Medical

The thing I think would surprise people the most is my relationship with death. I’m a critical care anesthesiologist. It’s an exciting, rewarding field – I tell my medical students and residents that it blends expertise in the human body with mastery over crisis. I started my career imagining every day in the ICU as…

Her son went to visit her at her house of 52 years. The sound in the bathroom indicated that the faucet in the tub was running and overflowing onto the floor. A series of events piled one on top of the other. A totaled car, candles burning in the house haphazardly, repetitive questions mentioned five…

Do all kids spy? Just me? When I was a child, I spent hours snooping in my parents’ nightstands, Granny’s pocketbook, my older brothers’ dresser drawers. I’m not sure what I was looking for, exactly, other than validation of my suspicion that the teenagers and adults in my life were keeping secrets from me. And…

About a year ago, before the pandemic hit, I was at the local fitness center, having just completed a group exercise class, when my former residency program director entered the room. I hadn’t seen him in 20 years. He looked exactly the same, give or take a few grey hairs. We smiled and heartily greeted…

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly around the world since the first reports from China in 2019, and the outbreak was characterized as a pandemic. COVID-19 does not affect everyone equally. COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted LGBTQ Americans and may continue to. Prior studies have noted significant health disadvantages experienced by LGBTQ populations in the…

“I am a veterinarian. More specifically, I am a veterinary specialist, board-certified in emergency and critical care. I don’t play with puppies and kittens. I treat the worst of the worst in a specialty hospital setting with a state-of-the-art ER and ICU. Despite years of education, including veterinary school, internship, fellowship, and residency to obtain…

As doctors, we are taught the art of assessing our patients through the doctor-patient relationship. We learn a series of open-ended questions to gain insight into our patients’ values and thoughts regarding their personal health. We learn how to evaluate lab values and make diagnoses. Through all of this, we strive to make optimal decisions…

Ten years ago, I was professionally and personally burned out. I was disinterested in the revolving door of primary care pediatrics and exhausted from the merry-go-round of home and work. I had lived most of my adult life with chronic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome. My personal relationships were draining me. One day, while clearing…

In addition to the medical risks of COVID-19, the pandemic’s occupational hazards are numerous for health care workers. The threat of walking into the clinic or hospital and being exposed to the increasingly contagious novel coronavirus is a now-familiar reality for the many physicians caring for patients. It is astounding to think about these surreal…