Articles & Media
Humanizing Medicine: The Small Details
by Danielle Ofri Huffington Post “Angelina Gomez,†the medical assistant hollers out to the crowded waiting room. As always, I cringe when I hear this. It sounds so harsh, so cattle-like. I know that the assistant is actually a gentle and caring person, and I understand that he uses a loud voice so that he … More
Let Me Down Easy–Anna Deveare Smith
Every illness is unique, and every person faces illness in his or her own way. Anna Deveare Smith, in her one-woman show “Let Me Down Easy,†slips into the persona of twenty-one individuals who have faced an aspect of illness or death. In ninety minutes, Deveare Smith takes the audience on an existential scavenger hunt, … More
An Outbreak of Poetry (and Prose) at Bellevue
The waiting area in Bellevue Hospital was full. Every chair was taken. But the people kept streaming in. More chairs had to be brought in. It wasn’t clear if the room could accommodate everyone. This wasn’t the emergency room or the clinic waiting area, however. It was the scene of the Bellevue Literary Review poetry … 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
Contagious–Book Review
In search of gripping plots and compelling characters, writers have always pilfered from reality. Plagues and epidemics—with their threats of mass destruction, overtones of divine retribution, nefarious villains and innocent victims—have particularly enthralled novelists. More
Cold Souls–Movie Review
How does the medical profession treat the patient with pains of the soul? Traditionally, we offer psychotherapy, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, sometimes a condescending pat on the shoulder. But what if we could extirpate the root-cause pathology? Just as we resect a melanoma, drain an abscess, excise an inflamed gallbladder, why couldn’t the medical profession simply extract the angst-ridden soul? 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
Music and Medicine
The moment has finally arrived. After 3 years of sweating through etudes, scales, and Suzuki practice books, my teacher utters the words that every cello student yearns to hear: “It’s time to start the first Bach suite.” Studying cello as an adult hasn’t been the easiest task. But neither is medicine. More
July 1st–excerpt from “Singular Intimacies”
“It suddenly dawned on me that I’d never had a lecture in medical school on how to tell if someone is dead.” More
Part-Time Medicine
At times, being a part-time doctor feels like I’m somehow shirking the Hippocratic Oath: I’m not there for my patients all the time like a doctor should. During my “on†days, I work furiously like all of my colleagues. But on my “off†days, I am officially off. More
Resistance–Review of Abba Kovner’s poetry
Abba Kovner–leader of the Vilna ghetto uprising–was also a remarkable poet. His book of poems entitled “Sloan Kettering” is well worth the read for its lessons in history, mortality, medicine, and beauty. 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
New Pages review of the Bellevue Literary Review
The Bellevue Literary Review describes itself as “A journal of humanity and human experience.” Reading the Spring 2008 volume, I continually concluded that BLR could not be described more appropriately. More
Solving the Health Care Crisis
Status quo is a powerful determinant of both belief and behavior. This is why incumbents win elections, why we always choose the same flavor of yogurt, why we prescribe the same antihypertensive medications, and why we have our health care system in America. More
Poetry Ward
Toxic sock syndrome. That’s the first thing we noticed when we entered the hospital room. For those gentle readers who are not familiar with such sensory assault, toxic sock syndrome is the clinical term for the rank odor that accompanies damp, fetid feet that have seen more street time than shower time. More
