Tag: Fall 2010
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Another Found Poem – Anatomy of Love
John A. Vanek St. Petersburg, Florida, United States Poet’s statement: I am a physician by training, but a poet by passion. Poetry provides a vehicle that takes me to places that logic won’t go. It is a way of understanding the incomprehensible, both in life and in medicine. I now prescribe poetry PRN (“as needed”),…
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When children die
Susan Woldenberg Butler Canberra, Australia Publication Acknowledgement: This fictional short story was published in Secrets from the Black Bag (Royal College of General Practitioners Publications; London, December, 2005). Angus Easton died surrounded by loved ones who had done everything possible to ease his suffering. Angus was obviously the apple of his family’s eye, and…
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End of season liquidation sale
Catalina Florina Florescu Jersey City, New Jersey, USA I saw before me a nightmare where bodies lay in a heap. Fixed like statues, their immobility belied their carnal appearance. I asked a nurse, why are these people piled like garbage? The nurse replied that it was a still from a homemade video. When these…
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The castrati: a physician’s perspective, part 2
James L. Franklin Chicago, Illinois, United States The first half of this article was previously published in Hektoen International, Summer 2010 as The castrati: a physician’s perspective, part I Medical aspects In this second part, we turn to the medical aspects of our subject and questions of by whom and by what methods were…
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The pianist
Steven Cheng St. Louis, Missouri, United States I had seen her name before. Her recitals were always well covered in the local press and reviews were littered with superlatives. “Sparkling Mozart,” they raved. “ A phenomenon.” “A vessel of tremendous power and virtuosity.” Yet it was always disguised beneath a most unlikely figure. She was barely five feet…
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Historical reflections on cause, responsibility and blame in medicine
William R. Albury New England, Armidale, Australia Debauchery and disease In the early years of British settlement in Australia the colonial authorities regarded drunkenness as one of the major evils of the day. Their preoccupation with this social problem was mirrored by the concern of the colony’s medical men with drunkenness as a cause…
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Healing hidden wounds: a personal perspective
Jean Cozier Chicago, Illinois, United States When we’re small and we hurt ourselves, we usually find ways to fix it. We may cry a little, suck the wound, or run to Mommy so that she can kiss it and make it better. But what if we don’t know for sure we’ve been hurt? If…
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Each day is magnified
Ronald Pies Syracuse, New York and Boston, Massachusetts, United States This piece originally appeared in the August, 2010 issue of Healing Muse, a publication of the Center for Bioethics & Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York Suddenly and inexplicably I discovered that I was anemic. My hemoglobin had run reliably…
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On being a spousal caregiver
William Black Knoxville, Tennessee, United States When I was 55 years old, and had been in the private practice of Internal Medicine and Nephrology for 22 years, my wife Barbara was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time of her diagnosis she already had widespread bony metastases. Five weeks later, I came home one…
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I don’t know how it happened
Rae Brown Lexington, Kentucky, United States There are angels in every emergency room. They sit above the fray and listen and learn. They hear the laments of the doctors and nurses as they try to save a child. They hear the sometimes incredulous comments of those who may be responsible, in some way, for…