There you are in your father’s arms. He is practically running to keep up with the triage nurse. The nurse is walking quickly toward the room that we leave open for true emergencies and the sickest patients. Your father’s eyes are full of fear, and the nurse’s tone is...
Some people tell me I’m Super Mom. I have two year-old twins, a four year old, and a full time job as a physician. I exercise three times a week, take improv classes at night, and play with my kids every evening and weekend until I feed them a nutritious dinner and...
Neonatology first whispered to me when I was 8 years old, in 1985. The guest speaker at one of my Girl Scout meetings was a pediatrician. I was mesmerized by both the stories she told us about her job taking care of kids and also by the fact that she was a female...
It all started out seeming like a pretty routine visit. My patient was in her early 30’s and had come into the emergency department for weakness, but was in no distress. As I was talking with her about her symptoms she would flash the occasional smile. It was then...
If I had a penny for every time somebody asked me to get them pillows or empty out their bedpan, I would be a rich woman. It is not that I find these things beneath me, I would happily fluff my patients’ pillows or clean out their urinal. What bothers me is the...