In Sickness and In Health

Green Hills Literary Lantern A conference call: “I can’t believe he’s gonna marry the little witch,” Max said. “Witch?” Jennifer asked. “Don’t you mean bitch?” “I hate that word,” Max said. “A woman should never use it, no one should ever use it.” “There are worse things you can be called,” Tiffany said. “The new one…

Detroit 1967

CBS News Special Report: We interrupt the Detroit Tigers baseball game to bring you this news bulletin. The news rarely interrupted TV programs, and when it did, something bad had happened. That’s how he’d learned of the Cuban Missile Crisis; the sinking of the Navy submarine Thresher; the construction of the Berlin Wall; the murder of…

Everybody Loves the Foodman

everyone loves the foodman by olaf kroneman

I feed the starving. I feed the dying. I’m no Mother Teresa, but the act of feeding the unfortunates who can’t eat appeals to me. How could you not like the person who feeds you? You don’t bite the hand. I feed people, patients, whose stomachs are diseased or destroyed; destroyed by rare diseases, infections,…

What Emily Post Has To Teach Us About Cultural Competency in the Clinical Encounter

In my essay “Fighting to Heal,” I described my relationship with a former prizefighter who must undergo a kidney transplant. There was some concern about his ability to trust the medical establishment but the fears were allayed by the patient’s trust in me. My boxing background and familiarity with its culture helped in my solid doctor–…

Medicine’s First Responders: The Unselfish Dedication of Nurses

In the interest of patient care the Massachusetts Nurses Association seeks legislation to put a limit on the number of patients assigned to an individual nurse. They request one nurse to care for four patients in the non-ICU setting and a one to one ratio in the ICU. A recent editorial in The Wall Street…

Since You’re Going To Die Anyway

You know, Doctor that every year I look forward to your Christmas card. It’s always the first to arrive. I wait for it. It starts the season. It’s not politically correct, it’s always something religious. But then you and your brother are really into religion. That’s why you forgave them. I’m better now, but not…