diagnosis
They Sent Me Here
“They told me to give you this,†she said, as she pushed an envelope across the desk toward me. I’ve always been intrigued by who “they†are — those mystery people referred to with such assumed authority and universality. Particularly in a large city hospital, in which the staff is mammoth and constantly changing, “they†constitute a particularly encompassing force. More
Judgement Call
Is the quality of a judgment call determined only by the outcome? Or does it stand alone, with the outcome irrelevant? More
As I Live and Breathe: Notes of a Patient-Doctor
All medical students are required to write “history and physicals†(“H&Psâ€) about their patients. I ask my students to write one H&P in a narrative format — that is, to have the patient describe for the student what it is like to have a particular disease and what advice he or she might provide to a doctor in training. “As I Live and Breathe” is a lucidly woven answer to such questions. More
