Frank Netter: The Michelangelo of Medicine
A new biography tells the story of one of the most influential doctors of the past century, and his evolution as an artist. To generations of medical students, from mine to the present, the name Frank Netter has a magical connotation. He was the doctor who drew the remarkably lifelike images that we all used to learn anatomy. They were so […]
When Med Students Get Medical Students’ Disease
The New York Times (Well blog), September 5, 2013 Each year hundreds of medical students think they have contracted the exact diseases they are studying. But they haven’t. “Medical students’ disease” refers to the phenomenon in which medical students notice something innocuous about their health and then attach to it exaggerated significance. It often corresponds […]
In a Hospital Hierarchy, Speaking Up Is Hard to Do
The New York Times, 17 April 2007 The patient needed a spinal tap, and a senior attending physician asked a medical resident whether a preparatory blood test had been checked. The medical student who told me this story was stunned to hear him answer in the affirmative, because she was quite certain it had not […]
Young Doctors Learn Quickly in the Hot Seat
The New York Times, 14 March 2006 Does grilling medical students with questions make them into better doctors? For years, many professors routinely peppered students with relevant and arcane queries, often embarrassing them. Things may be gentler today, but the practice, referred to as the “pimping” of students, still has its advocates. “Such questioning has […]
Practicing Medicine Without a Swagger
The New York Times, 23 August 2005 It was hard not to feel entitled when working 36 hours straight as a medical resident. By the end of my shift, I found myself interrupting conversations and being rude to co-workers and even patients. After all, I had been up all night. But it was not only […]
For a Young Doctor, the Ultimate Sacrifice
The New York Times, 24 August 2004 Many young doctors dream of having an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Hacib Aoun achieved this, but not in the manner he expected. Dr. Aoun’s piece, ”When a House Officer Gets AIDS,” appeared in the Sept. 7, 1989, edition of the journal. It told […]