Life changes in a heartbeat.
In the “Events of the Cardiac Cycle” lab, four students are assigned to each dog. Instructions: Inject the live dog with epinephrine and study the EKG. Sever cardiac nerves. Carve open the chest and shock the heart. As the dog’s blood pressure drops,
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I love my patients. And I love surprises. Most patients fear unexpected medical events, but medical surprises don’t always have to be bad news.
I’m a neighborhood family doc. My patients are friends. They celebrate my milestones and I celebrate theirs. A few like to surprise me for my birthday.
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Another indication that health care is sick—doctors are being told to stop asking patients open-ended questions like:
“How are you feeling?”
“What worries you?”
“What’s on your mind?”
Today a physician just e-mailed me:
“I am really,
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Attention all doctors: The first three are mine. The rest are from miserable colleagues. All true. And common. If you’re a doctor and you recognize anything on this list, please quit your job.
10. You feel nauseated when you see your clinic logo; you alter your commute to avoid streets with your clinic’s billboard.
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If you’re a doctor, I bet you speak doctorly. You act doctorly. And dress doctorly. And spend your days in clinic with other doctorly doctors.
But life is what happens while you’re busy staring at computerized flow sheets, algorithms, and billing codes.
Real life happens outside of man-made medical institutions.
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Doctor revived after suicide. Here's what he says.
