Articles & Media
Just a “Regular” Doctor
“What’s your specialty?” This question continually flummoxes me. This is the moment that I experience a brief surge of envy toward my cardiology and dermatology colleagues who have simple one-word answers to this question that any lay person can understand. More
The Doctor-Patient Relationship is Alive and Well
Medicine is unquestionably harder than it was 10 years ago. Many more doctors I know talk about quitting (an option that is not equally available to patients). However, there’s been no mass exodus of doctors. We doctors grumble loudly—often with good cause—but we aren’t quitting in droves, mainly because of patients like Ms. M. More
“What Doctors Feel” in Japanese
こんにちわ Kon’nichiwa! Beacon Press is excited to announce that “What Doctors Feel” is now available in Japanese!. More
Why Does the Physical Exam Stop at the Navel?
It’s like our patients are Humpty Dumpty, and the pieces are divvied out between different medical fields. Can we put the patient back together again? More
“Literature about medicine may be all that can save us”
“Language, that most human invention,†wrote Oliver Sacks, “can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.†In the last decade or two, a new generation of doctor writers – including Atul Gawande, Abraham Verghese, Henry Marsh,Danielle Ofri, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Paul Kalanithi and Gavin Francis – have undertaken the mission of seeing in this fashion. More
Documentary: Why Doctors Write
Ken Browne Productions is excited to launch the film, “Why Doctors Write: Finding Humanity in Medicine.” Danielle Ofri is filmed at Bellevue Hospital along with one of her long-time patients. The film explores storytelling and creativity in medicine. More
Should Doctors Care About Happiness?
We in the health care professions need to notice and inquire about happiness the same way we do other aspects of our patients’ lives. More
A Doctor in the Neighborhood
There aren’t any ethical guidelines about where a doctor should live or how she should behave when she and her patient are in line at the grocery store. More
Danielle Ofri discusses Oliver Sacks on NPR’s ‘Science Friday’
Danielle Ofri discusses Oliver Sack’s memoir “On the Move” with Maria Popova and Annie Minoff on NPR’s Science Friday. More
Patients, and Doctors, Aren’t Dying at Home
Doctors, it turns out, aren’t much different than everyone else when it comes to where they die. More
Danielle Ofri on NPR’s ‘Only Human’
Danielle Ofri joins host Mary Harris of “Only Human” to share doctors’ confessions. In this case, Danielle “confesses” what it was like to be a patient. More
The “Mall-ification” of Health Care
Retail health clinics have exploded over the last 10 years, and now it seems like every other big box store, supermarket and shopping mall has its own clinic. More
Getting the Diagnosis Wrong
Diagnostic accuracy is fiendishly difficult to measure precisely. A new report suggests that nearly everyone will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetimes. More
Getting the Diagnosis Right
If I had the luxury of an hour with each patient, I would have the time to carefully sort through every diagnostic possibility. But the reality is that I, like most doctors, have five to 10 minutes to push the majority of diagnoses to the bottom of the list, come up with the most likely few at the top. More
Adding Spice to the Slog: Humanities in Medical Training
As soon as we’d finish rounds on the medical wards I’d race to pass out an Anatole Broyard essay in the nanoseconds before dispersal entropy overtook our team. More
