Category: Doctors Patients and Diseases
-
Making a difference in the AIDS epidemic
Sandro VentoPhnom Penh, Cambodia Enzo entered the room with hesitancy. A nurse drew his blood, then moved him to where a young doctor was waiting, looking serious. As he asked Enzo to sit down, he inspired confidence. Enzo answered his initial questions with few words, having told his story too many times to too many…
-
A midnight call
Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece We are halfway through Advent and looking forward to Christmas. As I am finishing some late-night computer work and seriously thinking about sleep, the cell phone goes off. I recognize the voice of a man I saw recently. His problem is trouble with breathing, that vital function whose perceived difficulty flashes warning…
-
Patient choice—Is it always appropriate?
Denis ChenNewcastle-under-Lyme, United Kingdom Beauchamp and Childress published Principles of Biomedical Ethics in 1979, introducing the “Four Principles” of medical ethics: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice.1 They argued that “best” treatment depends on patient preferences and applied to all cultures and societies. These principles were philosophically underpinned by the duty-based ethics of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)…
-
Medical education and family caregiving in immigrant populations
Mahnoor AyubDetroit, Michigan, United States According to the Kaiser Family Foundation,1 1 in 4 children in the US has an immigrant parent. South Asian (SA) countries are one of the main sources of international migration.2 The SA immigrant population in the US is heterogeneous and includes people from countries such as Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan,…
-
The privilege of caring for three Nobel laureates and learning from another
Kevin LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States My experience with Nobel laureates began on Monday, July 2, 1979. The previous weekend, I had started my urology residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. The outgoing resident had signed out the urology service to me the evening before and mentioned, “Doctor Harrison has a suprapubic prostatectomy booked…
-
The birds of death
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States I got to know the children’s hospital when I was in my second year of medical school and was assigned to the pediatric rotation. From one perspective, the building had the wrenching sadness of childhood disrupted by illness. But it also had benevolent stories: most of the children who arrived…
-
Waking dream
Jeffrey HauckHouston, Texas, united States I found myself in a grassy field. Lush green below, sapphiric blue above. My mother was with me, and we walked through endless space discussing trivialities that I am sure were important at the time. I turned to her at one point, and she gave me a bizarre look—clearly, something…
-
Ernest A. Codman and the idea of medical accountability
Curtis MargoTampa, Florida, United States There are few treatises in the annals of history that have noticeably altered the course of medicine. The first and most conspicuous would be The Corpus, a collection of more than fifty essays attributed to Hippocrates of Cos.1 Among its many gifts to the healing arts was the notion that…
-
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: But to what end?
Hugh Tunstall-PedoeDundee, Scotland Different variants of the doctors’ Hippocratic Oath swear to a virtuous life, honoring their patients and respecting their confidences, but not specifically promising to tell them the truth! Until recent decades it was not uncommon for doctors to avoid telling their patients specifically what was wrong, if serious, in order to avoid…
-
Forty years a watchdog: Sidney Wolfe, M.D.
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Somebody has to look out for the people who are being manipulated by hospitals, doctors, insurance and drug companies.”– Sidney Wolfe, MD, 1993 Sidney Wolfe, MD, (1937–2024) was the co-founder in 1971 of the Health Research Group (HRG), a consumer and health advocacy lobbying organization. After earning his medical degree from what…