William Lynes, MD
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Latest articles
Physician voices
The frequency and severity of physician burnout have resulted in an epidemic that is impairing the American health care delivery system. Herbert Freudenberger coined the term burnout in 1977, referring to a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or cynicism,…
The frequency and severity of physician burnout have resulted in an epidemic that is impairing the American health care delivery system. Herbert Freudenberger coined the term burnout in 1977, referring to a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or cynicism, and a lack of personal accomplishment. He noted that burnout reduced health care workers’ ability to provide excellent patient care and adversely affected their well-being.
Physician burnout is rampant in the …
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Preventing physician burnout: an educational approach
Physician voices
Something is wrong with our health care system. Our country spends more per capita than any other developed nation, yet we have some of the worst health care outcomes. Rising costs are making health care prohibitive. Access to the system…
Something is wrong with our health care system. Our country spends more per capita than any other developed nation, yet we have some of the worst health care outcomes. Rising costs are making health care prohibitive. Access to the system is becoming a growing concern. Medical care has become bureaucratic, bulky, and inefficient. I am a retired physician, a urologist, who has observed the health care system from outside medical …
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The decline of the doctor-patient relationship
Conditions and diseases
As a urologist, I consider myself an expert on the subject of prostate cancer. Here is a urologist's view of a hypothetical announcement from a former U.S. president, five months after leaving office, of widespread high-grade metastatic prostate cancer. Prostate…
As a urologist, I consider myself an expert on the subject of prostate cancer. Here is a urologist’s view of a hypothetical announcement from a former U.S. president, five months after leaving office, of widespread high-grade metastatic prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males. It begins as a cancer in the prostate, and with progression, metastatic disease occurs, primarily in the axial skeleton. Prostate cancer is known …
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A urologist’s perspective on presidential health transparency
Physician voices
Physician burnout and physician suicide continue to plague the medical profession. Everyone knows the tragic statistic: one U.S. physician commits suicide each day. While some statistics report a decrease in the problem over time, the accuracy of these reports is…
Physician burnout and physician suicide continue to plague the medical profession. Everyone knows the tragic statistic: one U.S. physician commits suicide each day. While some statistics report a decrease in the problem over time, the accuracy of these reports is questionable. The reality is that it is far too common.
The term burnout, while a necessary label, implies that a single factor causes it. In reality, each burned-out physician is different. …
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Teaching medical students what it is really like to be a physician
Conditions and diseases
Watching the 2024 Paris Olympics reminded me of my intense love for sports. It is the nobility, beauty, strength, agility, and fairness that attract me and the audience. Performances by Simone Biles, with her majesty and strength, to Katie Ledecky's'…
Watching the 2024 Paris Olympics reminded me of my intense love for sports. It is the nobility, beauty, strength, agility, and fairness that attract me and the audience. Performances by Simone Biles, with her majesty and strength, to Katie Ledecky’s’ power and domination, surrounded by Olympic and world record performances, often bring me to tears. These attributes have abounded in Paris, but unfortunately, something foul is also afoot.
Sexual and gender …
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Should transgender athletes compete in women’s sports?
Physician voices
An excerpt from A Surgeon's Knot. The phone jarred Jackson Cooper, MD's weary, anxious brain into consciousness from the edge of sleep. He jumped up, dropping the receiver on the cold floor of the call room. "Hello," he said, tension…
An excerpt from A Surgeon’s Knot.
The phone jarred Jackson Cooper, MD’s weary, anxious brain into consciousness from the edge of sleep. He jumped up, dropping the receiver on the cold floor of the call room. “Hello,” he said, tension entering the new intern’s mind.
“Dr. Cooper,” the nurse’s voice said nervously. She almost stuttered as she spoke. “It . . . it’s . . . Mr. Simpson, he’s bleeding. I …
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Tragic turn in the OR: A rookie doctor’s race against time
Physician voices
I had the honor and privilege of visiting Cuba for a missionary trip this past week. As I ponder that amazing time, I will put my thoughts in this essay. Cuba is a small, sad country in the Caribbean. While…
I had the honor and privilege of visiting Cuba for a missionary trip this past week. As I ponder that amazing time, I will put my thoughts in this essay.
Cuba is a small, sad country in the Caribbean. While one can see the tropical beauty and its former potential, the country has been ruined by a communist government and an overarching U.S. embargo, whose presence is now unnecessary. The Cuban …
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A Cuba missionary journey: Witnessing faith amidst hardship
Physician voices
I am a physician, a urologist, but what most people don't know about me is that I am a survivor of mental illness, physician burnout, and multiple suicide attempts. Today, I write about the condition of the medical profession, its…
I am a physician, a urologist, but what most people don’t know about me is that I am a survivor of mental illness, physician burnout, and multiple suicide attempts. Today, I write about the condition of the medical profession, its problem with burnout, and its solutions.
I began practicing general urology in 1987. My subsequent life as a physician can be divided into two very different eras. In the first era, …
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Unmasking physician burnout: a survivor’s story and solutions for a healthy medical profession
Physician voices
I am a physician, specifically a urologist. However, what most people do not know about me is that I am a survivor of multiple suicide attempts. My essay attempts to tell my personal story—a story of burnout, mental illness, and…
I am a physician, specifically a urologist. However, what most people do not know about me is that I am a survivor of multiple suicide attempts. My essay attempts to tell my personal story—a story of burnout, mental illness, and suicide—and to discuss the shame that accompanied these experiences.
I completed my urologic residency in 1987 at Stanford University and began practicing with the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in …
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From physician to survivor: My inspiring journey through burnout, mental illness, and triumph
Physician voices
A most memorable message awaited me on my desk one morning: a brief note from Mrs. G asking, "Why did my husband take his own life today?" Startled, I reflected on Mr. G's history as I had been treating him…
A most memorable message awaited me on my desk one morning: a brief note from Mrs. G asking, “Why did my husband take his own life today?”
Startled, I reflected on Mr. G’s history as I had been treating him in my urology clinic for the past few months. It had recently come to my attention that his complaints were related to painful recurrent renal colic.
Anticipating a distressing phone call, I …
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The tragic story of Mr. G: a painful journey towards understanding suicide
Conditions and diseases
Editor's note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S. It is free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day.…
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S. It is free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day.
I am a physician, a urologist, and a survivor of multiple suicide attempts related to physician burnout. In dealing with my psychopathology, I experienced a devolution in my mental status, …
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The 4 stages of suicidal ideation: a physician’s experience with burnout and self-compassion
Conditions and diseases
Editor's note (2026): Several details in this article need correction. Bethany lies about 2 miles east of Jerusalem, not south. John 11 describes the raising of Lazarus, not the resurrection of Jesus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines…
Editor’s note (2026): Several details in this article need correction. Bethany lies about 2 miles east of Jerusalem, not south. John 11 describes the raising of Lazarus, not the resurrection of Jesus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines sepsis as the body’s extreme response to an infection, not an infection in the bloodstream. Heart muscle begins to die within about 20 to 40 minutes of losing its blood …
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Lazarus: the dead man brought back to life
Conditions and diseases
While the mental illness patient is afflicted by very real and painful feelings, these feelings are internal and not visible to others. The indications of the condition then, whether those of depression, anxiety, or even hallucinations, can be said to…
While the mental illness patient is afflicted by very real and painful feelings, these feelings are internal and not visible to others. The indications of the condition then, whether those of depression, anxiety, or even hallucinations, can be said to be invisible to observers — family, doctor, etc. — in fact, to everyone other than that individual sufferer of mental illness.
A constellation of signs and symptoms is often used to …
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The invisibility of mental illness
Conditions and diseases
The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world, and all of its citizens, around, never to be the same again. As an ICU and ventilator survivor, I focus on the drama of the patient’s room, and the reality of what is…
The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world, and all of its citizens, around, never to be the same again. As an ICU and ventilator survivor, I focus on the drama of the patient’s room, and the reality of what is truly a tragic experience. Nineteen-ninety-eight seems like yesterday, and while it was 22 years ago, it is fresh in my mind.
The vacation abroad that fall was a sunny respite from …
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A physician’s personal experience with sepsis and ventilator support
Physician voices
Addressed to Dr. Lynes, the note sat menacingly in my inbox like a distress signal ominously blinking on a battered ocean coast. “Mr. Smith wants you to read the note before his preop, the nurse said harmlessly.” A premonition that…
Addressed to Dr. Lynes, the note sat menacingly in my inbox like a distress signal ominously blinking on a battered ocean coast.
“Mr. Smith wants you to read the note before his preop, the nurse said harmlessly.” A premonition that day, just one more irrational fear in my downward spiral into darkness.
I am a physician, practicing a noble profession of merit. Sepsis, from a visit to Mexico, began a sad journey …
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Quitting medicine: a disgraced survivor of a bloody suicide attempt
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