A widow’s walk, also known as a widow’s watch or roof walk, is a railed rooftop platform often having an inner cupola or turret, frequently found on 19th-century North American coastal houses. The name is said to come from the wives of mariners, who would watch for their spouses’ return, often in vain, as the ocean took their lives, leaving the women widows. In other coastal communities, the platforms were …
“Health is a matter of choice, not a mystery of chance.”
—Aristotle
As an end-of-life (EOL) consultant, one aspect of my job is advance care planning, which involves helping people create an advance directive. An advance directive (AD) has two components. The living will portion lists the treatment options and choices you want or don’t want if you become incapacitated due to an accident or a medical crisis. In the second portion, …
The war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has created one of the world’s largest displacement crises, forcing more than 10 million people to flee their homes. The warring sides, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, are inflicting horrendous violence on people across the country. Hospitals have been attacked, markets bombed, and houses razed to the ground, leading to a catastrophic toll on the health of …
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We sit down with William Lynes, a urologist, to discuss the complexities surrounding the inclusion of SGID athletes in female sports. William explores the impact of biology on performance, the potential risks for female athletes, …
A quote by Sir Winston Churchill: “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
Actually, Churchill never said this. It may have been Ian Gilmour, a member of Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet, years after Churchill’s death. Nevertheless, this quote is often cited in the context of risk management. It is as relevant in a medical malpractice lawsuit as it is a warning to malpractice attorneys. No matter how elegant …
When I’m not knocking on exam-room doors as a pediatrician in New York City, I’m knocking on voters’ doors in Northampton, Pennsylvania—a small county that could determine the outcome of this year’s nail-biting presidential election.
Each time I walk up to a voter’s front door, my heartbeat quickens. You would think a doctor who talks to total strangers every day would be immune to such jitters. But even with a door-knocking …
My first ICU rotation of intern year was filled with great darkness. It was dark outside as I walked from my car into the hospital each morning before sunrise, and it was again dark when I walked to my car at the end of the day. Less than one hour into my first day in the ICU, a patient’s weak and ineffectual heart stopped beating, and CPR was swiftly initiated. …
My parents, both physicians, embody the American story. After completing medical school in Iran, they were recruited to the U.S. in 1968 to fill the gap left by doctors sent to Vietnam. Building a life from the ground up, they became pillars of their patients and communities — and our family, too. In 1992, they became citizens, finally gaining the right to vote, and they’ve never missed an election since, …
Introduction
In the book Ender’s Game, humans face a time-dilation war in which they must travel light-years into the future to face an enemy of unknown strength and scale. The weapons and technology they possess for the journey may be outdated by their arrival, because relativity minimizes the passage of time. The same dilemma is true for medical and premedical students who can spend decades in training, only to emerge without …
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We sit down with Taylor J. Christensen, an internal medicine physician and health policy researcher, to discuss his health care incentives framework. Taylor explains how restructuring financial incentives can encourage providers and insurers …
Eight female nurses at a United Kingdom hospital are suing their employer for not assuring their psychological and physical safety. The nurses work in specialized areas that require their changing uniforms once daily. There is a trans-female nurse, similarly specialized, who changes with them. He wanders about the locker room in briefs or nude, the women report, ogling them as they exchange clothing. It has also been related that he …
As future medical professionals, we see the real-life consequences of political decisions in emergency rooms, hospitals, and clinics. Despite a growing recognition that voting is directly linked to better health outcomes, however, health professionals are voting at lower rates than the national average. It’s time that we make a change this election.
We see patients denied essential services due to bureaucratic hurdles, such as insurance coverage gaps for life-saving medications …
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As physicians, we are often collectively gaslit—made to believe that somehow, we are responsible for system failures. Many physicians are brainwashed to “drink the Kool-Aid” and accept phrases like, “This is the way things have always been done.” We are made to feel inhuman when we advocate for ourselves as if we are somehow to blame. The system uses terms like “unprofessional,” “unable to cope with the rigors of being …
Due to rising rates of burnout and depression among health care providers, the U.S. is looking at a projected shortfall of over 3.2 million health care workers by 2026. In parallel, the health care industry is grappling with a 13 percent decline in provider productivity that is directly correlated with the increased adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs). This raises a critical question on …
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We sit down with Oluyemisi (Yemi) Famuyiwa, a fertility specialist and founder of Montgomery Fertility Center, to explore the hidden barriers patients face when accessing fertility medications. We delve into the complex role …
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As an outpatient adult psychiatrist, I have witnessed an increasing trend of patients seeking a diagnosis of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Often, these patients have had friends or family members diagnosed with the condition and wonder whether they have it as well. They have read about ADHD online and felt that the described symptoms matched perfectly with their lived experience. They were never diagnosed as children but remember …
Attending academic conferences as a medical student offers a wealth of opportunities. Whether it’s networking, finding potential mentors, deepening your knowledge of specialties, or simply exploring new cities, conferences provide unique experiences that can significantly shape your career. As a medical student, I had the chance to attend both regional and national vascular surgery conferences through travel scholarships, and I want to share the lessons I learned in the hope …
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A million vulnerable patients have died in the last decade, and while I have no doubt the rate of overdose and poisoning will drop nationwide—killing a million vulnerable patients has that effect eventually—I choose not to contribute to that death rate. This decision is in accordance with my deeply held beliefs. In 2014, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed the Arkansas Conscience Protection Act into law, supposedly protecting health care professionals who …
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