Physician voices

12,751 articles · Since 2006

Articles, page 16

Idealism vs. realism in medicine, and when to let go

July 10, 2026Jul 10, 2026

An excerpt from From Starship to Sickbed: Star Trek and the Meaning of Medicine. "The City on the Edge of Forever," widely regarded as Star Trek: The Original Series at its best, unfolds not merely as a science fiction episode…

An excerpt from From Starship to Sickbed: Star Trek and the Meaning of Medicine.

“The City on the Edge of Forever,” widely regarded as Star Trek: The Original Series at its best, unfolds not merely as a science fiction episode but as a meditation on time, love, and moral consequence. Drawn from a teleplay by Harlan Ellison, the story begins with a disturbance that is temporal, yes, …

What epigenetics reveals about inherited trauma

Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

July 9, 2026Jul 9, 2026

I still remember the quiet thrill of first learning about epigenetics as an emerging field. For a long time, medical science treated the genetic code as a fixed blueprint, an unyielding, unchangeable text. Epigenetics changed that narrative. It revealed that while the underlying script of our DNA remains the same, environmental experiences act like annotations in the margins, dictating which chapters are read and which are silenced.

Finally, we had a …

Home-based cardiac care needs clinical-grade proof

Ben Green, MD

July 9, 2026Jul 9, 2026

For over 60 years, the hospital has been the epicenter of cardiac care. It made sense: The technology and equipment required to test, treat, and manage patients could only be found within the walls of a clinic, due to both cost and logistical complexity. For decades, the “gold standard” was tethered to the zip code of the nearest medical center.

The disruption of this model over the last five-plus years has …

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What an ER doctor fears about in-flight emergencies

Veronica Bonales, MD

July 9, 2026Jul 9, 2026

I have been an emergency medicine physician for many years. Trauma, cardiac arrests, strokes, lacerations. I've seen them all. But sometimes I wonder how I would do in an actual emergency. I mean, I can run a trauma or cardiac…

I have been an emergency medicine physician for many years. Trauma, cardiac arrests, strokes, lacerations. I’ve seen them all. But sometimes I wonder how I would do in an actual emergency. I mean, I can run a trauma or cardiac arrest code without much problem on my own turf. Get them into the resuscitation room where I have a full team and multiple resources at my disposal. Everyone knows their …

Physician recertification is a revenue model, not quality

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

July 9, 2026Jul 9, 2026

I spent my career in developmental-behavioral pediatrics building programs, training physicians, and caring for children and families who needed clarity, steadiness, and advocacy. I stayed current because my patients deserved it, not because a board demanded proof. Long before I retired, I made a deliberate decision: I opted out of recertification in both general pediatrics and neurodevelopmental disabilities.

I stepped away for a simple reason. I no longer practiced in …

How to practice civility in medicine

Timothy Lesaca, MD

July 9, 2026Jul 9, 2026

"Labour to keep alive in your heart that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." - Rule 110 from Rules of Civility, copied by George Washington as a teenager The most consequential gesture in a clinic visit is sometimes the…

“Labour to keep alive in your heart that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”
– Rule 110 from Rules of Civility, copied by George Washington as a teenager

The most consequential gesture in a clinic visit is sometimes the smallest one: a hand resting on the door handle. The visit seems over. The plan has been explained, the orders are in, and the day is already running late. Then, as you …

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How to practice civility in medicine

The difficult patient is really a difficult encounter

Devina Maya Wadhwa, MD

July 8, 2026Jul 8, 2026

There are some patients whose names change the atmosphere of a day before they have even entered the room. You see the name on your schedule and feel it immediately. It may be a glance at the clock, a slight…

There are some patients whose names change the atmosphere of a day before they have even entered the room.

You see the name on your schedule and feel it immediately. It may be a glance at the clock, a slight tightening in your chest, or the quiet hope that the visit might somehow be shorter than you remember. Every clinician knows this feeling, although few of us admit it openly.

The patient …

How to lighten your mental load by asking better questions

Lauren Fine, MD

July 8, 2026Jul 8, 2026

The heaviest things we carry are rarely the tasks. They are the standards we never thought to question. My morning mental routine: Who is picking the kids up? What are we having for dinner? What time do I need to…

The heaviest things we carry are rarely the tasks. They are the standards we never thought to question.

My morning mental routine: Who is picking the kids up? What are we having for dinner? What time do I need to be at work, and how much is on my plate there? What time do I need to pick the kids up in time to make dinner? Maybe we will just eat …

Health care burnout is a structural problem, not resilience

Paul Dranichnikov, MD, PhD

July 8, 2026Jul 8, 2026

The cold coffee cups are the least of it. They sit abandoned on desks and in reporting rooms, small monuments to interruptions, unfinished tasks, and priorities that shift by the minute. Beside them stands the inevitable glass of lukewarm water, another reminder that even the most basic needs are often postponed in the service of someone else’s urgency.

What is far more difficult to ignore are the sleepless nights. The anxiety …

Why ethical leadership in medicine is so rare

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

July 7, 2026Jul 7, 2026

Medicine likes to imagine that leadership follows predictable paths. We talk about "career tracks," "pipelines," and "development pathways" as if the profession reliably produces clinicians who can lead research, deliver complex care, build systems, and teach the next generation. But…

Medicine likes to imagine that leadership follows predictable paths. We talk about “career tracks,” “pipelines,” and “development pathways” as if the profession reliably produces clinicians who can lead research, deliver complex care, build systems, and teach the next generation. But anyone who has spent a lifetime inside the machinery knows this is a myth. These domains rarely overlap. In fact, they often conflict.

And yet, every so often, a career emerges …

Diversity in cardiology is a power problem, not a pipeline

Teddy A. Teddy, MD

July 7, 2026Jul 7, 2026

A Black medical student with top board scores applies to cardiology fellowship. She has no research mentor, no letter from a famous cardiologist, and no one to tell her which programs to target. She does not match. The system calls…

Health inequity is often discussed at the bedside, focusing on access to care, treatment decisions, and clinical outcomes. Yet by the time a patient reaches the …

“Are you still practicing?” is the wrong question

Samantha Nazareth, MD

July 7, 2026Jul 7, 2026

An excerpt from I Left Anyway: The Life I Was Supposed to Want. The schedule looked ordinary, which almost made it harder to explain. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead. The computer screen asked me to log in again because five…

An excerpt from I Left Anyway: The Life I Was Supposed to Want.

The schedule looked ordinary, which almost made it harder to explain. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead. The computer screen asked me to log in again because five minutes of stillness was enough for it to decide I had disappeared. There was no collapse that day, no scandal, no final straw that would make the story easy.

I washed …

How compliance quietly captured medical ethics

Brian Lynch, MD

July 7, 2026Jul 7, 2026

There is a fifth pillar of American medical ethics. It was never voted on, never formally adopted, and never appears in Beauchamp and Childress. It governs clinical conduct more reliably than the other four combined. It is called compliance. What…

What the compliance framework has accomplished is not the erosion of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and fidelity. It is their capture. Each pillar has been quietly redefined until it means something closer to …

Good doctors leave medicine when integrity costs them

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

July 6, 2026Jul 6, 2026

Medicine tells itself a reassuring story: Excellence is rewarded, integrity is recognized, and systems ultimately support the clinicians who work to make them better. But anyone who has spent a career inside the machinery knows the truth is more complicated.…

Across decades in developmental-behavioral pediatrics, disability advocacy, and hospital leadership, I have watched a quiet, corrosive pattern repeat …

Medicine and metaphysics belong together again

Neal Taub, MD

July 6, 2026Jul 6, 2026

For most of human history, medicine and metaphysics were inseparable. Physicians sought not only to understand the body but to understand the meaning of illness, the purpose of suffering, and the relationship between healer and patient. Healing was more than…

That began to change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The remarkable successes of scientific medicine, driven by advances …

The 3 flight-line lessons operating room safety missed

Colin G. Knight, MD

July 5, 2026Jul 5, 2026

Surgery borrowed the checklist from aviation and stopped there. Three more lessons from the flight line, on distraction, automation, and fixation, are still waiting to be picked up. On September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 descended toward Charlotte…

Surgery borrowed the checklist from aviation and stopped there. Three more lessons from the flight line, on distraction, automation, and fixation, are still waiting to be picked up.

On September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 descended toward Charlotte in light fog. The cockpit voice recorder captured the crew talking about politics and used cars while the DC-9 sank below its assigned altitude. The airplane hit terrain short of the …

A medical board complaint that fueled my burnout

Ryan Kaufman, MD

July 5, 2026Jul 5, 2026

My wife worked as a retail store manager for twelve years. We often joked that her customers were one psychiatric hospitalization away from turning into my patients. As my career progressed, our jokes became a disappointing reality. My meetings with insurance reviewers, outpatient clinics, and even hospital administrators referenced “consumers” and “clients.” The issue with the use of the term “provider” becomes more important if our patients are seen as …

A physician’s three lessons on gratitude in medicine

Scott Abramson, MD

July 4, 2026Jul 4, 2026

A rabbi asks his students a question: "Where does God dwell?" One student answered, "Heaven." Another answered, "We are only human; we cannot possibly know where God dwells." "No," the rabbi replied. "God dwells wherever we choose to let God…

A rabbi asks his students a question: “Where does God dwell?” One student answered, “Heaven.” Another answered, “We are only human; we cannot possibly know where God dwells.” “No,” the rabbi replied. “God dwells wherever we choose to let God in.” Might not the same question be asked about gratitude? Where does gratitude dwell? And the answer may be the same. Gratitude dwells wherever we choose to let gratitude into …

Smartphone overuse is a disease doctors ignore

Justin Oldfield, MD

July 4, 2026Jul 4, 2026

Imagine, for a moment, an epidemic sweeping the country. No one is immune. Its vague symptoms range from physical to mental, but they appear unrelated. Unlike during COVID, however, there is no outcry from health officials, the government, or the public. The problem is widely felt but rarely confronted; its insidious nature allows it to pass as normal. Therefore, the medical and scientific communities have made no serious effort to …

Why the wrong physician employer can end your career

Richard A. Lawhern, PhD & Richard Willner, DPM

July 4, 2026Jul 4, 2026

Today, many physicians will be considering applying for employment at a hospital or clinic. You might be one of those. Finding your next employer is the most important decision you have made since you entered medical school, because selecting the wrong one may end your career as a doctor. And even if a bad employer choice does not end your career, you may have a difficult experience in re-starting your …

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