The ethos of medicine is born from rugged individualism. There was a man, his black bag, and his experience pitted against a cornucopia of ills and ailments affecting mankind. Essential to this approach is the perspective of the physician focused on the patient as a whole. As medicine was modernized in the 19th and 20thContinue reading The Disaggregation of the Patient into their Constituent Parts
Originally written August 29, 2014 In my background as a Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician, I see parents coping with unexpected disabilities affecting their children. The challenges these kids face can be from congenital disabilities like cerebral palsy, or from those acquired through trauma like in brain injury. Thus, the parents have to mourn theContinue reading Mourning the Loss of Perfect in the Era of “Flawless”
Many in white America have had the privilege of only considering or being forced to think about race in isolated spurts. The concept that there may be a different, yet valid, set of perspectives and experiences based on the color of one’s skin seems uncomfortable. Thus, it is tacitly avoided and ignored. That option isContinue reading Providing Health Care while Being Black: The Duality of What I Do Versus Who I Am and What I Need
