Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Kevin Loughlin

  • The blade

    Kevin LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, USA The blade slashes through the skinNot in violenceBut in cureIt is held not by an assailantBut by a surgeon The same instrumentBut with such cross purposesAs a surgeon, I know the fear and anticipationThat proceeds the strikeAssailants must feel the same Ironic, violence and healingBoth take training and skillMysteries both, which…

  • The imponderable ‘what-ifs’: Did the medical issues of three Confederate generals cause the South to lose the war?

    Kevin R. Loughlin  During the darkest days of World War II, Winston Churchill was credited as saying, “The imponderable ‘what- ifs’ accumulate”. Throughout history, imponderable what ifs have provoked the observer to consider how historical outcomes may have turned out differently. Such it is with the Civil War. It can be reasonably argued that the…