He just didn’t get it. I love my mechanic. After many years of taking my car to mechanics who took my money without explaining what they were doing with it, I finally found someone who loved to teach. Whenever I bring my car to his shop, class is in session. He gestures for me to…
I just couldn’t believe it. Like all of you, I receive many requests to see patients urgently. And like all of you, I can’t possibly accommodate all of those requests. So I triage: I look through the referrals and try to differentiate patients who want to be seen from those who need to be seen….
Last year, in Texas, they had no room to breathe. Texas has 301 designated trauma centers equipped to provide intensive care, 200 of which can care for at least four critically ill patients. In August 2021, 75 of these hospitals reported having no available beds in their intensive care units. Zero. This was due, in…
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was at work. I had accepted a position as an assistant chief of service (ACS) for the Department of Medicine, which is Hopkins-speak for a hybrid position that involves all the administrative duties of a chief resident, plus the responsibility of an attending. For a year, I admitted patients to…
It was Christmas Eve, 1996. The pain had become excruciating—it had to be for Kerby to opt to go to the hospital on Christmas Eve because Kerby’s pain tolerance was high. At that point, he had been living with what had ultimately been diagnosed as psoriatic arthritis for about 30 years. That Christmas Eve, the…
On Sept. 9, my 5-year-old son boarded a bus for his first day of kindergarten. In some senses, this was no different from any other year. We spent weeks trying to get him excited for school (he is not a fan of changes). We went to kindergarten orientation, toured his classroom and sat on his…
The impressive progress of medical knowledge and technology reinforces our trust in the scientific methodology that made it all possible. However, that progress also creates risks related to the primary goal of medical care: to serve our patients’ interests and enjoyment of life in the best possible way. In this article we present our views…
Some were furious. State by state, laws were enacted to ensure compliance. In most states, the laws were accompanied by a modest fine, as an added incentive. By the time the laws were written, most understood they were based on good science and common sense. The potential to save lives and prevent tragedy was finally…
On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar landing module, Eagle, and walked on the moon.1 Or so they would have you believe. For most, the basic facts are not in dispute: On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech to a joint session…
On Dec. 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., the restraining wire was released. The Wright brothers—Orville and Wilbur—owned a bicycle sales and repair shop called the Wright Cycle Exchange, in Dayton, Ohio. At the time, the popularity of bicycles was exploding, thanks to an innovation that made them much easier (and safer) to ride. The money…