Medical

I am addicted to Facebook these days. Like everyone else, I am glued to social media, riveted by the drama unfolding around me.  I read from the perspective of a primary care doctor in Seattle, the site of the first case of COVID-19 in the country. My friends and family send me regular thanks for…

The unparalleled and pervasive nature of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic has touched all of us in some way. There is limited, albeit growing, research on the mental health effects of disasters.  A recent review article pointed out the potentially negative consequences of prolonged quarantine, while other research from Wuhan, China, highlighted the impact of COVID-19, particularly amongst healthcare personnel. Psychiatrists…

In college, I learned about the Frank-Starling law of the heart. It is fascinating and demonstrates just one of the bewildering number of human physiologic responses needed to adapt to the demands we place upon our bodies every day. In brief, the Frank-Starling law states that a healthy, normally functioning heart will respond to increases…

Fourteen days of social distancing have passed. Emotions are high all around. The wicked foreboding of the mysteriously menacing novel Coronavirus has spared no one. Everyone is scared. The cleaning staff, scrubbing, and wiping just one more time. The techs, maintaining stoicism behind masked faces. The patients, eyes darting with fear. The nurses, bravely caring…

Arrival to isolation room 45: Recently diagnosed with COVID-19, brought in by ambulance for re-evaluation. I don my new uniform of colorful barriers: red-rimmed eye shield, green N-95, yellow gown, purple gloves. I carefully walk through two sets of doors into the room and find the most sterile spot. I used to touch, shake hands,…

As a 4th-year neurosurgery resident, I’ve tried to sink my heels into every aspect of neurosurgical care in order to harness the skills, the knowledge, and the confidence to know that I’ll be ready to provide exceptional care to my own patients at the end of seven years of training. If you asked me before…

When the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over, health care providers around the world will be asking themselves how we got here. Buying PPE off eBay. Soliciting the public to sew masks. While, as a country, we could have been better prepared, it would not have been practical to stockpile the 3.5 billion masks that HHS…

An emergency room physician, who I interviewed recently, rented an Airbnb to protect his wife from the virus. He is now separated from his family, alone and fighting to keep safe in New York City, with limited resources and PPE  or personal protection equipment. When we turn what is vital to our physician’s protection into an…

When I was 18, I decided I wanted to be a doctor.  I wanted to help people.  I wanted to make things better for others.  So, I studied hard in college.  I couldn’t afford to pay for test prep classes for the medical school entrance exam, so I studied on my own.  I would lock…