Jacques Balayla is an obstetrics-gynecology physician.
Whenever asked, I hesitate to tell people what I do because when a young man says: “I’m a gynecologist,” he never seems to be taken quite so seriously. “No, really, I am” – “Oh.” Instead, I opt for the more charming “I deliver babies” line. Works every time.
And why is that? What about birth and babies triggers a sense of astonishment in people? Whatever it is, it seems to magically …
I wanted to go the extra mile for my patient. The resistance I found was unexpected.
She was young. Her life — an incredible journey in diplomatic circles — was crippled too soon by a recurring disease that would ultimately prevail. Day after day, I’d round on her in what seemed like a pointless exercise, waiting for the inevitable to come. Another round of chemotherapy would have to wait for her …
Medicine is filled with intricacies and subtleties about the human condition. Within these nuances, and embalmed with the science of the profession, lies the true art of medicine, a concept not hastily understood, nor easily defined. Although the practice of medicine continually changes in response to new biological understandings, novel technologies, and evolving cultural contexts, the ethical foundations of the clinical relationship between patients and physicians paradoxically remain constant. …
Ever since the first invocation of the dogma “publish or perish” in the 1930s, modern medical practice seems to have followed in the ways of Darwinian evolution: It’s survival of the fittest. This doctrine, concise yet striking, refers to the competitive nature of the academic profession in which we have been raised and continue to grow. Although obtaining a medical degree reflects many years of effort, discipline, and camaraderie, …
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