This past week I was in an airport, returning from a fantastic family vacation. I was as relaxed as one can be whilst sitting and awaiting one’s boarding call. Then, from somewhere nearby, there was a beeping noise — a coffee shop’s electronic coffee maker, …
The surgeons are waiting in the ambulance bay. An ambulance screeches to a halt in front of them. A paramedic jumps out, and breathlessly gives report: “Speedboat accident! Nineteen year old female. Lost vitals twice but BP’s holding in the low 80’s. Both arms amputated …
I wrote this piece in 2002, and it was published in the medical school literary magazine where I did my residency. As I mentioned in my last post, I have hundreds of journal entries and essays like this one. Geez, I used a lot of …
Remember Tales from the Crypt, that cheesy HBO horror series based on the 1950’s E.C. comic books? Well, it’s the perfect title for this post. Here it is Halloween season, and I am right now transcribing the winter 2002 journal entries from my intern year, …
“Sometimes, late at night, you can still hear the moans of the poor souls who died tortured deaths in the old ICU…” Dr. Gabaldi was a well-liked teaching attending who enjoyed entertaining us with his ghost stories. It wasn’t hard to come up with a …