Month: February 2023
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“You will be alright”
Swetha KannanAjman, United Arab Emirates “Will my daughter be alright?” asked the anxious mother, trying to hold back her tears. A young girl in her early twenties, so petite and frail that her body seemed to be like a sole pearl in a large sea. Her worrisome eyes met mine, screaming the same question—“Will I…
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Wounded healer
Brandon MuncanStony Brook, New York Since Plato, the notion of a sufferer helping the suffering has been proposed as one of the more skillful ways of helping a patient through an illness.1 Although this concept has been discussed since the time of Athenian philosophy, the term “wounded healer” itself was only coined in 1951 by…
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Dr. David Hartley and the benevolent AI
Erik AndersonHouston, Texas Question posed to ChatGPT: What is the “Golden Rule”?ChatGPT answer*: The “Golden Rule” is a principle found in many different cultures and ethical traditions and often phrased as “Treat others as you would like to be treated.”1 Presently, artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT are exceptional at reiterating information, but do…
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The fainting medical student
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Fall backward if you faint, and not across the patient.”1– Surgeon Sir Lancelot Sprat, in the film Doctor in the House The squeamishness of the beginning medical student or intern during the dissection of a cadaver or in the operating room has become a cinematic cliché. In the films Not as a…
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Is a bigger brain better?
Matimba Molly ChilalaNdola, Zambia Does intelligence depend on the size and dimensions of the brain? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, intelligence can be defined as the ability to understand or deal with novel or trying situations. It is also described as a mental quality that consists of the ability to learn from experience, adapt to…
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The two Sylvius anatomists
Buried deep in the cobwebs of medical history lies the persisting misconception that a single person called Sylvius made important advances in the discipline of anatomy. But in fact, there were two persons remembered by that name. There was Jacobus, whose name is most commonly linked to the Aqueduct of Sylvius, and there was Franciscus,…
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Jean-Françoise Champollion—Revisiting his illnesses and death
Maureen HirthlerRichard HutchisonBradenton, Florida “I’ve found it!” In 1822, Jean-Françoise Champollion (December 23, 1790 – March 4, 1832) told his brother he had a breakthrough in deciphering the Rosetta Stone, then collapsed to the floor. He had been ill for most of his life with various complaints—fainting and collapse, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath,…
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A day in the team room
Kirin SaintAnn Arbor, MI Today is Monday, May 2. The day starts before the sun has risen, before pink-lavender hues warm the earth, as two internal medicine interns slink in, yawning and bleary eyed, careful not to spill their coffee onto their well-worn scrubs. The residents stride into the room, greet one another, lament the…
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A pandemic of emotions: Navigating vaccine hesitancy in a post-pandemic world
Nidhi Bhaskar Providence, Rhode Island Photo by CDC on Pexels Four years before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was registering community members at a local health fair. An elderly man in line mentioned that he would never receive a flu shot because his healthy cousin had died of an aneurysm after receiving one. I spoke…