Washing our hands
Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece Winter Sunshine, Halkidiki, Greece. Photo by the author Ever since Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, washed his hands before condemning Jesus Christ to death by crucifixion, this simple act of personal sanitation has been used as the figurative icon of a disclaimer, the denial of responsibility. Today, in […]
Letting go of logic
Nimisha Bajaj Columbus, Ohio, United States Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci. Photo by Paris Orlando. November 2019. Public Domain “He’s here for aspiration pneumonia. He doesn’t want a G-tube even though we tried to explain to him that if he continues to eat and drink by mouth, this will keep happening and he will […]
What’s hormones got to do with it? The medicalization of menopause in postwar America
Pavane Gorrepati Iowa City, Iowa, United States An example of one of the many articles and advertisements published during this time in the Ladies’ Home Journal promulgating the use of hormone replacement therapy. Scott, J. (1946, 03). YOU NEED NOT FEAR THE MENOPAUSE. Ladies’ Home Journal, 63, 33-191. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1866674008?accountid=15172 Introduction From menstruation […]
Burnout
Ronald Rembert Chicago, Illinois, United States Sarasota Sunset, courtesy of author. 2005. I was assigned to work at Cook County Hospital for my emergency room (ER) clerkship in my third year of medical school. “Whoa, that place is crazy . . . you will see a lot a people there,” I was told by […]
Dialogues of comfort
Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece Roman copy of a bust of Homer, 2nd century AD, British Museum, London. My patient is a veteran physician, quite advanced in years but mentally lucid and fully aware of his condition. His disease is incurable, and he is in need of a chest aspiration for symptomatic relief of his breathlessness. […]
Flyfishing and medicine
James Stoller Cleveland, Ohio, United States Photo by Jeff Smith I am one of the many doctors who relish the zen of flyfishing. Standing in a stream, reading the clues for what type of fly to cast and where to cast it, and focusing incessantly on a dry fly drifting lithely to entice a […]
First blood
John Graham-Pole Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, 1970: I’m astounded I’ve landed one of the coveted G.O.S. senior resident jobs. The academic nature of the place immediately daunts me. Everyone bows down to its status as the foremost pediatric research hospital in Europe, perhaps in the world, […]