure. Despite resultant furloughs, frustrations, and massive financial losses, the practice remains relatively non-controversial as the safest course for patients and staff. Numerous professional…

As a fellow physician colleague, I felt compelled to address what medical personnel is experiencing in the COVID-19 pandemic. Needless to say, we’ve never been here before, and I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the gravity of the situation, its effects on trainees and attending physicians across the globe. While this is not…

Many of us (especially psychiatrists and physician coaches) have been warning the medical profession at large for weeks now that we are headed for unprecedented numbers of physicians, nurses, other health care workers, and first responders suffering from PTSD. A free support group of psychiatrists for physicians formed rapidly. Several articles have been written. Physician…

Astor lies in a reclining wheelchair, surrounded by community, gathered for morning prayer. A rosary,  woven between folded fingers rests upon her belly. Astor murmurs: “Help me. Help me. I am all alone.” Today, the last Friday in March, I am assisting another resident as he leads the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a meditative Catholic prayer…

With the rise of the internet, people started exploring ways to get medical advice online. The medical community was initially humored by this development, thinking it is a cute way for patients to look up their symptoms before coming to see us, their doctors.  The next stage in our response was irritation. As more people…

One of the main causes of chest pain is a blockage of blood flow down the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that deliver oxygenated blood to our heart muscle to allow it to beat. Depending on how fast the blockage forms, it is labeled as either a stable or unstable blockage. Unstable blockages occur quickly…