Medical

Wake up. Turn the coffee pot on. Stretch. Read about the latest news. Over the past several years, this same sequence of events has served as the start to my day, and it has continued to be my routine over the past few weeks. However, this early morning routine has been the only thing in…

Preliminary data from China suggest that people with diabetes and other preexisting conditions are more likely to experience serious complications and death from COVID-19 than people without diabetes and other conditions. But COVID-19 and the coronavirus that causes it are new, and researchers are still investigating how they impact immunity. We also know that if…

Photos of health care providers in prayerful stances are being shared on the web. From nurses on helipads at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, to ER teams at Jackson South Medical Center, people have been photographed on their knees, arms outstretched, and heads bowed. In Atlanta, doctors and nurses went up to the roof of Cartersville…

As a resident physician keen on academia and research, I have many doctors and scientists who I aspire to be more like. As a future-driven person, I am constantly awed by various inspirational, well-educated, and even better-poised men and women who have changed our society and the world. But today’s situation is different. Today’s situation…

“I’m in a constant state of fear.” “I have nothing to look forward to now.” “I don’t know when my life will go back to normal.” As a psychiatrist practicing in a busy urban academic medical center, I have started to see the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on individuals’ mental health. Although…

Nurses are not getting the protection they need to care for COVID patients, and no one seems to care. Where is the outrage? Nurses are at the COVID patients’ bedside 24/7. We all know the medical staff is not wearing the proper gear at all. If supplies were adequate and protocols were being followed,  they…

COVID-19 cases in the United States are continuing to rise, with some regions of the country entering a stage of peak infection. Despite growing resources allocated to our public health response, a substantial gap exists in our approach to the care of homeless patients at this time. Various solutions have been proposed to improve access…

This a famous painting named “The Doctor” from 1891 by Luke Fildes. I was first introduced to this by my grandfather, the first physician in our family, an old school traditional family doctor. He cared deeply for his patients, and they loved him for it. My grandfather gave me this painting on the day of…

My husband and I travel internationally at least three times a year to give courses with live surgical demonstrations of colorectal conditions in children. During the past 13 years making those trips, we had our share of hearing the famous announcement in the plane: “Is there a doctor on board?” Those have happened in many…