Post Author: Anonymous

These articles are written by anonymous clinicians. They have been selected and edited by Kevin Pho, MD.

These articles are written by anonymous clinicians. They have been selected and edited by Kevin Pho, MD.

Academic medicine on life support: a letter to a newly appointed CEO of a leading academic medical institution

Physician
August 15, 2022

Congratulations on our leading academic medical institution (LAMI) yet again making it to the top ten list of the U.S. News & World Report!

You have taken the reins in perilous times (globally and domestically), and what you do and what you stand for will determine if this great hospital will not just survive but survive with its brand and reputation intact. Getting hired as a physician who grew up in …

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I received a comprehensive sex education. I still chose abstinence.

Conditions
July 28, 2022

Here’s the story of a girl who got a comprehensive sex education and still chose abstinence. That girl was me.

Did I gain this knowledge from school? Heavens no. I grew up in the South at the turn of the 21st century. Abstinence-only sex education was the name of the game (still is, last I checked), especially in the school district I was in. Ironically (or maybe not so, in light …

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Corruption in health care: when the mice mind the cheese

Policy
July 17, 2022

That the United States spends the most on health care is unsurprising.

What’s questionable is paying so much for the worst health care system amongst high-income countries and being far behind many countries that could not be considered high-income by any stretch of the imagination.

Other than doing brilliantly at mammograms and seasonal flu vaccines, the U.S. is found appalling. Not just Canada and Mexico, but when the likes of Chile, Saudi …

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A hard lesson for new attending physicians

Physician
July 13, 2022

It is the time of the year in which freshly graduated residents and fellows finally enter the health care systems as an attending after years of hard work and training. A time of celebrating and reflection, and a time to stop and think of what you have done and what lies ahead of you. I am sorry, this may not be what you want to hear, but I am tired …

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It’s time to prevent the exploitation of sick people for profit

Physician
July 9, 2022

As a former emergency medicine doctor with ABEM certification, I anticipate questions about why I sought medical care. At this point, my problems are complex, and I need someone with a clear head to weigh in. At every encounter (and there have been nine or ten in three weeks), I have been both shocked and disappointed, as it seems patient well-being is barely a consideration in health care settings in …

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5 reasons physicians are afraid to leave medicine

Physician
June 19, 2022

At age 33, I got my first job as an outpatient pediatric attending. With great pay, nice coworkers, and exceedingly better hours than in training, to everyone around me, I had finally “landed.” Soon after I began working, however, I woke up with trepidation every morning, forcing myself to get out of bed.

Why wasn’t I relishing the fruits of my labors? After all this time, I no longer trailed the …

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These wounds will never heal

Conditions
May 28, 2022

May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and I want to share my story of my dad’s journey after his strokes.

Doors open and shut during the early morning hours. I hear the drip dispensing the next dose and some muffled chatter outside the room. Several phones are ringing in all directions, and I listen to alarms going off next door. This means the heart rate is too high.

Snoring beside me, I …

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A choice of maternal compassion

Physician
May 27, 2022

It was supposed to be a routine 20-week ultrasound appointment. The specialist abruptly knocked and entered. The next few hours of my life went by in choppy, disconnected segments. The specialist said he was sorry. Her bones were not growing properly. Her rib cage was small. Her lungs were underdeveloped. This baby, whom I had allowed myself to love and believe in after my normal prenatal testing and ultrasounds, living …

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Our vulnerabilities, when treated and acknowledged, can become our biggest strength

Conditions
May 14, 2022

I will tell you why health care professionals feel they need to be superhuman, without needs or vulnerabilities.

Because that is who we want to be, why we got into the field, and then our training reinforces those very ideas. We exist to take care of others, not be taken care of.

I am a health care professional. I also struggle with major depressive disorder (MDD) as well as an eating disorder. …

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Toxicity, gaslighting, and passive aggression in fellowship

Physician
May 9, 2022

“Yeah, I mean, whatever, it’s a master’s! Have your own damn party.”

My jaw dropped in disgusted shock. The wall was thin, very thin. Come to think of it, it wasn’t even a wall. It was a partition: the separation of space between different office spaces. My mentor uttered these words: Assigned to support, encourage, and guide me through training; the person supposedly invested in my personal and professional growth. This …

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Your doctor may already be gone

Physician
April 30, 2022

The doctor you are seeing may have already left medicine.

Yes, you still have an appointment.

Yes, they are still in the room, taking your history and performing a physical exam.

But inside their mind, they have already decided.

They haven’t said it out loud.

There’s been no official resignation letter.

But it’s a done deal.

It may be six months from now or ten or twenty-four.

It doesn’t matter because the decision has …

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Medicine won’t keep you warm at night

Education
April 12, 2022

Life continues in medical school and residency. Engagements, marriages, and divorces. Becoming a parent to a child. Having a dog or cat. Love and loss. Life and death. Then there is the uniqueness and privilege of being in medical training combined with great responsibilities and pressures that set the stage for some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

Prior to beginning medical school, I was told by a …

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Mixed emotions on Doctors’ Day

Physician
April 11, 2022

So many mixed emotions as I scrolled the multiple acknowledgments on social media this recent Doctors’ Day. Although it is nice to be recognized, are we just supposed to forget the recent hostility and disrespect? Can we ever really thank those on the frontlines who risked their lives during the pandemic? The recognition comes too late for the many doctors and trainees who did not survive. How do we honor …

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10 mistakes smart doctors make

Physician
April 6, 2022

When most people think of physicians, they think of the class nerds or the smart kids who got all As and took honors classes and were on the debate and math teams, did the science Olympiad or won the spelling bee. They think of us as brighter and more intelligent than most of society.

But we are also just human beings who have the same flawed brains and make the same …

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The path to gender-affirming care is closing: We need to open it

Policy
April 2, 2022

Imagine losing control of your child’s life-saving care. The mental anxiety is overwhelming enough – then suddenly, all the decisions that should be up to your child, you, and your child’s physician are snatched out of your hands by faceless institutions. This is the fate currently befalling the families of transgender youth in Texas.

The Gender Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support Clinic (GENECIS) in Dallas, has been effectively …

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We have overwhelmingly lost touch with the human aspect of medicine

Physician
March 22, 2022

The medical establishment has made wonderful strides in destigmatizing psychiatric disorders. However, we have helped to create a devastating stigmatization of emotional distress. Somehow, as it has become acceptable to suffer from a psychiatric illness, it has become increasingly unacceptable to suffer from emotional distress and the current medical practice has nurtured this change.

We have simply and overwhelmingly lost touch with the human aspect of medicine. When someone is in …

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Residency doesn’t have to be a war

Physician
February 17, 2022

This summer is supposed to be my turn to start residency in the States. I hear enough about work-life balance; but have mostly seen residents push the limits of what could be considered a human existence because it’s known: If you don’t work yourself to death, someone else will.

I’ve heard conversations about whether it’s proper to get married or have children during residency. Usually, the consensus is “no.” Is all …

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A neurologist grapples with aducanumab

Conditions
January 26, 2022

I have been following the controversy surrounding the approval of the new Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab with great interest.  Until a year and a half ago, I worked as a neurologist in an adult general neurology clinic.   Many of my patients had dementia.  While I thoroughly enjoyed seeing these patients and their family members, I often felt helpless when treating them.  When I left clinical practice to explore a non-clinical career …

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“Doctor, you have been duped”

Physician
January 25, 2022

“Doctor, you’ve been duped,” she said as she took slow, careful breaths of oxygen from the heated high-flow nasal cannula.

These were definitely not the words I was expecting to hear. Responding to the perplexed look on my face, she added, “I mean I can tell that you are well-intentioned and a good person. But Bill Gates and the Minnesota Department of Health have altered the databases. Bill Gates wants half …

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