If you want perspective on life, then dissect a human heart

Physician
March 11, 2025

Throughout my residency, I’ve had the opportunity to perform autopsies on many different people from different walks of life. One case in particular stood out to me. The decedent was not in the greatest state of health at the time of death and subsequent postmortem examination. After I removed his heart from the pericardial sac and began dissecting each coronary artery in sequential tangential sections back to their origins on …

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If you want perspective on life, then dissect a human heart

Dispelling misconceptions and myths about pathology and laboratory medicine

Physician
January 16, 2025

More than any other discipline of medicine, the specialty of pathology has an image problem. This is ironic for a field whose basic premise centers around images. This is also most unfortunate for medicine at large, as pathology constitutes a highly important component of modern medical care. It is estimated that 70 percent to 80 percent of all medical decisions are based either totally or partially on pathologic and/or laboratory-produced …

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Dispelling misconceptions and myths about pathology and laboratory medicine

I was trolled by another physician on social media. I am happy I did not respond.

Social media
May 21, 2024

I enjoy using social media (SoMe). These social communications-based, user-generated platforms part of Web 2.0 can be a great way to eat up time while scrolling mindlessly through funny posts, “how-to” cooking videos, or find breaking news updates (while being mindful of source reputation, of course). In medicine, SoMe can be an exceptional tool to combat medical misinformation, evolve …

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I was trolled by another physician on social media. I am happy I did not respond.

Academic career versus private medical practice: a guide to the right decision for you

Physician
December 25, 2023

You are so close to completing your medical training: Congratulations! You worked and studied hard through grade school, college, and medical school. You completed—or are about to complete—residency training or perhaps a subspecialty fellowship. You gained valuable skills and knowledge, but—more importantly—you also grew to realize that your MD (or DO) stands more for “making decisions” than medical doctorate! In brief, you are now close to another finish line, and …

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Academic career versus private medical practice: a guide to the right decision for you

Why clinical pathologists should learn poker theory

Physician
December 24, 2023

Texas poker, also known as Texas hold’em, is one of the most popular variations of poker played around the world. It’s a game of skill and strategy, with a bit of luck thrown in, and understanding the underlying theory can help you improve your game and increase your chances of winning. Poker and clinical pathology may seem like two very different fields, but there are some interesting similarities and differences …

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Why clinical pathologists should learn poker theory

What happened to the chemical pathologist?

Conditions
October 1, 2023

During my early years as a pediatric hospitalist in the U.K. during the ’80s, a figure that loomed large was the chemical pathologist (CP).
The CP was the guardian of the laboratory, and every hospital had one. This fearsome beast was approached with trepidation, as the outcome was likely to be a unique but bruising “educational experience.”

Interaction was common because almost every lab test apart from the CBC, ESR, chem 20, …

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What happened to the chemical pathologist?

Simultaneously being a medical student and patient

Education
April 4, 2022

During my pathology rotation as a third-year medical student, I had the opportunity to examine many patients’ slides under the microscope. This allowed me to study and understand diseases in ways different from how I had often done during my previous rotations. I appreciated the various architectural patterns of cells, blood vessels, and tissues strewn across slides as I directed the microscope into focus. I often thought about how these …

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Simultaneously being a medical student and patient

Do we really know why they died? The inaccuracy on death certificates.

Physician
January 10, 2022

Despite protests from the medical community contained in multiple amicus curiae briefs, the Pennsylvania Superior Court recently ruled that the term “cause of death” on death certificates is ambiguous and should include any physician errors that contributed to the death — they were correct.

What they failed to consider was that, without an autopsy, the listed cause of death is often wrong, so using it to determine precipitating …

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Do we really know why they died? The inaccuracy on death certificates.

My pet taught me how to be a better physician

Physician
June 17, 2021

In the last year, amidst COVID-19 news, animals have gained their place: cats harboring the virus, pet abandonment and, paradoxically, rising adoptions. Cats and dogs are now in the spotlight. I’m a physician, and my personal animal-related COVID-19 story changed the way I practice medicine.

During lockdown in 2020, we decided to adopt a kitten. As both animal abandonment and adoption were on the rise, we brought home a three-month-old orange …

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My pet taught me how to be a better physician

Go behind the scenes with a pathologist [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 23, 2021
YouTube video

“Clinicians want specific things from a pathology consultation. They want a short turnaround time and a clear and coherent report, which can be discussed with the patient and correlates with the clinical findings. Unfortunately, this does not always come to pass, particularly with some smaller or disrupted specimens, resulting from minimally invasive …

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Go behind the scenes with a pathologist [PODCAST]

Is pathology an ATM machine?

Physician
January 17, 2021

It was Friday night, and after a long day of grossing, I was ready to leave the hospital when the department’s door opened, and the nurse shouted, “we have a frozen for an emergency liver transplant.” Without hesitation, I took the specimen and called the attending on call. After a few minutes, the surgeon arrived anxiously to our reading room. “We flew all the way from Pennsylvania to get this …

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Is pathology an ATM machine?

I’m sorry: a letter from a pathology resident on the frontlines

Conditions
April 11, 2020

I hope that this letter finds you (and myself) alive and well after all this COVID-19 craziness ends. I never really got the chance to explain everything when I was taking care of you. It wasn’t your fault you ended up at the hospital when you did, and you deserved so much better.

First of all, I was a pathology resident. A redeployed pathology resident. Actually, redeployed …

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I’m sorry: a letter from a pathology resident on the frontlines