Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Arthur Lazarus is a former Doximity Fellow, a member of the editorial board of the American Association for Physician Leadership, and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is the author of several books on narrative medicine and the fictional series Real Medicine, Unreal Stories. His latest book, a novel, is JAILBREAK: When Artificial Intelligence Breaks Medicine.

Catastrophic failure of educational leadership can affect medical students

Education

December 11, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said he can’t define pornography, but he knows it when he sees it. Stewart might just as well have been talking about leadership—reflecting the difficulty in providing a precise definition of leadership but suggesting that individuals can recognize ineffectual leadership when they encounter it.

The abject failure of three university presidents to answer “yes” to a simple question—whether calls for the genocide of Jews violate …

Burnout on the U.S.S. Enterprise

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Conditions

December 8, 2023

The original Star Trek television series, in my opinion, stands out as the best of the bunch. It lasted only three years (1966-1969), but it has retained a cult following. Among its many television “firsts” were the initial inter-racial kiss (between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura) and perhaps the first depiction of burnout, as seen in the two-part episode “The Menagerie.”

Originally intended as the pilot, “The Menagerie” was postponed to …

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Burnout on the U.S.S. Enterprise

Bad grammar makes me mad. I can’t help it.

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

November 27, 2023

Some of the most brilliantly funny men have the saddest personal lives. John Belushi, Chris Farley, and Sam Kinison were all preceded by Jerome Lester Horwitz, otherwise known as Curly of the Three Stooges: n’yuk-n’yuk-n’yuk. Why, soitenly the tragic life of a comedic legend deserves a great biography, and while Curly’s niece (Moe’s daughter) did her best to amass a wealth of Curly memorabilia – a mixture of …

Let’s close the gap between physician writers and writers who are physicians

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

November 20, 2023

“Oh, I didn’t know you’re a writer,” my neighbor said as I handed her a complimentary copy of my recently published book.

“Not really,” I replied. “I’m just a physician who likes to write.”

The conversation ended, but later, I began to think: What’s the difference between a physician writer and a writer who is a physician? What should I say to somebody else who makes a comment like my neighbor? I …

The fine line between childhood illnesses and Munchausen syndrome by proxy

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Conditions

November 18, 2023

“Fine lines” in medicine often refer to situations where decisions are not clear-cut and require careful judgment. Perhaps the most tenuous of lines is the one between “real” childhood illnesses and those caused by Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP), also known as factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), refers to a specific form of child abuse in which a caregiver, typically a parent or guardian, fabricates, exaggerates, …

The physician of the future may not be a clinician

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

November 14, 2023

In a recent essay, I marveled at the qualities that will set apart tomorrow’s physicians from previous generations. And while everything I wrote I believed to be true, I suppose I neglected a major concern, a big blind spot as it were. In order to become clinicians, medical students must first enter practice. That seems obvious, but a recent report gives reason to pause and reflect on medical students’ …

Sending in “tougher canaries” won’t fix the problem of physician well-being

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

November 11, 2023

Many surveys and reports have acknowledged that physicians are unwell, and their numbers have reached crisis proportion. “We aren’t going to fix this problem by noting that canaries are dying in the coal mine and … sending out for tougher canaries,” remarked Gary Price, MD, an attending surgeon at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut and president of the Physicians Foundation, a physician empowerment organization.

Price’s remarks were actually …

The real story behind Woodstock is not the brown acid

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

November 5, 2023

In my search for ever-obscure rock music from my generation – not the greatest generation but the flower generation – I came across a CD collection of rare songs titled “Brown Acid: The Seventeenth Trip,” appropriately subtitled: “Heavy Rock from the Underground Comedown.” The record review began as follows: “Lucky number 17? You better believe it. We here at Brown Acid have been scouring the highways and byways of America …

Medicine has become the new McDonald’s of health care

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Policy

November 2, 2023

I was having a conversation with a colleague about a state-funded Medicaid managed care organization (MCO). She told me that the mental health performance measures used by the state to evaluate the MCO were all “placement and provider issues,” such as the amount of time children spent sleeping on the floors of social services offices or languishing in emergency departments (ED) before they were transferred for treatment or placed into …

Reflections on human suffering

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

October 28, 2023

I was in my upstairs office when I heard the doorbell ring. I ran downstairs to open the door, unable to see through the opaque window who was on the other side. I opened the door, and there stood an elderly Black man and woman, well dressed, with leaflets and literature. I immediately recognized that this was an unsolicited proselytization.

“Can I help you,” I inquired. The woman handed me a …

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Reflections on human suffering

Kick start your writing with a surprise

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

October 23, 2023

One of the most memorable scenes in Goodfellas occurs early on, when the audience is introduced to most of the crew at the Bamboo Lounge. Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) get into a tense exchange. Tommy seems to get offended after Henry calls him funny. “I’m funny how, Tommy wants to know?” “I mean, funny like a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh?”

Unknown to …

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Kick start your writing with a surprise

Halloween is almost here. Why aren’t you writing?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

October 16, 2023

Sir Isaac Newton dedicated as much, if not more, of his time to the study of alchemy than he did to the natural order of the universe, but most of his work as an alchemist remained unpublished until long after his death when a metal chest full of his belongings was auctioned in 1936. The great man of science, the first of the Age of Reason, was simultaneously the last …

Expressive writing reduces caregiver stress

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

October 8, 2023

Today, more than one in five Americans are caregivers, providing care to an adult or child with special needs at some time in the past 12 months. Given this sobering statistic, I’m surprised we do not see as many health narratives written by caregivers as, say, doctors and patients, at least not in print.

Caregiving is emotionally draining. However, writing when you are in a caregiving role is one of a …

The essence of health narratives, including poetry

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

October 3, 2023

In the vast universe of all that has been written, writing about loss, illness, and death is probably second only to writing about intimacy, relationships, and longing. In the world of narrative medicine, the order is reversed. Patients are harnessing the power of writing, sharing, and telling stories of health and sickness using personal narratives to navigate illness, trauma, and grief. The experience of being ill is made less isolating …

Practicing medicine with conviction

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

September 28, 2023

What does it take for physicians to practice with conviction – to practice medicine with a sense of confidence and commitment, passionate about your work? What factors allow medical students to enter the resident pool each July and turn their timidness into poise? How do you learn to stand by your medical convictions and base your decision-making on a deep understanding of the patient combined with the latest evidence-based practices? …

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Practicing medicine with conviction

Crying to be heard: women in emotional pain

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Conditions

September 17, 2023

I am struck by how often crying is overlooked or trivialized by doctors despite its therapeutic value and need for recognition. Crying can play a significant role in healing and overall well-being. Research has shown that crying serves as an emotional release, provides pain relief, reduces stress, improves mood, and enhances communication. Encouraging a culture of acceptance and understanding around crying in medical settings can contribute to holistic and empathetic …

Man’s search for meaning is spiritual, and relevant to medicine

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

September 14, 2023

Viktor Frankl’s Holocaust memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning, is an extraordinary essay on resilience and spirituality, a reminder that human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have meaning. At the risk of mentioning Bob Dylan in the same sentence as Viktor Frankl, it was Dylan who said: “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” I suppose Bob Dylan read the book too, ranked …

A season of emotions: spring, trauma, and healing

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

September 9, 2023

Spring is an interesting time of the year for me. April 15 may actually be my favorite day, but certainly not because income taxes are due. My dad was born on April 15, but that’s not the reason either.

Let me set the scene. I lived in a beautiful home in a wooded area outside Philadelphia for ten years. The area is known as the Brandywine Valley. It’s the site of the …

Discovering self through creative writing and medicine

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

September 3, 2023

“The balance to fact and analysis is feeling,” our narrative medicine writing instructor informs us. “You’ll find that each poem and essay and story that you write reflects a new aspect of yourself. Be curious about what’s going on. Allow new poems onto the page. Allow free writing in prose and poetry. You have worlds inside you.”

And then, predictably, the homework assignment for next week: “Create and post your ‘800 …

Physicians divided: SCOTUS affirmative action ban sparks debate

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Policy

September 2, 2023

The fallout from the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to ban racially conscious admissions at Harvard and The University of North Carolina has had major repercussions throughout the medical profession. I would say that physicians are highly divided on the issue of affirmative action, with many believing that meritorious performance should determine admission to medical school rather than race and ethnicity. In fact, a Read more…

Physicians divided: SCOTUS affirmative action ban sparks debate