Winter 2011 - Hektoen International

Morning note

March 10, 2017

Jeanne Bryner Warren, Ohio, United States Poet’s statement: “Morning note” was a response to finding my husband’s note. Couples who have come through this type of grief know its depth. There are many gravesites on our journey. Names we dare not speak burn themselves inside our hearts. Morning note In a few moments I’ll […]

Prayer for my Village – When a Friend Asks Me What It’s Like to See Someone Die

March 9, 2017

Jeanne Bryner Warren, Ohio, United States Poet’s statement: Both of these poems were written while I was at Vermont Studio Center on an international fellowship. Artists from all disciplines, states, and nations ate together, worked in their studios, presented slides, and gave readings of works-in-progress. It was precious. And I thought, why must we […]

Those eyes

March 4, 2017

Susan Woldenberg Butler Canberra, Australia Publication Acknowledgement: This fictional short story was published in Secrets from the Black Bag (Royal College of General Practitioners Publications; London, December, 2005). I’ve always involved myself in the lives of my patients and their families. Familiarity with context helps me to provide better treatment and nourishes such mental […]

The doctor in literature: the abortion and the abortionist

March 4, 2017

Solomon Posen Sydney, Australia “I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art.”1 “It’s an awfully simple operation.”2 The Doctor and His Patient By Jan Steen, Dutch (1626-1679) Oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The […]

Hooked

March 4, 2017

Emily Gregory-Roberts Sydney, Australia The list on the Emergency Department computer screen displayed that the first patient waiting was Gavin Hunt with an anal abscess. The second on the list was Holly Bester with a vaginal abscess. The resident saw me eyeing the list and smiled his crooked smile. “They’re a couple,” he said. […]

Nursing diagnoses

February 24, 2017

Mat Matteson, Geraldine Gorman Chicago, Illinois, United States Introduction: An inoculation in just time Manic heart Mark W. Lubich Detail of original, Acrylic paint on canvas 21 X 21 inches Ah, the end of the semester. In the best of times it hauls with it taunting deadlines, a gaggle of loose ends, and inevitable […]

The doctor’s revenge in Jules Verne’s Mathias Sandorf

February 1, 2017

Mathias Sandorf Illustrated by Léon Benett Dr. Antekirtt is immensely clever and immensely rich. He owns an island off the coast of Libya and has surrounded it with tall ramparts to make it impregnable. He employs a large retinue of attendants and has agents and spies in many countries. His fast electric ships crisscross the […]

Chopin’s heart

January 30, 2017

Wilfred Arnold Kansas, United States Chopin at 25 by Maria Wodzińska 1835 In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birthday Frédéric Chopin was born near Warsaw, Poland in 1810. From 1831 he lived mostly in France, where he achieved international acclaim for his music despite a debilitating and life-shortening illness. He first began […]

The remarkable Baldwin IV: Leper and king of Jerusalem

January 30, 2017

John Turner Aintree, Liverpool, United Kingdom The young King Baldwin William of Tyre discovers Baldwin’s first symptoms of leprosy 1250s, from Estoire d’Eracles (French trans. of William of Tyre’s Historia) British Library, London Medieval teen king, precocious politician, and successful battlefield commander, Baldwin IV not only surmounted disabling neurological impairment but challenged the stigma […]

Doctors like eponymity

January 30, 2017

Denis Gill Dublin, Ireland I must confess to liking medical eponyms. As a medical student in 1960s Dublin, we were taught the names of famous Irish physicians of the Georgian period (1780–1840), a time when Dublin was famed for its bedside teaching. Their names evoked an interest in the history of medicine and in […]