Physician

How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

Physician
July 1, 2025

Across America, physicians worry about malpractice litigation—but what happens when state policies unintentionally create a malpractice litigation magnet? New Mexico offers a troubling case study every health care provider should know about.

Between 2019 and 2024, New Mexico lost 248 practicing physicians; for a large state with a small population, this is significant. Rural communities bear the brunt of this exodus. Specialists, surgeons, and primary care doctors alike have left, most …

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Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

Physician
July 1, 2025

I entered medicine like many young physicians do—eager, determined, and drawn to its promise of excellence. The white coat, the respect, the thrill of diagnosing a rare disease or saving a critical life—all of it called to me with undeniable force. I studied relentlessly, passed my boards, published research, and spoke on conference stages. Those achievements came with a sense of pride, even joy. But they were not the full …

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Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

Physician
June 30, 2025

Canada prides itself on being a welcoming nation for immigrants, particularly those with advanced professional qualifications. However, Canada persistently underemploys highly skilled immigrant professionals, especially physicians. An official report by the Conference Board of Canada and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) in 2023 confirmed that growing numbers of immigrants are leaving Canada within seven years of landing. Daniel Bernhard, ICC’s chief executive, stated, “It’s not good enough to just …

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Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

Physician
June 30, 2025

It rolled past me—the same dull, tan utility cart we usually use to haul IV pumps, portable monitors, or the occasional dead printer. No decorations. No sign. Just an enormous pile of candy and snacks.

To be fair, it wasn’t bad candy. There were Kit Kats. Some decent chocolate. But still, the message was clear: “We see you. We care. Here’s a Kit Kat.” And because our admin staff does care—a …

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Why screening for diseases you might have can backfire

Physician
June 30, 2025

An excerpt from A Return to Healing.

Patients often ask me to do whatever tests are necessary to make sure they don’t have cancer or any other really bad diseases. It’s called screening: Look for diseases before patients exhibit symptoms, then fix the problems before they can rear their ugly head. Many of my patients believe that they have had their lives saved this way, always by a caring and …

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Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

Physician
June 28, 2025

Recently, while reading The History of Medicine by William Bynum, I was struck by a line that quietly reframed a great deal of what we claim to believe about our profession. Reflecting on how medicine has evolved, Bynum writes: “When in doubt, remember the Hippocratic injunction that health is most likely to be found in the middle way.”

That notion, nuanced, modest, and deeply clinical, feels worlds apart from …

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International doctors blocked by visa delays as U.S. faces physician shortage

Physician
June 28, 2025

This story is fiction but inspired by the real and worsening challenges faced by international medical graduates navigating U.S. immigration policy.

The acceptance letter sat printed on top of Nabeel Khan’s passport, still warm from the old inkjet printer in his family’s living room in Lahore. The words glowed like prophecy: “Congratulations! We are thrilled to welcome you to our Internal Medicine Residency Program at St. Julian’s Hospital, Topeka, Kansas, …

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How I redesigned my life as a physician without abandoning medicine

Physician
June 27, 2025

It was 7:45 a.m., and I stood frozen in the middle of a sidewalk on campus, barely awake undergrads shuffling past me on their way to morning classes. My daily walk to work cut through a part of the university where the college of medicine sits beside student dorms. It is a path I’d tread as a wide-eyed student, a determined trainee, and now, a weary attending. That morning, I …

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Why even the best employees are silently quitting health care

Physician
June 26, 2025

Imagine yourself being miserable at work and you have been thinking about quitting for a long time now, but you are just really good at what you do. Your colleagues approached you when they needed advice and even your patients praised and thanked you all the time. Imagine leaving all of this and walking away from years’ worth of hard work.

Initially, you might have felt guilty and isolated for feeling …

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Why truth still matters in the courtroom: lessons from a physician witness

Physician
June 25, 2025

“In the courtroom, I was asked to speak about wounds. But the deepest wounds I saw weren’t just in patients — they were in trust, in truth, and in the silence that follows when no one wants to say what really happened.”

I never aspired to testify in court. Like most physicians, I trained to treat patients — not to evaluate the decisions of others. But then a case came. A …

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Why the future of medicine depends on leading from the heart

Physician
June 25, 2025

There’s a sacred irony in medicine: Those who care for hearts often forget their own.

This truth came into sharp focus for me this past weekend, where I found myself in a room of women cardiologists at The American College of Cardiology in D.C.

The women in attendance were brilliant and compassionate. They spend their days pacing hearts, restarting them, and stenting them open. They are experts in life’s most vital rhythm. …

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Why holding a patient’s hand matters more than technology

Physician
June 25, 2025

I was on another overnight shift in the OB/GYN emergency department. The air was thick with tension, as it always is when the night is full of contractions, cries, and codes. One woman arrived in active labor — her first baby, frightened eyes, and no family by her side.

Everyone rushed to prepare for the delivery. Monitors beeped. Gloves snapped. Orders flew around the room. The focus was on the baby. …

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The weaponization of rules: How regulatory overreach puts physicians and health care at risk

Physician
June 24, 2025

In recent years, an alarming trend has emerged within the health care system, one that is eroding the very backbone of medical care delivery: the physician. What once were rules and regulations designed to protect and elevate the standard of medical care are increasingly being exploited by medical authorities as a tool to extort, reprimand, and harass physicians. More disturbingly, this extortion is now cloaked as “education,” forcing doctors to …

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Ethical dilemmas in using unclaimed bodies for medical research

Physician
June 23, 2025

In January, I wrote regarding the biased NBC report on unidentified bodies from a coroner’s office being used by a medical school. Subsequently, the network aired two related episodes.

The second report centered on a self-employed purveyor of bodies and parts. He displayed no respect for the people whose bodies or parts he sold. The report was disturbing, as there is an ethical difference between an individual profiting from these …

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The Nova Oath: a physician’s pledge to courageous and ethical care

Physician
June 23, 2025

The Nova Oath is a modern physician’s declaration of courageous care and ethical impact:

I stand not merely as a technician of the body, but as a steward of life, a witness to pain, and a catalyst for healing.

I vow:

  • To do more than avoid harm — I will do good: actively, intelligently, and compassionately.
  • To honor the trust placed in me not as entitlement, but as a sacred contract — …

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True stories of doctors reclaiming their humanity in a system that challenges it

Physician
June 23, 2025

There’s a quiet rebellion happening in medicine. A movement of physicians no longer willing to sacrifice their humanity for productivity quotas, administrative burdens, or the illusion of perfection. We wrote White Coats, Courageous Hearts with thirteen other physicians to shine a light on this shift—voices reclaiming agency in a system that often forgets that doctors are human, too.

Alae Kawam, DO:

There has been a profound cultural shift—and an emerging rift—in the …

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Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

Physician
June 22, 2025

The emergency physician across from me had it all on paper: good schedule, six-figure salary, respected by colleagues, two kids in college, mortgage nearly paid off. “I should be grateful,” she said, staring at her coffee. “But I keep wondering — is this it for the next twenty years?” If you’re nodding, you’re not alone. That quiet restlessness isn’t ingratitude. It’s evolution.

The script we’ve all been given

From day one of …

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How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

Physician
June 21, 2025

I have never been outside my hospital since I joined two months ago.

As the only doctor in the oncology department, I cannot take the time to roam around the hospital. My duty hours are filled with chemotherapy treatments and the continuous monitoring of sick patients.

The hospital where I work is affiliated with a private medical college. On Saturdays and Sundays, the students have a holiday. It was a Saturday, and …

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How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

Physician
June 21, 2025

An excerpt from Real Medicine, Unreal Stories: Lessons and Insights from Clinical Practice (Volume 2).

The dinner plates had been cleared and a lazy instrumental playlist drifted through the background. Thad Brigham leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile crossing his face as he looked at his daughters across the table.

“You two always manage to bring the energy back into this old house,” he …

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A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

Physician
June 21, 2025

8:00 a.m.: The start of a not-so-perfect morning

I wake up, already running a bit behind. I toss last night’s leftovers into a lunchbox while thinking, Will this meet my nutrition for the day? Maybe tomorrow I’ll pack something better. Morning routine kicks in: shower, brush, poop, pack bag, grab tea. No time to sit and sip, I carry it with me.

8:45 a.m.: Wheels on the ground

I hop into my WHO-assigned …

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