Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: heart disease

  • Grokking: Cardiac rehabilitation by another name

    Janice KehlerChris KehlerMiddleton, Wisconsin, United States “It is a life-saving intervention,” said Dr. Randall Thomas, the director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, adding that participation rates were abysmal. Only 20% of eligible patients over the age of sixty-five enroll in cardiac rehabilitation programs, which is a troubling proclamation in…

  • Struggles, gratitude, and love

    Jeconda HarrisDavid G. ThoelePark Ridge, Illinois, USA Poet’s statement Jeconda Harris, my patient for 17 years, gave me a collection of her poetry and expressed her desire to have it published. Regretfully, this did not happen within her lifetime, but, with her mother Barbara’s consent, her wish has finally come true. “Life’s Struggles” reveals the…

  • Paul Dudley White

    Philip R. LiebsonChicago, Illinois, United States In September 1955 President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a myocardial infarction. Dr. Paul Dudley White (1886–1973) was called in to attend to him. For a time, Dr. White was probably the most famous cardiologist in the US because of his attendance to the president. A noted photograph of him at…

  • Paul Wood: In memoriam

    George DuneaChicago, Illinois, United States Dr. Paul Wood, the greatest British cardiologist of his time, died in London on July 13, 1962—half a century ago.1 Born in 1907, he went to school in Australia, took his internship in New Zealand, and after a stint as cardiologist in London, served with distinction in World War II.…

  • Sir Thomas Lewis: The promise of electrocardiography

    In republishing an account of clinical electrocardiography, I do so from conviction that this method of examination is essential to the modern study of heart disease. When some twenty-seven years ago I began to study disorders of the heart with the aid of the “string galvanometer” the method was in its early infancy and unknown…

  • No good options

    David ThoelePark Ridge, Illinois, USA Poet’s statement This poem is about my patient Aaron, who was born, immediately became very sick and blue, and later the same day, died in his parents’ arms. Aaron had severe congenital heart disease, which we ultimately concluded was not compatible with life. Aaron’s parents and I made the difficult…