Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Triage

  • The fall

    Max KutchHanover, New Hampshire Gazing through my night vision goggles (NVGs) at the green outlines of my teammates, we began to silently enter our sniper hide. My breathing labored under the heavy weight of my battle gear and the thick, humid Iraqi air. As I scanned the path we had just patrolled, I was jarred…

  • The big sheepdog

    Gregory RoseLexington, Kentucky, United States “How ya doin’, Wayne?” It had been some ten years, back in high school, since I had seen Wayne. I had returned to general practice in my small home town and I was not sure what Wayne had been doing during that time, but when I saw him again, it…

  • Medical innovations made by doctors during the Napoleonic Wars

    Craig StoutAberdeen, Scotland The Napoleonic Wars (1799 to 1815) brought great upheaval and turmoil to Europe, with as many as 2.5 million soldiers and 1 million civilians losing their lives. French military physicians, principally Dominique Jean-Larrey, made significant contributions to medicine, saving many lives and helping to develop modern medical practices for future generations. The…

  • The middle finger: identity crisis in the emergency room

    Lara BazelonSan Francisco, California, United States I am a lawyer who writes. I write about the criminal justice system, single parenting, divorce, and I am also an aspiring novelist. I had always written, scribbling in diaries as a little kid, writing early in the morning before I went to work or on the weekends, eking…

  • Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey: Founder of military surgery and trauma care

    Stavros GourgiotisAthens, Greece Hippocrates stated that “war is the only proper school for surgeons.” War inevitably gives an impetus to surgical innovations and many advances in surgery have been made in the historic training ground for surgeons: the armed conflict. During past centuries the management of the numerous and serious battlefield wounds was not effective…

  • One by one

    Sonia SethiPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States My mother was only five years old when my grandmother went off to war. She remembers waving goodbye, not comprehending the gravity of the situation until her mother embraced her and a teardrop fell silently on her forehead. My grandmother kissed her children, one by one, before leaving and tried…