Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Sukanya Sam

  • When did you last let your heart decide?

    Sukanya SamChennai, India This woman in labor is not my patient. But the nurses worriedly tell me that the baby’s heartbeat could not be localized. Both handheld Doppler machines had broken down in the labor room unit of our small tertiary hospital. I was the resident on duty. I use the Pinard’s stethoscope, my face…

  • Locard’s principle and the surgeon

    Sukanya SamChennai, India It is near-most bliss, a somber quietitude, from the moment the surgeon scrubs, which takes about ten minutes, soaping up past his elbows, calmly lathering up, fingers interlocking and then not, covering every inch and then rinsing with saline—holding up his hands methodically, allowing the liquid to fall sequentially from his hands…