Hope and Reality Lou Gehrig’s Way
The New York Times, 19 April 2005 When my patient Jackie, who had incurable lung cancer, came to my office, she would regale me with her latest physical accomplishments. “I’m doing great, doctor, right?” she would ask. As I answered this and other questions from her, I struggled to balance the reality of Jackie’s prognosis […]
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 […]
The Doctor, The Patient, The Funeral
The New York Times, 22 October, 2002 When my patient Martha died at the age of 93, she left behind a fascinating medical story of countless recoveries from the brink of death. I knew, of course, that her story was more than medical. I had been her doctor for nine years. But it was not […]
In the Death Of a Doctor, A Lesson
The New York Times, 23 July 2002 There’s an old saying among doctors and nurses who become seriously ill: don’t get your medical care at the hospital where you work. It brings too much embarrassment and not enough privacy. But my colleague Catherine received most of her treatment at our hospital after she developed cancer […]
At Bedside, Stay Stoic or Display Emotions?
The New York Times, 22 April 2008 A young doctor sat down with a terminal lung cancer patient and her husband to discuss the woman’s gloomy prognosis. The patient began to cry. Then the doctor did, too. The scene was undoubtedly moving. But should physicians display this much emotion at the bedside? For years, medical […]