“Now dear,” said the school nurse. “You seem to be sick. I will call your mummy to come to get you.” “You should call my dad,” Ali replied. “But dear,” insisted the nurse, “I don’t want to bother your daddy at work. I’m sure that your mummy will come.” “Listen,” said Ali with the eye roll of incipient adolescence. “My… Read More »Can I Please Speak to Mrs. Glaser
For much of my career, I have cared for patients who need interpreters when they come to see a doctor. Now at the site where I practice and teach, most of the patients speak Punjabi and Bengali. The elderly people are mostly Greek and Italian. Working with interpreters is an everyday occurrence and has its own challenges. Family interpreters will… Read More »Open to Interpretation
“Your family doc is very clever,” said the Cardiologist that I was seeing. “Yes, I know she is,” I said, “but why do you say so?” “Well, because she sent me this excellent letter about you, outlining her concerns and asking very clear and pertinent questions. I really like this, it recognizes my expertise and it doesn’t feel like a… Read More »The gentle art of the consult
I love Christmas parties in the same way that my Presbyterian raised son-in-law loves matzah and gefilte fish at Passover. They seem exotic and exciting. I love the lights and the smell of Christmas trees. I also really like that I am not obligated to do any heavy prep or be responsible for everyone’s good time. I just show up,… Read More »Ghosts of Christmas epidemics past
Melanie was one of the first patients we met when we opened a family medicine teaching unit at the Pointe St. Charles Clinic. In those days, the Pointe wasn’t the up and coming hipster haven it is now, but rather a struggling working-class area where the major industries had mostly closed. The clinic had proud roots in community action, having… Read More »Melanie: A portrait of patient progress
LMP, the other residents called her. In medicine, the acronym LMP usually means last menstrual period. In this case, it stood for Little Miss Perfect. This was not a compliment. Lakshmi gave every appearance of being perfect. Her marks in undergraduate medical school were exceptional. She was intelligent, well prepared, charming and efficient. Always beautifully dressed, her hair was professionally… Read More »Little Miss Perfect: a portrait
In my family, growing up, any major milestone or achievement was celebrated by a trip to Moishe’s. It was reserved for major events because it was at the outer edge of our budget, and so, it had a special almost mystical glow around it. My father was the main creator of this myth; he loved everything about the place. He… Read More »Farewell to Moishe’s, an Elegy
I was in second-year medicine at the Jewish General for our introduction to medicine course, where we learned medical reasoning and how to do a history and physical examination. Our class was the first with a lot of women in the class. We felt like anomalies. We were sat in the intern’s lounge in our new white jackets, their pockets… Read More »A cookbook diagnosis
The doorknob question is the bane of family doctors’ existence. Very often you have gone through an entire interview dealing with trivialities, the whole time a growing sense of unease coming over you as you feel something hovering at the edge of the conversation. “Anything else?” you question. “Anything worrying you?” You let the patient go, writing the prescription or… Read More »The doorknob questions