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Photo: Bohman One of my patients suffers from chronic constipation due to irritable bowel syndrome. During the literally twenty years since she was first diagnosed, her symptom pattern has remained remarkably consistent: she has perhaps 1-2 bowel movements per week, occasionally accompanied by some mild cramping. Even she admits the symptoms are more a bother than [...] Photo: pedrosimones7 The other day I was out walking my son in his stroller (my now constant occupation) when a homeless woman approached me asking for money. I’d seen her before in the neighborhood many times, including behind our condominium using drugs. I turned down her request and continued walking, to my chagrin, as [...] Photo: Robert S. Donovan For me, this last week has been a little rough. I’ve been working as an attending physician on an inpatient service populated with incredibly sick patients, several of whom are intensely angry about their diseases and are projecting their anger toward me and the team of residents with whom I work. The [...] Photo: Xurble In a previous post, Evil Triumphs When Good People Do Nothing, I argued that justice exists in the world only because good people stand up against injustice and that we should fight small injustices with as much fervor as we fight large ones. Several commenters, however, suggested the anecdote I used at the beginning [...] Photo: The U.S. Army From quitting smoking to eating healthier to exercising regularly to getting more organized, most of us have a list of behaviors we’d like to begin (or end) that resist our attempts to do so. As a physician, I find myself giving advice about changing habits on a daily basis. Even though many of my patients [...] About two years ago a patient of mine, Mr. Burndt (not his real name), committed suicide. When his wife, who was also my patient, told me the news at one of her visits, I was shocked. Fully aware that 40% of older patients who are suicidal visit their primary care doctors within one week of killing [...] Photo: vanGalenMarco A young violin prodigy was walking down the street one day trying to decide whether or not to pursue a life in music when he came upon the most famous violin teacher in the world. Scarcely believing his luck, he stopped the great teacher and asked if he could play for him, [...] Photo: Beverly & Pack What’s the worst problem you have right now? Have you lost your home? Your job? Are you worried you might? Have you watched your savings diminish before your eyes as I have mine? Or are you facing a terrible illness? From the Buddhist perspective, all people are endowed with the innate ability to [...] |
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