doctor-writers
Assuming the Doctor’s a “He”
A classic study of preschoolers in 1979 showed that even young children “knew” that doctors were men and nurses were women. But surely we’ve moved beyond these stereotypes, no? More
A Sampler of Danielle’s writing
Want to sample Danielle’s writing? Check out videos, podcasts, and of course, the written word of Danielle’s most memorable stories. More
For Whom Do We Write
Was writing simply cathartic, an unloading of pent-up frustration, pain, occasional exhilaration? Or was this part of a nobler cause, something that would fall under the purview of healing, something with ultimate benefit for my patients? For if it wasn’t the latter, was I not simply exploiting my patients for their readily accessible drama? More
Maladies, Remedies, and Anthologies: Medicine Taken at Its Word
The urge to anthologize seems to be one of those primordial drives, nestled in our genomes alongside the compulsions to eat heartily, imbibe lustily, and slaughter enemies willfully. Or at least that’s how the Greeks appear to have experienced it. More
Chekhov and Public Health
At first glance, it might seem odd that a public health journal would initiate a section about arts and humanities. Public health, after all, deals with populations; it eschews the individual except as it forms one of a group. The creative arts, however, deal almost exclusively with individuals. Literature, in particular, always has a protagonist, and the protagonist is never ‘alcoholics with pancreatitis,’ ‘female prisoners receiving hepatitis B vaccination,’ ‘South Asians with cardiovascular risk factors,’ ‘UK asylum seekers with infectious disease,’ or ‘teenaged asthmatic smokers.’ A protagonist is an individual.
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Interview for “A Sweet Life”
by Jane Kokernak “A Sweet Life” Danielle Ofri is a physician at New York’s Bellevue Hospital and co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bellevue Literary Review. Her twin roles are inextricable, and in both medicine and arts and letters she has illuminated how illness has meaning, in an individual’s life and in our culture. In the hospital … More
A Singularly Intimate Moment
When I published my first book—“Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue”—I got a lot of ribbing from my friends about the title. “Singular Intimacies?” they said. “What’s the book about—French lingerie?” More
Writing “Medicine in Translation”
by Danielle Ofri Huffington Post The first book I wrote custom essays uk about medicine, “Singular Intimacies,” did not start out as a book. It started out as a breather–an exhalation, you might say–after a decade of medical training at Bellevue Hospital. After ten years of exams, hospitals, illness and death, I needed some air. … More
Writing About Patients: Is it Ethical?
There is a veritable epidemic of doctor-writers out there. What about confidentiality? Professionalism? HIPAA? More
Book Launch for “Medicine in Translation”
It was a frigid January night, but happily that didn’t stop booklovers from coming out to Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side. Seventy fans and friends packed the seats to hear Danielle Ofri read from her new book, “Medicine in Translation.” She read aloud about her experience caring for a Tibetan hunger striker … More
Danielle Ofri profiled on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’
Melissa Block of “All Things Considered” followed Danielle Ofri on her rounds at Bellevue Hospital. Listen below or read the transcript. And here is the wonderful poem Gaudeamus Igitur that Danielle read on the air. More
Interview about doctors, patients, books, and life
Listen to Joe Elia interview Danielle Ofri on Clinical Conversations (NEJM Journal Watch). They talk about the state of medicine, doctor-patient relationships, work-life balance, and the re-issue of her book “Singular Intimacies.” More
Medicine: An Uncertain Art
As surely as the first bill for malpractice insurance lands on the desk, so too does the awkward lesson of clinical medicine — that the scientific certainty dished out by the medical establishment represents only a small portion of what clinical practice actually is. More
