Tag: hospital
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The origins of the word “hospital”
Simon WeinPetach Tikvah, Israel According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “hospital” is derived from the Old French “ospital,” meaning hostel, shelter, lodging, or shelter for the needy. The origin can be traced to the Latin “hospitale” and persists in the modern French “hôpital.” The OED states further: The sense of “charitable institution to…
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Please don’t die in the hospital
Alexandra DeFeliceFalls Church, Virginia, United States I don’t like the way people die in the hospital. I don’t like the color schemes, the paleness that seeps into every empty wall, every window shade, every floor tile; every cafeteria counter, every elevator sign, every parking lot stripe—the paleness, the sterile acceptance, that appears, eventually, in every…
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Villanelle
Jolene WonChicago, Illinois, United States I did not know today would be your last –we see no end for those that we hold dear.If I had known I’d not have let it pass. The nurse who knows she can’t set down her taskscontinues on, tries not to shed a tear.I did not know today would…
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Remembering Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, physician philosopher
Dean GianakosLynchburg, Virginia, United States “Get Wisdom.”– Proverbs 4:5 One day in the spring of 1985, I remember jogging past the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, wondering what went on in there. It was a gorgeous afternoon, dogwoods and cherry blossoms in bloom. Students sprawled on the campus lawns. I was a medical…
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The hospital that treated patients with music
L.J. SandlowChicago, Illinois, United States High up in the mountains of Anatolia, bordering the Black Sea, lies the ancient hospital of Bimarhane or Darüşşida. Located in the city of Amasya, it was built during the reign of the Ilkanid Sultan Mehmet and his wife Uduz Olcaytu Anbar and constructed by Babe Bin Abdullah in 1308-1309.…
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Ferdinand Sauerbruch, father of thoracic surgery
Annabelle SlingerlandLeon LacquetLeiden, the Netherlands Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) was one of the most important thoracic surgeons of the first half of the twentieth century, remembered for pioneering a method that would allow access to the thoracic cavity and the heart. Three years after his death in 1954, his life was detailed in a movie authored…
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Becoming a doctor in Chicago (c. 1954)—Clerkship at Cook County Hospital
Peter H. BerczellerEdited by Paul Berczeller An excerpt from Dr. Peter Berczeller’s memoir, The Little White Coat. Ward 64, the only female medical ward at Cook County Hospital, was to be the home base for daily meetings of our group of five with the instructor assigned to us. Our space—immediately next door to the patients’ toilet—was…
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Comics as a means of observation and reflection
Rose Glennerster Brighton, United Kingdom Comics have long been used as a way of attacking cultural and political hierarchy, as has the art of caricature.1, 2 They can also be used as a way to explore and understand the link between the medical profession and the rest of society.3 My comic is not intended…