Tag: Winter 2013
-
Richard Bright, the father of nephrology
Two centuries will soon have passed since Richard Bright, of Guy’s Hospital, London, described the disease that came to bear his name. Within a few years of his original publication, the term Bright’s Disease became virtually synonymous with kidney disease—in England, Germany, France, and the United States. In its full-blown formulation it consisted of four…
-
Giddiness
There can be few physicians so dedicated to their art that they do not experience a slight decline in spirits on learning that their patient’s complaint is of giddiness. This frequently means that after exhaustive enquiry it will still not be entirely clear what it is that the patient feels wrong and even less so…
-
Restraint: A foot-binding story
Daniel WongPalo Alto, California, United States My grandmother is with me. She sits perched on the edge of the bed, where I’m lying with my feet propped up by pillows. My feet hurt from running. I’ve asked her to tell me another story, and for a moment she looks back down at her Chinese newspaper.…
-
J.I. Guillotin: reformer and humanitarian
It is a strange quirk of fortune that the name of a reformer and humanitarian who spent his life in the search of social justice should have become associated with a device used to decapitate people. Yet such was the fate of Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. Trained in his youth as a Jesuit, he then went…
-
Observing the human condition: letters and case reports
Thomas J. Papadimos Columbus, Ohio, United States From time to time medical students and residents ask me to mentor them in regard to the exploration of a research topic. My retort is that I do not consider myself a researcher, even though I engage in scholarly endeavors. I tell them that I am a…
-
Thomas Linacre: Catalyst for the Renaissance
Patrick Guinan Chicago, Illinois, United States “Linacre led a life of devotion to learning, to medicine, and to the interests of humanity.” – William Osler Thomas Linacre (c. 1460–1524) Thomas Linacre, personal physician to King Henry VIII of England, was the founder and first president of the Royal College of Physicians of England. He…
-
Borderline
William Marshall Tucson, Arizona, United States Huachuca Mountains Photography by J. G. Park When family and friends from back East ask me about the Arizona/Mexico border, two images come to mind: first, an almost unlimited view of blue sky and distant mountains; second, a sick, frightened teenage boy sitting on an exam table in…
-
Waiting for the darkness to lift
Sheila Klass New York, New York, United States Amsler chart with macular degeneration From early childhood I wanted to be a writer and tell stories. But Mama and Papa, impoverished and struggling to survive at the end of the Great Depression, scoffed at such ideas and insisted I should be enrolled in a commercial…
-
Jeremiah Kenoyer’s cancer cure
Jonathan D. Lewis The remedies prescribed in the past by many of the learned (and even some unlearned) members of the medical profession were neither evidence-based nor presumably effective (unless the patients got better anyway!). Here are some samples derived from the therapeutic armamentarium of Dr. Jeremiah Kenoyer: Dr. Kenoyer and his wife Elizabeth…
-
Doctors and illness in Boccaccio’s Decameron
Maria SgouridouGreece Introduction Giovanni Boccaccio was born in Tuscany in 1313, the illegitimate son of a merchant of Certaldo, who launched him on a commercial career hoping he would follow in his steps. Sent to Naples for that reason, he soon abandoned commerce and the study of canon law, and began instead to write stories…