I was, without a doubt, in a desperate place—going back to school after not taking a math course in over six years and attempting to study calculus. It was as stressful as it sounds. Like so many of the students in my post-baccalaureate cohort, we deeply valued our education at this point—which is not surprising, considering we all had to work jobs to pay for it. But luckily, I had …
The health care system, in theory, operates on one fundamental principle: to prioritize patient welfare. Yet, contemporary systems in many regions, particularly the United States, have increasingly veered off course, entangling themselves in a jungle of bureaucracy, regulation, and profit-driven motives that obscure the vital role patients play as the focal point of care. The result is a system riddled with inefficiencies, frustration, and barriers to optimal health care delivery.
I read Dr. Harry Severance’s recent piece, “Violence in health care: Why doctors and nurses are leaving,” with a sinking feeling of recognition. He’s right. Health care is becoming the most dangerous profession in America. Violence is no longer rare or shocking—it’s something every physician and nurse now half-expects at some point in their career.
I still remember an early shift in the ER when I was stitching up a …
Room 1, ICU — Love on life support
This was a busy Saturday in 2022.
06:45 — I walk into the unit and spot a gray-haired man pacing outside Room 1. Clothes rumpled, air sharp with sweat. The moment he catches my white coat he stops.
“Doctor, any updates for me?”
Through the glass I glimpse his world: a woman in her …
It’s not the easiest question to ask aloud—especially in medicine, where we pronounce death but rarely reflect on it.
We chart it. Certify it. Explain it.
But what does it mean to die?
For most of us, the word carries a double weight. It means to stop biologically. To cease. To end.
But it also means to vanish. To be forgotten. To be no longer seen, needed, or named.
As a surgeon, I saw death …
Here in the Midwest we have finally made it through the doldrums of winter, which also indicates the season that basketball fans eagerly anticipate all year: March Madness.
The annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) single-elimination basketball tournament inspires millions of folks to fill out brackets predicting the winners, myself included. I love sports for a multitude of reasons, and witnessing these young adults experiencing some of the best—and hardest—moments of …
When I read Didi’s story, my heart recognized every detail—the subtle disrespect, the overt hostility, the isolation. I felt seen. Not just because I understood her pain but because I lived it, too.
In 1998, I began medical school in Oklahoma. Young, hopeful, and profoundly aware of the honor medicine held, I imagined a career built on compassion and respect. Instead, what greeted me was bias, microaggressions, and disrespect—from seniors, nurses, …
When I was unemployed, I applied for countless positions. For months, I have been waiting for a call letter regarding a test or an interview. Now that I have accepted a job at a hospital located far away, I receive call letters in the mail almost every day. This makes me uncomfortable because I know that, being new in my position, I cannot take time off for any test or …
In ancient times, there were oracles and soothsayers. Risk management was not a science until the 1950s. However, a medical malpractice lawsuit is still a problem in need of a skilled risk manager, not an oracle or a soothsayer.
Today, there are 1 million physicians practicing in the U.S. A doctor’s chance of being sued for medical malpractice is 8.5 percent per year, and the chance that this lawsuit has no …
I was scheduled to see a prominent federal judge in my office at 9:00 a.m. The judge requested the first appointment of the day and expected to be seen promptly at 9:00 a.m. I had an emergency providing care for a patient in clot retention. As a result, I was not able to see him at the designated time. At 9:15 a.m., he approached the desk and asked when he …
It is early Sunday morning—there’s the rare kind of quiet today that feels borrowed. My daughter is still asleep beside my wife, and the house is hushed in that golden stillness. I find myself flipping through the paper copy of The Rheumatologist’s “Best of 2024” supplement that had arrived earlier in the week—I just wanted a brief escape from medical records (and even more so, from studying).
Half-skimming, half-unwinding, I …
Practicing medicine today is not what most of us envisioned when we chose it as a profession. We still love science. We still love health. We still love helping patients and being healers.
But the practice of medicine has changed—and continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace. Navigating this shifting landscape requires a new mindset—one rooted in adaptability, self-awareness, and resilience. The way we were trained to practice medicine twenty or …
This article is satire.
Dr. Donovan Trumble was not your average internist.
In fact, if you asked him, he wasn’t your average anything.
He called himself “the most successful physician-researcher in America—maybe ever,” and once declared during grand rounds, “If Sir William Osler were alive today, he’d be my opening act.”
To the faculty at the Ivy League medical school where Trumble had once chaired the Department of Clinical Egotism (officially “Translational Medicine,” but …
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Like many parents, I love to talk about my children. A conversation with someone to whom I’m newly introduced often begins: “Do you have children?” (Yes). “How many?” (Two). Their natural and understandable follow-up question usually is: “Boys or girls?”
Usually, I revel in the possibilities inherent in meeting someone new. However, at this moment I pause and silently protest. Ugg!! This is a question that one should NEVER ask someone …
Recent headlines confirm what many Americans have sensed for the past few years: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in crisis. A sweeping wave of layoffs is reshaping federal health agencies at every level—from the NIH to the CDC to the FDA. Some dismiss this as a political maneuver or an act of chaos. Others see it as an attack on career civil servants. I see …
It is a routine Saturday morning—I am sitting in my office, looking at the snowflakes dropping outside my window. As I sip on my cup of Earl Grey tea preparing my psyche for a busy day of managing an on-call shift on an acute care psychiatry floor, I am suddenly washed over by grief. A very similar Saturday a year ago, I was saying goodbye to my father as he …
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After I was medically discharged from the military for seeking mental health treatment and transitioned out of surgery residency to recover, I isolated in guilt, shame, and exhaustion.
Despite my surgery program director telling me repeatedly that he was not disappointed in me and supporting me fully in my decision to transition into a different specialty where I could better take care of my health, I felt worthless …
If you are working as an independent or locum tenens physician, there’s a good chance you’ve found yourself wondering: Am I being paid fairly for my time and expertise? Unlike employed physicians, whose compensation is often shaped by established benchmarks and internal HR formulas, independent and locum tenens doctors are frequently left to navigate negotiations on their own—often with limited information.
Understanding what constitutes “fair market value” in this context is …
“What did you have for breakfast today?”
This phrase is a crucial part of my morning rounds.
While interacting with the patient, the greeting is very important. I believe doctors who approach the bedside without introducing themselves and who immediately ask about the patient’s active complaint tend to come across as less compassionate (whatever their actual intentions might be). This can hinder the development of the bond necessary for obtaining a complete …
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As we near the end of Nurses Week, I can’t help but express my gratitude for our true health care heroes: nurses. Throughout my 20 years in medicine, I have worked with nurses on a daily basis. As an innocent, bumbling medical student, they would teach me how to place an IV or how to supplement potassium. In residency, they would teach the ins and outs of ICU care even …
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