Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: warfarin

  • Serendipity in science and medicine

    JMS PearceHull, England, United Kingdom The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…” —Isaac Asimov Horace Walpole (son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole) coined the word “serendipity” in 1754. It was based on a Persian fairytale in which three…

  • The thickening of blood

    Nod GhoshChristchurch, New Zealand It begins when you are a child, in the pre-antibiotic dawn of an Indian summer, one of six siblings, five of whom will eventually die of broken heart valves or diabetes. But let us say for now, you are a child, a child who loves to dance, to play in the…