Writing About Medicine I

Jan 3, 2013 | Public Medical Communication, Writing

Eight of the 24 essays in the 2012 Best American Essays collection were about medicine. The topics included menopause as a vehicle to the true self, a writing class for children at a cancer hospital, the life of a rural druggist, why so many of Americans now take...

First, Do No Harm: Writing, Blogging, Tweeting, and HIPAA

Dec 27, 2012 | Doctoring, Public Medical Communication, Writing

→ Medical students expelled. → Residents under investigation by state Medical Boards. → Practicing physicians in trouble with their Chairs, colleagues, communities. → Hurt and angry patients and families. Why? Because patient stories, written by medical students or...

An American Problem

Dec 20, 2012 | Patients

It has been hard this week in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings not to think of children, and of all the ways in which they can be and are hurt. It has also seemed important to think about how we can help, if only by talking to the children we know and checking in...

In Defense of Fiction

Dec 13, 2012 | Doctoring, Public Medical Communication, Writing

It is widely known and well documented that third year medical students – future doctors thrown for the first time into daily patient care – are raw, awed, frustrated, exhilarated, confused, astonished, angry, eager and exhausted. Suddenly, they are members of teams...

A History of the Present Illness

Dec 3, 2012 | Aging, Doctoring, Health Care, Patients, Public Medical Communication, Writing

The world is full of books – over 129 million at last count. And parts of the world – Boston, Atlanta, Nashville, Denver, London – are full of doctors. What’s more, the ranks of doctor-writers keep growing. So why, a very reasonable person might ask, do we...