by Jeremy Topin | May 3, 2018 | Double Effect, End of life, Medical Education, Medicine, Palliative Care
This post was first published on Doximity’s Op-(M)ed “First Stab” Collection on 5/2/18 under the title: Should I Heal or Comfort? Chicago, in February, was dark and cold. Even more so at 5:00 AM, when scraping ice and snow from my windshield before...
by Jeremy Topin | Sep 5, 2017 | Medical
The patient, previously a John Doe, is now known. Family now present, when before there was none. A spouse, siblings, and young kids all around. Despite seventy-two hours in the ICU, his lungs have failed, his heart has failed, his liver has failed, his kidneys have...
by Jeremy Topin | Jul 2, 2017 | Balance, Change, Medical Education, Medicine
July is just around the corner. For hospitals it’s a dynamic time. A changing of the guard. Graduating residents moving on and new interns, fresh out of medical school with their clean and crisp long white coats, moving in. Out with the old, in with the new. The ICU...
by Jeremy Topin | Apr 19, 2017 | Medical
I pause in front of the door. On the other side, you all wait. A spouse, sons and daughters, sometimes with their own small children in tow. Today it’s your husband and father you have come for. Yesterday it was someone else’s mother. You have come from near and...
