Recently, a patient came in around 11 p.m., just as the chaos of the day had settled, and I was thinking of rest after 16 hours of work. He was an older gentleman with vague and concerning complaints that would demand a thorough workup. I suspended my thoughts of self-preservation and stepped in to evaluate him.
After an hour and a half, I had found a source of infection that explained …
A day in the beautiful life of this doctor
I was at work a few nights ago. We had had a patient death early in the morning before I got there, and the body was still in the room awaiting the JP’s arrival. The family was en route back with the children (he was only 57) and the body was not presentable. Blood, saliva, a gaping mouth and lividity with rigor were a bad combination for the kids to see. …
Pretending the world is homogeneous is a dangerous path
Physician, heal thyself.
That’s the unwritten rule, sadly, for us. I am a physician. I am therefore invincible and inhuman and all the things my patients cannot be. To seek help is a sign of weakness, and our profession has no place for the weak of body, mind or spirit. We work through illness because our patients deserve that and disease and …
Physician, heal thyself. But is it even possible today?
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