All medical students and residents, those with any sense of introspection anyway, wonder if we (they) should be on the front lines. We wonder if we should be meeting, examining, trying to diagnose and treat families and children when we know that an experienced clinician just around the corner or in the next room could see the patient, perform the procedure faster and with more panache than our feeble ...
Anonymous
The impact of hiding medication costs from patients
Always covered by an employer health plan, I had never given a thought to prescription costs – my medications had been covered by moderate copays. This changed when I retired and enrolled in Medicare (and a Medicare Part D plan).Just prior to retirement, my eyes suddenly began tear and swell so much that it impacted my vision. The eye doctor diagnosed an allergic reaction and prescribed prednisone drops to ...
A note to doctors from a patient labelled as idiopathic
I am an enigma. I always have been. Some doctors think of me as a challenge while others make it clear they dislike dealing with my case. I’ve had gastroparesis since I was born. Idiopathic gastroparesis. I’ve had debilitating migraines since I was 3. Idiopathic migraines. I’ve had several-month bouts of low grade fevers for years. Idiopathic fevers. Over the past 6 months I’ve started going into anaphylaxis. Idiopathic anaphylaxis.Every ...
Absence of joy: A doctor’s journey with depression
The scene was picture perfect, an absolute characterization of a tropical island paradise. White deserted beach, overhanging palm trees, crystal clear, gentle lapping waters, and a blood red sun sinking slowly into a Fijian ocean.I found no pleasure in it. Perhaps it was the heat, or that my new wife and I had been travelling for six months? Or that we had been on many other tropical islands and amazing places in ...
I don’t like that you do abortions, but if you didn’t, I would probably be dead
I was paged by labor and delivery three times during the 10 minute drive from my house. I headed straight from the parking lot to the labor ward expecting a patient of mine to be close to delivery. I was wrong.The chief resident and attending obstetrician were waiting. They looked tired and worried.A woman had arrived on Friday with ruptured membranes. She was 21 weeks ...
