The beauty of gender diversity
Lisa Shugoll Asheville, North Carolina, USA Caelin Lee, Crux, 2014, pen and ink on paper. https://www.caelinlee.com. Used with permission of artist. The arts have always provided a rich source of material for the type of introspection and contemplation that can deepen our ability to respond empathetically to those whose concerns and life experiences are […]
The language game of medicine
Gunjan Sharma Devon, United Kingdom Photo by Ludomił on Unsplash “The arrow points only in the application that a living being makes of it.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein1 The Language Game Language is a fascinating concept when viewed through a philosophical lens. Imagine if we no longer had a word for jealousy. Would that […]
Gender identity in the twenty-first century
Piper Haitsuka Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA Transgender role model, Casil Mcarthur Identity characterizes who a person is. Physical, mental, or chemical identity can have an array of diverse meanings. Gender and sex are two very different concepts that influence identity, but are often confused as being interchangeable words.1 Sex is a biological classification, whereas gender […]
Seeing things differently: a reflection on clinical photography
Michaela Clark Cape Town, South Africa Image courtesy of the Pathology Learning Centre, University of Cape Town Looking into the face of a patient is a necessary part of the clinical experience. Yet despite the physical proximity achieved in the doctor’s office, on the operating table, or in the petri dish, it is only […]
The other pain crisis
Adil Menon Cleveland, Ohio, USA A guiding principle of medical care is that humans regardless of their superficial differences are fundamentally the same in their physiology. One of the oldest and most persistent refutations of this premise is the centuries old myth of a uniquely “African body,” characterized by diminished pain response and elevated […]
Corruption and organ trafficking in Egyptian medicine
Hossam Reda Ghalab Tanta, Egypt A scar left on a kidney trafficking victim. Healthcare for the indigent in developing countries often leaves much to be desired. Organ trafficking is rampant, its prevalence rising alarmingly and for some constituting a thriving business. In Egypt, each year hundreds of poor Egyptians sell their kidneys and livers […]
Age needs a graying goddess of prophecy and her name shall be Senexa
Margaret Morganroth Gullette Waltham, MA, USA The Libyan Sibyl, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Sistine Chapel Age needs a tutelary deity, a woke goddess for the Age of Alzheimer’s and the Age of Longevity. We all deserve a powerful, honored, and glorious crone, representing our values and our value. Here, transparently, before your open eyes, I venture to create […]
Religio Medici
Stefan K. G. Grebe Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mama, take this badge off of me / I can’t use it anymore. / It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see/ I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Bob Dylan The main foyer of the Gonda building, Mayo Clinic by Stefan Grebe If the […]
George Orwell and the ethics of dealing in or dealing with cigarettes
Lynn T. Kozlowski Buffalo, NY, United States Early in World War II, George Orwell wrote the essay “England, my England,” commenting that as he was writing “highly civilized human beings” were flying overhead trying to kill him: They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are ‘only […]
The flu vaccine: transparency, uncertainty, and trust in medicine
Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece Sailing for the Holy Mountain from Ouranoupolis, Greece A few years ago the fear of ‘pandemic flu’ was spread widely all over the world, causing what has been termed an ‘emotional epidemic.’[1] The disease itself, its social dimensions, and the ways it was publicly handled could form the subject for […]