We have a constitutional right to bear arms.
We have no constitutional right to health care.
America is the most heavily armed nation in the world.
America also leads the world in mental illness.
Half of all Americans develop at least one mental illness.
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Dr. Pamela Wible spends the afternoon with Tamara and Marlo on 7th & Washington in Eugene, Oregon. A photoessay by Pamela Wible, M.D.
Pamela Wible,
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I’ve been a doctor for twenty years. I’ve not lost a single patient to suicide. I’ve lost only colleagues, friends, lovers–ALL male physicians–to suicide. Why?
Here’s what I know:
A physician’s greatest joy is the patient relationship.
Assembly-line medicine undermines the patient-physician relationship.
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How does a Jewish doctor prepare for the holidays? By decorating her house with festive medical specimens, of course! All have been retrieved from human bodies, many during autopsies. I’m a hoarder with a medical art fetish. It started with my turquoise and heart valve necklace. Now my IUD Christmas tree.
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On birthdays and holidays, many girls get chocolates or flowers from their fathers, but my dad is a little different.
One day I receive a package of Godiva gallstones. Wow! I imagine glistening gallbladder sacs sliced open, oozing with coconut cream, cherry chunks, or nutty nougat, and then I lift the cover off the gorgeous gold box to discover seventeen clear containers with tight-fitting lids.
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I often wonder: why am I a doctor?
The truth is, I want to live in the real world, a world without pretense, a world where people can’t hide behind money or status.
Illness uncovers our authenticity. Doctoring satiates my need to be witnessed and to witness the raw,
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People stare. They gather around. “You can touch it, but guess what it’s made out of,” I say.
One woman whispers, “It’s not part of an egg carton, is it?” Then a man behind her shouts, “It’s a condom, blown out and rolled up, ya know,” just as another lady interrupts,
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Doctor revived after suicide. Here's what he says.
