“A soft answer turneth away wrath…

…but a witty one can silence a fool.”
Living in New York City means living in close quarters with people who are at times cocky, arrogant, brusque, dismissive, and overbearing.  People do not sit on the front porch sipping lemonade here; they do not bring casseroles to new neighbors.  No, they run over others who happen to get [...]

Doctors as professionals

I ran across this interesting post recently which contrasts physicians with other professionals.

Maybe I should get a desk job…

Editor’s note: I wrote this post some time ago, but waited an unspecified length of time to post it to protect patient privacy.  It should be noted that the post portrays graphic medical situations in raw, unedited detail, so readers with a delicate constitution may wish to stop reading here.
Yesterday afternoon’s code was one of the…shall we say…earthiest [...]

Guilty pleasures

I had an epiphany of sorts on the train today.  I was riding in relative peace–as much as was possible wedged between two strangers in a car whose air-conditioning was a bit like a gentle breeze in Death Valley–when a nearby two-year-old began to cry.  This was no “I’m scared” cry, or “I’m hurt” cry.  [...]

Pain and palliation

Today was a rewarding day.  I was called by a primary care team to assist with the care of a 25 year-old girl who is dying of cancer.  This was a situation that, as unfortunate as it was, had been made more complicated by growing distrust on the part of the family.  As the resident [...]

Random thoughts from the big house

Whenever the “Ouch” pager clipped on my belt this week goes off, I’ve found myself standing quickly and informing others in the room, “I’ve got to go. There is a child in pain.” I’m not sure they can always tell the comment is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Often it’s the hyperattentive parent, not the child, [...]

A couple more interesting spaces

In yesterday’s post I included a couple photos of the new New York Times building.  This weekend I happened on a few other noteworthy spaces.

Here’s a photo of Juilliard taken from 65th Street looking east toward Broadway.  The addition takes advantage of the space that used to be open plaza on Broadway between 65th and 66th Streets.  [...]

An evening in New Jersey

Friday night found me home from clinic without plans for the evening.  Making plans with friends in advance has never been a strength of mine; I prefer to think of it as being spontaneous.
My former-roommate-turned-squatter Clay invited me to go with him to Bloomfield, New Jersey to see a musical called Das Barbecü produced by [...]

If I had doubts before…

Given that I get about 99% of my news from print, I have almost never heard Mr Obama speak.  This evening I read the text from yesterday’s speech, when he virtually sealed his nomination.  (Text here.)
Wow.  That man has a silver tongue.  And, after reading the speech, not much more than that in my opinion.  The speech is [...]

Enjoying New York in the spring

I’ve realized that there are many ways Pain Clinic could run smoother.  Having an additional exam room would facilitate patient flow.  Stocking reflex hammers in every room would also help.  But most notably, having a fifth of Jameson Irish Whiskey in the back room would greatly lubricate the process.  Made from fine ripe barley, flavor-rich malt, [...]