Tag: Spring 2018
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Gerard van Swieten and his reforms
A massive statue in Vienna shows the empress Maria Theresia, imperial in bronze as she had been in life, surrounded by her generals and by an ennobled Dutch physician, the Baron Gerard van Swieten. She had recruited him from the medical department of the great Herman Boerhaave in Leiden, and he had come to Vienna…
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Decoding doctor-speak in the era of OpenNotes
Jennifer WinekePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Modern-day doctors share a common dilemma: how do you get all of the necessary information into the electronic medical record while still being present with the patient? Every doctor I have talked to approaches this challenge a little differently. Some acknowledge the impersonality upfront and apologize to the patient (“I…
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“Without dissent”: Early black physicians in Alabama
A.J. WrightBirmingham, Alabama, USA There is a brief but interesting note in the July 1953 issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association, the official voice of the organization founded in 1895 for African-American physicians in the U.S. At first glance this decision by the Medical Association of the State of Alabama—as it was formally…
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Not by blood
Simon EdberPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Raven knows exactly how she joined the family: “She didn’t want me so she took me to the hospital, and then you came and bought me from the hospital.” Well, almost exactly. “I didn’t buy you,” Cathy corrects her from across the room, smiling but not daring to laugh. Even…
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St. Mary’s Hospital, birthplace of penicillin
Anabelle S. SlingerlandLeiden, NetherlandsKevin BrownLondon, England On April 23, 2018, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge left the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London with their new baby boy. Fans of the Royals, who had been camping outside St. Mary’s for weeks, and the crowds and photographers who had gathered for the…
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Why not let her go gently into that good night?
Victoria LimIowa City, Iowa, United States One early morning I was paged to see an eighty-five-year-old patient in the dialysis unit with low blood pressure. I learned that she had diabetes, hypertension, and diffuse atherosclerosis. In the past decade she had undergone four major surgeries for blocked arteries and had suffered two strokes. For the…
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Arthur Conan Doyle and the romance of medicine
Michael ShulmanPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States For medical professionals devoted to good literature, Dr. (later Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle is a source of possessive pride. He is someone like them, a physician with the interests of a polymath and the creative sensibility of an artist. And yet this cannot be a complete account because at the…
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Through the Magic Door with Conan Doyle
“Father said it used to be a gentleman was known by his books.” —William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury You are invited, gentle reader, to walk through the magic door and step into the library. Smoking is allowed, says your host, as he invites you to sit on the green settee from “where you…
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Tending Babe Ruth’s grave
Jacob AppelNew York City, New York, United States We’ve got our share of notables and has-beens,Mobsters and vaudeville stars and even Bess Houdini,Harry’s widow, tucked under polished Barre granite,But the Babe’s our star attraction. Old-time fansAnd kids stuffed into vintage pinstriped flannel,Trousers bagged at the cleats, lay offerings beforeHis sand-blasted stele like pilgrims at LourdesOr…
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Jewish ritual immersion in the mikveh and the concept of communal immunity
Robert SternPiotr KozlowskiDavid ForsteinNew York City, New York, United States The mikveh may be seen as part of the sociobiological process assuring the gradual cross exposure of community members to the biomes of other members. It also provides controlled exposure to the biomes of visiting guests, possibly bringing new microorganisms into the community. Previous articles…