Physician Editor Simon M. Helfgott, MD, is associate professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology, immunology and allergy at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He serves as director of education and fellowship training for the division and is actively involved in the curriculum redesign at the medical school.
As clinicians, we are familiar with pain, stiffness and soreness—subjective nouns that define our métier. These helpful words serve as signposts that direct us along the path to the proper diagnosis. Consider the young man with a stiff, sore back (a case of ankylosing spondylitis?) or the postpartum woman experiencing newly painful, stiff and sore… [Read More]
The Phone Call A phone call in the middle of the night can rattle one’s nerves. The rush of adrenaline sets the heart pounding as our ears brace for what we are about to hear next. A distress call from an elderly parent or a child away at college? Is everyone safe? Or may this… [Read More]
“To err is human.” —Alexander Pope (1688–1744) The Wisest Minds in Medicine At some point during our careers, we have the privilege of meeting a physician so talented that everyone else pales in comparison. These are those gifted clinicians whose astonishing mastery of medicine makes everyone in their midst feel like inept, babbling fools. They… [Read More]
Wash your hands. This most basic tenet of proper hygiene has been drummed into our heads for years. It’s an obvious infection prevention activity, yet for years, compliance among physicians and other caregivers has been lackluster. To rectify this matter, regulatory agencies began auditing hospital staff adherence to this axiom of infection prevention. Not only… [Read More]
A storm has been brewing down the street from my office. It is a David & Goliath dispute, pitting young children and their families against a renowned pediatric institution, Boston Children’s Hospital. It concerns the fate of a half-acre swath of green space, the Prouty Garden, replete with meandering paths, fountains and a towering redwood… [Read More]
As America’s capital, Washington, D.C., maintains an outsized influence in our daily lives. Despite having a meager sliver of the New York City population, the daily political transactions that transpire in the District of Columbia impact our lives. The comings and goings in the corridors of Congress are likely to have a greater impact on us… [Read More]
Picket Lines: June 27 was marked on my calendar as the day to watch. No doubt the union organizers shrewdly selected it to be their strike day because of its proximity to July 1, an auspicious date for teaching hospitals, when rookie interns and residents anxiously assume their heightened roles of responsibility within the medical… [Read More]
Can We Stay Forever Young? May your heart always be joyful And may your song always be sung May you stay forever young Forever Young —Bob Dylan Beneath the rubric of orphan diseases reside some rare conditions and others that are extraordinarily uncommon. These are the diseases that most physicians either never to get to… [Read More]
Baseball is a great sport. It’s fascinating to watch the evolving duel between pitcher and batter. As the former employs their remarkably powerful and versatile rotator cuff and forearm flexor muscles to hurl blazing pitches, the latter engages their exceptionally honed hand–eye neural link to make contact with the ball. Baseball is the ultimate summertime… [Read More]
It’s been said that there is no greater bully pulpit than the American presidency. Linking the force of moral persuasion to this most powerful office—one that is capable of issuing executive orders and bypassing the wishes of Congress or rousing public opinion in favor of or against bills that are in the process of being… [Read More]