Spring 2013 - Hektoen International

All life is a gift

February 1, 2017

“I am tired,” said Mr. Hale. “I’m fifty-five years of age, and that little fact of itself accounts for any loss of strength.” “Nonsense! I’m upward of sixty and feel no strength, either bodily or mental. Don’t let me hear you talking so. Fifty-five! Why, you’re quite a young man.” Elisabeth Gaskell, North and South, […]

Does art belong in a doctor’s office?

January 31, 2017

Sally Metzler Chicago, Illinois, United States Does art belong in a doctor’s office? According to Sinclair Lewis, a resounding Yes!—so long as the art hangs on antiseptic white walls. In his 1925 novel Arrowsmith, Lewis described the ideal medical reception room—a combination of two warring schools of thought, the Tapestry and the Antiseptic. His […]

The doctor in bed with the patient

January 31, 2017

Solomon Posen Sydney, Australia The act of getting into bed with a patient, which would normally be regarded as indecent and highly unprofessional, may be totally free of lecherous implications. Strong’s doctor has been summoned to deliver an elderly primipara, who lives with her crofter husband in an isolated one-roomed cottage on an island […]

The vindictive departmental chairman: a hospital tale of the 1970’s

January 31, 2017

Solomon Posen Sydney, Australia The main plot in Neil Ravin’s M.D.1 is the ongoing tension at Manhattan Hospital2 between two unevenly matched protagonists: Professor Maxwell Baptist, the Chairman of Medicine and Dr. William Ryan, a somewhat naïve resident who dislikes “kissing ass,” particularly Baptist’s ass. Predictably this attitude annoys the chairman, and Ryan pays […]

Mr. Hemphill

January 29, 2017

Lynn Dion New York, New York City, USA Alles wandelt sich. Neu beginnen Kannst du mit dem letzten Atemzug. Aber was geschehen, ist geschehen. Und das Wasser Das du in den Wein gossest, kannst du Nicht mehr herausschütten.Was geschehen, ist geschehen. Das Wasser Das du in den Wein gossest, kannst du Nicht mehr herausschütten, […]

Humanism in medicine

January 29, 2017

Annie Yeh Louisiana, New Orleans, USA As medical students, we are taught the “art of medicine” and the importance of gathering a thorough patient history. “Ninety percent of your diagnosis comes from the history,” we are told. And to do so, we must establish a rapport with our patients. We enter the lives of […]

The last of the “just”

January 27, 2017

R. Steinberg Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Photography by Mauro Quercia My dentist approached the chair to crown one of my favorite teeth. I am a retired orthopedic surgeon, and a fearful dental patient. I smiled sadly, and opened. When she removed the swab, I proposed a challenge. “Could you get through one day of […]

Reflections on the practice of treatment for drug dependence

January 27, 2017

Carla Treloar Australia Photography by Christina B. Castro The funeral was on a stifling January day in Sydney. The formal, stiff clothes I had put on that morning were damp and limp within minutes outside the air-conditioned car. I greeted the few people I knew who were milling outside the chapel awaiting the arrival […]

The heart in Star Trek

January 27, 2017

Victor Grech Tal-Qroqq Star Trek (ST) is a fictional utopian future history depicting how humanity might develop up to the 24th century. The series and movies comprise a metanarrative that encompasses 735 hours of viewing time, and thereby provides a fertile ground for analysis of various areas of critical study. In several ST episodes, […]

Saving hearts and art

January 27, 2017

Maria Serratto-Benvenuto Riccardo Benvenuto Chicago, Illinois, United States Figure 1 Lactatio Bernardi e Madonna Regina Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo Figure 2 St. Antonio e St. Paolo Carlo Giuseppe Ratti In 1960 a girl was born in the small commune of Mele, some 25 miles from Genoa. She had a heart murmur and her skin was […]