WRITER * ARTIST * DOCTOR * PATIENT * MOTHER
Too often, we physicians find what we expect to find … we assume and too quickly close our minds to other possibilities. One patient – a regular in the emergency department for his methamphetamine use disorder – taught me how dangerous this can be. He just wouldn’t stop bleeding … Read more here. Discover is…
“I spent time and money to go to the doctor, and she said my cough was nothing – just a virus!” the man ahead of me in line at the coffee shop bemoaned to his wife, “What a waste.” I bit my tongue as I debated light or dark roast. I have heard this…
“That’s no Brooklyn spider!” I thought. When an extra moment, another question, a chat about a spider brings the truth. Read all about it in my latest piece in Academic Medicine – a short but memorable lesson from the ward when I was a medical student If you’d rather listen than read, you can hear it…
It had been preoccupying me for weeks. It was embarrassing, unexpected and probably meant nothing, I thought. As my doctor’s hand clasped the doorknob, I finally sought reassurance. “I feel like I’ve been gaining weight,” I mumbled … Read more in my first Vital Signs column in the June issue. If you don’t already have a…
“Another nosebleed?” I sighed to the nurse. “Yup, just one good old nosebleed, now stopped of course,” she replied. “Room 7 – Lucas*. Cute kid, but nervous.” The emergency department was filling quickly. Thankfully, this could be a quick in-and-out patient. Nose generally bleed from harmless causes – too much picking, or dry air, or…