I spy…death

Dealing with death, Miguel Torga Coimbra, 10 December 1958 Twenty-five years now that I’ve been battling death professionally, and I feel more incapable than ever of understanding and accepting it. Halfway between the peasant in the pure state and pure intellect, when death comes calling I find neither the peace of the credulous person who Read More …

Medical precautions – bloody cheek

Joy of chaperones. Posy Simmonds.  Commentary We are advised to use a chaperone almost always. A perceptive observer, Simmonds puts her finger on the lack of trust implied, and its effect on both parties. Further info Cartoon reproduced by kind permission of the author GMC on chaperones Medical defence associations, royal colleges, and medical schools Read More …

I know that crystal meth is really my problem

The false narrative of choice. S Luckett G. ‘Miss,’ she said, as I bit my tongue. I was choking on the worst insult a female junior doctor can bear, ‘I know that crystal meth is really my problem. I’m going to quit the meth.’ ‘Love,’ I started, a reflex term of endearment for the wretched Read More …

A remote doctor in 1948 Colorado

A rural doctor is shown after a late night operation in which he had failed to save the life of a pregnant woman and her baby. Every few years Eugene Smith’s classic Life magazine photostory is uncovered again. See the full article with high resolution photos (Time Magazine). Commentary This extraordinary historic record, beautifully captured, Read More …

A limitless ocean of humanity in literature

Storyhealing, by Gavin Francis. The weight of clinical practice can be overwhelming for some – that’s why more doctors in the West are working part-time and retiring earlier than ever before. But the profession’s very multiplicity offers insights and inspirations, satisfactions and consolations, available in few other others. I’m now 20 years into my medical Read More …

Suppose they bring me a hernia

Forty-eight days ago I qualified ‘with distinction’; but distinction is one thing and hernia is another. Once I watched a professor operating on a strangulated hernia. He did it, while I sat in the amphitheatre. Suppose they bring me a hernia? Worse, they brought a dreadfully injured young girl, only daughter of a devastated widower. Read More …