Tacked to my bulletin board within my line of sight are the words of Dr. William Osler,a 19^th century physician who pioneered taking medical students out of the classroom to learn at the bedside. Dr. Osler understood that medicine was more than science. He encouraged the students to:

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“Not every patient can be saved, but his illness may be eased by the way the doctor responds.”
Anatole Broyard, Intoxicated By My Illness

I received an e-mail from a colleague. The subject line read: “Wow look what they’ve discovered!” Attached was a link to the New York Times WELL column “Letting Patients Tell Their Stories.” My eyes drop down to the image of a doctor with his stethoscope in hand (more…)

As we ready ourselves for the first in our 2016 SpeakSooner community education series I ask myself how does one decide whether or not to attend a play, movie, or, in this instance, a community program. Is it the subject matter, panel of experts, a friend’s invite, a colleague’s suggestion or the reviews?

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It ‘Tis the Season’…One of the gifts I received from a friend was a copy of The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed. I’ve been known to ignore the rules of punctuation. My friend had asked me about my “penchant for the ellipses.” The book defines the ellipsis’ function as “indicating omitted words.”

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“When a doctor tells you ‘You’re sick,’ he’s not just diagnosing you; he is initiating a new chapter in the story of your life…”

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“Even though things inside you might be ripping you up…” Steve Williams, a patient featured in our Difficult Conversations video, tells us “…you put on a good face. For many people it’s hard to ask for help… (more…)

As a member of the Psychosocial Oncology Advisory Panel of Cancer.Net I received an e-mail announcing Dr. Lidia Schapira as the new Editor in Chief. (more…)

A journalist who had unearthed one of my blogs written three years ago recently contacted me. (more…)

In my previous blog, Dosing Hope and Reality, I responded to Dr. Gawande’s quest to help patients (more…)

Two years ago, I posted a blog, Inviting Doctors to Tell Difficult Truths about this very subject (more…)