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Midwifery… Deja vu all over again?
Well, I see that midwifery is back in the news again, so I thought I’d revisit the issue -my last look at it was in November, 2012. Its not that I’ve changed my opinions -I haven’t; nor that I have since discovered something new and compelling about the role of midwives in pregnancy -I continue…
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Hope springs Ephemeral?
I sometimes wander through medical journals like a tourist, stopping here to gaze admiringly at a headline, pausing there to read a letter or two. Occasionally, I stumble upon a piece of information tucked away like a child under a quilt on a winter bed -interesting stuff that would still not likely find its way onto the six…
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Postpartum Depression -Just words?
Postpartum depression -I know these are only words, medical words, I suppose: descriptors. Language. But for all we’ve done with these particular words, what little attention we seem to have paid to them, they are still only words. And yet they describe a condition that has dogged us for millennia: the darkness that follows pregnancies like a…
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The Wrong Idols
I guess we’ve always needed idols: things beyond our ken or ability to achieve; things for which we strive but are just out of reach. They’re more than goals; they’re so desirable we almost worship them. They are what we are not -or at least not any more- but because they are so prized, they assume…
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The Miracle (part 2): a woman’s story in 2 parts
“Emily.” It was the doctor’s voice, and he was leading her into a seat in his office as if she were an old lady. “Emily, it’s good to see you again…” his voice trailed off as he inspected her. “But you were supposed to have come back to see me a month or so ago,…
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The Miracle (part 1): A woman’s story in 2 parts
It was still there, no doubt about it. She patted her stomach warily, as if she were afraid it would go away with too critical an examination. But it was real -or as real as any present could be inside a box- hidden away, untouchable: Schrödinger’s cat… Some things required faith; not everything in life…
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On Remembering Faces
Faces are important; they are like little signs we wear to allow others to recognize us. Unlike, say, fish they are distinctive and carry verbal labels further enabling meaningful categorization. A face without a name begs inquiry; a name without a face, recollection or even retrospection… In a way, remembering faces is a sign of respect: you have had dealings…
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The Awe of BRCA
Awe: the word has been pasteurized, connotized almost beyond recognition. But I suppose that’s what happens to all really powerful words. There’s a life-span to language; a generation if you’re lucky; a year if social media gets hold of it –likes it… But I think the ship of awe and all of its elegance went down quickly -even before…
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Questions and Answers in Medicine
Questions, questions, questions… They are the scaffolding that surrounds any medical encounter. One could almost phrase it semi-mathematically: patient/doctor = question/answer. And the success of the relationship -at least at the start- is largely dependent on the answer part of the equation. Patients usually come armed with both a problem and questions about it. That…
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The Feminine Perspective?
“Men and women think differently, doctor,” a patient said to me recently, shaking her head in response to some requested advice from me. “You of all people should know that.” It was stated with a look of smug authority, as if to disagree would have been tantamount to an admission of professional incompetence. And while…
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