Articles & Media
The Patient’s Voice
Not long ago I learned that these side effects listed on the package insert are not the ones the patient actually complains of. No, they are the symptoms the patients’ doctors choose to report, the doctors’ impressions of what the patients are describing. More
Endorphins and Overeating
As a primary care internist, my practice spans the common adult ailments—diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, arthritis. It is hard not to avoid the difficult truth that obesity, while perhaps not causing all of these illness, certainly exacerbates them greatly. More
Can We Measure a “Good Doctor?”
What do quality measures actually measure? Can they tell us who is a good doctor, or what makes a good doctor? “Quality measures” offer patients a seductively scientific metric of doctors’ performance — but can easily lead them astray. More
Owning Up to Medical Error
Precisely two weeks after completing my medical internship,I proceeded to nearly kill a patient. July marked the startof my second year of residency at New York City’s BellevueHospital, and it was my first time being fully in charge of a patient. More
When Unemployed Means Unhealthy Too
Research confirms what physicians observe and what everyone seems to know in their gut: losing a job is bad for our health. Our crazy patchwork system that ties health insurance to our jobs means that the recession—and its “jobless recovery”—are damaging our nation’s health. More
Residency Regulators are Back!
Every patient wants a doctor who is well rested and alert, but limiting residents to 80 hours per week wasn’t as simple a panacea as it seemed. In fact, the 80-hour workweek did not decrease errors and did not increase sleep time for the doctors. More
Fascinating Tapestry – “Medicine in Translation”
Story Circle Book Reviews The threads of Danielle Ofri’s memoir, Medicine in Translation, come together in a fascinating tapestry, with shimmers of what it is to be a physician, a mother, a writer and musician, a person with opinions trying to open herself to a world full of differences. She writes well, and the stories … More
True Stories in”Medicine in Translation”
by Elaine Zimbel In person Dr. Danielle Ofri is an impressive woman with a healthy respect for the doctor/patient relationship. She was guest speaker at a McGill University seminar entitled “Singular Intimacies: literature as a bridge between doctor and patient,” a topic which particularly interested me since I had given courses of my own design … More
The Pastor’s Son
There was a sharp rap at the apartment door. When Samuel Chuks Nwanko opened it, he saw a young man standing in the hallway wearing a stained denim jacket over a University of Nigeria T-shirt. The whites of his eyes were spidered with crimson streaks. He was probably a fellow university student, but not in the civil engineering department. Samuel didn’t recognize him. More
Why Patients Don’t Take Their Meds
For a substantial number of people, medicine from a prescription is automatically suspect. But if it comes from a health food store, there’s not a hint of concern. More
Patient by Patient – review of “Medicine in Translation”
 Jewish Book Council Often lost in rancorous public debates is the impact proposed social changes will have on individuals. The health care reform bill recently passed by Congress is one such case. Billions of dollars may be saved and millions of people will have health insurance. But what can happen to a specific, living, breathing individual? Danielle Ofri’s latest offering, Medicine in Translation, may … More
A Patient, a Death, but No One to Grieve
What if a patient dies and nobody is there to mourn? Is it like a tree falling silently in the forest? More
Scenes From the Lives They Lived in the City
”Nine P.M.,” somebody shouted. ”Rikers bus rollin’ in!” I stepped out of the Bellevue E.R. into the chilly spring night to see what the excitement was. Just pulling in was a school bus, the kind I’d taken every day in elementary school… More
Treating Patients When Language Is Only One of the Barriers
A defective heart, a child detained by border guards — Julia Barquero had already had her struggles. But now her physician at Bellevue Hospital Center, Dr. Danielle Ofri, was trying to explain to Ms. Barquero that she could not receive a heart transplant because she was an illegal immigrant. More
At Bellevue, a hospital reflects a changing world
Though city hospitals invoke images of charity patients and substandard, last-resort medical care, the reality is quite different. More
