Author: Edwin

Medicine As Performance Art

Medicine is performance art. Make no mistake about it. When you walk into a patient’s room, you are on the stage. And you had better know your lines. We delude ourselves that this is all science. Oh, there’s science. But how...

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Preachers’ Kids (And I’m one!)

My father is a United Methodist minister, and has been since my childhood.  It’s a fascinating life, and definitely worthy of a few books full of candid expose.  As a kid, it’s a unique way to grow up.  There was the delight of...

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Call Schedules

The Call Schedule at Community General Hospital This weekend’s call schedule is as follows: Surgery:  Dr. Johansen is on call for general surgery.  Please remember that he does not like to operate on children or the uninsured. ...

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Homeschooling

Ask my children what they like most about home-schooling, and you may get a variety of answers.  ‘We like Latin’, or ‘We like wearing pajamas to school’.  They may tell you that they like specific topics, like physics or...

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A patient reborn

Hal made me crazy. A few years ago, it seemed like he came to the emergency department weekly, sometimes daily, looking for drugs. He had every ridiculous, contrived, superficial complaint imaginable. He was loud, angry, and...

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