Since the study of science is the most common route taken to a career in medicine, there’s a tendency among doctors to neglect, if not outright scoff at the arts and humanities. That’s a shame, and not only because an appreciation of history or philosophy might make you a better doctor. I’m in complete agreement with that notion, but as an opinion, it can’t be definitively proven.

Instead, I think it’s …

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In a previous piece, I described the killer B’s of burnout in medicine, namely, bleakness, boredom, and bureaucracy. Both times I went through burnout, the cycle started with boredom. I found medicine so full of the mundane most days, after about five years in practice, I grew restless. There’s only so much time after your office is done, the kitchen is clean, and the kids are in …

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Is it possible to break down a complex phenomenon like professional burnout into a simple triad? We do it for exotic diseases all the time, so why not?

I still remember my salad days in med school vividly. Bouncing between the cockiness of amassing an entirely new body of knowledge and the awkwardness of having nary a clue how to use it, it was excitement I hadn’t felt before or since. …

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I’m new to the job of coroner. Though I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone to hear that it’s nothing like C.S.I.; you measure the wait for test results in months, not minutes. It’s not like Quincy, M.E. either, where the same person responsible for the autopsy hops about cracking a case that somehow befuddles police. Most deaths are natural, with a good number of accidents and suicides, despite the media’s …

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