Effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines appeared in record time, with 68% of Italians, 60% of Americans, and 32% of all human beings already having at least one dose. Most of the 138 candidates quit by Phase 2; the German mRNA vaccine CureVac went through an entire Phase 3 trial before flaming out with only 48% efficacy.
WHO-approved
Pfizer-BioNTech: Its messenger RNA instructs our cells to fabricate spike protein, which stimulates the …
I work in a fantastic place. About 14 years ago, I transferred away from primary care to dermatology and have never looked back. I’m now seeing more patients per day than I’ve ever done, and I no longer stay hours behind after the office is closed. For once, I leave the office as scheduled. One difference in the practices repeatedly rises above others to explain why that might be. The …
I’m usually good with words. The last year and a half of being a “front line nurse” has left me struggling to find the words. The frustration, anger, trauma, and sadness have so muddied my mind that I find it hard to sort through all of the complexities and put a name to them.
A patient told me the other day, “I know at least 60 people who have had COVID, …
You know that if you don’t get vaccinated and you don’t wear a mask, you potentially will die.
You go to super spreader events, big groups at beaches, football games, baseball games … loads of people laughing and clapping, and shoulder to shoulder.
Your refusal of the mask and COVID vaccination almost seems like a passage. Beating your chest. The survivor. It won’t happen to me.
Until you can’t breathe anymore. Delta doesn’t …
On the day you die from COVID, many things will happen.
A colleague and I will enter the room to carefully prepare and clean your body.
We will shut off all the IV pumps.
We will turn off the ventilator.
We will silence and turn off the monitor that is screaming at us that something is emergently wrong.
We will remove the breathing tube from your …
An excerpt from More to Life than More: A Memoir of Misunderstanding, Loss, and Learning.
The MRIs were illuminated by a lightbox. A small group of us in Dr. Kelly’s office gathered around the images. We were looking at Lee’s brain. It could have been anyone’s brain up there on the wall. But it was our son’s, whose handsome face and …
I was working as a doctor in a Kentucky clinic when I first met Mr. Stroud. The year was 2013. Mr. Stroud was memorable for several reasons. The first reason? He was blue.
He was a 45-year-old stocky guy, pleasant in demeanor, with blue eyes and red hair. His skin was also blue. His lips especially. He did not seem to be unduly distressed, however. He was pleasant in demeanor, although …
Prevention
Our most effective weapons are lockdowns, masks, distancing, ventilation and vaccination, but we can also protect close patient contacts pharmacologically. Subcutaneous REGEN-COV (Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody combo, casirivimab plus imdevimab) lowers the rate of illness by a whopping 81.4%. This has been known since April and blessed by the FDA in July, but has yet to catch on.
Outpatient therapy
A year and …
Wood art
The taxing journey of going through an illness often has the turning point of hearing a “diagnosis.”
Diagnosis locks a person inside a sick body. Diagnosis is a label that dictates certain behavior in an individual and the whole circle of people around that person, including family members, workplace, health care providers, and insurance companies. Diagnosis is a journey from diagnostic …
“I don’t know if I can keep doing this”
“I can’t see a way out.”
“I feel stuck – trapped.”
What is it like? That feeling of being exhausted, stuck, not feeling like there is a way out. I think of it as running a marathon where you can’t stop. You are tired, it’s 90 degrees and humid, and you are miserably hot. You keep pushing towards the finish line so you can …
As a pulmonary and critical care doctor and the mother of three children too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, life has been harrowing. At the beginning of the summer, however, I was beginning to breathe a sigh of relief. My children had been in school last spring, and by the heroic efforts of their amazing teachers and staff, completed the school year free of sickness or quarantine from COVID-19. …
“I feel like I have to educate my doctors about my gender identity and transgender health-related needs, including insurance coverage,” my transgender male patient, V, told me on interview. A series of interviews with V for a community outreach project during medical school elucidated a plethora of health care barriers for transgender individuals. V’s list of unmet needs includes transgender-friendly mental health care and LGBTQ+ educated physicians, including complex gender-diverse …
By now, many of you would have read my article, “Who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to them anyway.” So, let me tell you another fiction story. But, first, I need to give you some background to this story.
Many of you would know about the theory of evolution by natural selection and how it explains the diversity we see today. It’s an excellent idea, and …
“Children don’t get as sick with COVID-19” and “only children with comorbidities get very sick from COVID-19” are two statements that have concerned me during the pandemic. They have been used as statements to support loosening COVID-19 prevention measures for children, like wearing masks, and rationalizing arguments opposing vaccinating children against COVID-19. It is true that children, for the most part, do not get as sick from COVID-19. Nevertheless, while …
“Congratulations on losing that much weight! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up,” my attending says as she bobs her head vigorously in approval, then turning back to the EMR computer to type up some notes.
And all I could see was the patient slightly shifting on the exam table, their face smiling — but their whole body seemingly screaming discomfort and dismay.
Before my attending sailed into the room, the patient told …
I used to think, “I had COVID. I don’t need a vaccine… not for now at least, and maybe not ever.”
November 2020: I was a few hours into my 12-hour shift in the emergency department. I had been treating COVID at every shift for about 10 months at that point, and I knew what I was feeling now was more than just fatigue. I took a swab and went into …
I go to the hospital cafeteria to unwind from this night — another unpredictable one with irrational patients that randomly attempt to assault the staff.
This time, they missed. Behavioral health. Land of the psychotics and schizophrenics. But an incredible staff to work with.
This song blares out. “Easy Like Sunday Morning.” And I know that nothing is “easy” anymore.
I’ve heard it all about COVID vaccinations:
“It’s my body.”
“It’s not FDA-approved.”
“I have natural …
As the next wave of the pandemic unfolds, the rise in cases is once again straining health care systems. But that’s not the only reason hospitals and health systems could experience an influx of emergency or critical care visits. Findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging based at the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation revealed that nearly one in …
As a primary care physician on the front line, I have witnessed tremendous disability and death due to COVID. I have grieved with mourning family members and spouses – watching their lives be uprooted due to a preventable infection. I have counseled worried peers and colleagues as their children start school. And I worry about my school-aged niece and nephew.
I stand strongly beside my pediatrics colleagues in asking America to …
Award-winning actress Christina Applegate revealed on social media that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). “It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going,” wrote Applegate in a tweet.
Multiple sclerosis is a neurological autoimmune disease that has puzzled patients and health care providers for decades. The disease was first described by the French physician Charcot in the 1800s in the original report “sclerose …
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