Freida McFadden, MD

I promise you. It’s definitely not cancer.

Physician

June 8, 2017

“Dr. McGill!”

I look up and see seventy-one-year-old Herman Katz hurrying across the waiting room with outstretched arms. Herman Katz is the bane of my existence. During my short stint at the VA, I have had him in my examining room …

A patient with a right brain injury. And an accusation.

Freida McFadden, MD

Physician

May 26, 2016

You can’t pick your parents, and you can’t pick the side of your brain that you damage.

I always thought that injuries to the left side of the brain would be the worst, because that’s where the language centers generally are. And talking is basically all I do. But after seeing uncountable numbers of strokes and brain injuries, I’ve changed my mind. Right brain injuries are worse.

The right side of the …

The time I was a 16-year-old standardized patient

Freida McFadden, MD

Physician

October 4, 2015

An excerpt from 11 out of 10: A Collection of Humorous Medical Short Stories.

When I was 16, I got a job as a “standardized patient.” My neighbor worked for a medical school, and they needed standardized patients for their medical students to practice talking to. Because apparently you can …

A medical student on her obstetrics rotation: Behind the scenes

Freida McFadden, MD

Education

May 23, 2015

An excerpt form Baby City: An Inside Look into Labor & Delivery.

I am going to make this medical student cry.

I don’t know how I know it, but somehow I can sense it. I know it the second she walks into the resident room on labor and delivery at Cadence …

Suicide Med: A medical school thriller

Freida McFadden, MD

Education

July 26, 2014

An excerpt from Suicide Med.

“I wish I had become a ballet dancer instead.”

I use the back of my forearm to swipe at strands of dark hair that have come loose from the tight bun at the back of my head. The attempt fails and the escaped locks fall back …

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Suicide Med: A medical school thriller