Early on a random Tuesday morning, I walked into the burn unit and found my 87-year-old patient, Mr. Gray, in septic shock. While Mr. Gray’s burn injury was small by our standards, it appeared that the sequelae of the injury might prove fatal. I called Mr. Gray’s wife to obtain consent for a vascular catheter through which I planned to begin continuous dialysis and was surprised when she declared, “No …
My father was killed by an Islamic fundamentalist in Cairo, Egypt when he was just 47 years old. It was October 1993, exactly eight months following the first World Trade Center bombing. Terrorism was still a new word — and a new concept — to many Americans, and so my father’s death was featured prominently on the evening news and in the New York Times.
For over 22 years, this has …
Stories influence how I practice medicine. Here’s how.
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