Essays

A sampling of essays across two decades of writing…

Editor’s Choice
Taming the Monster by Fiona Godlee
BMJ 2013;347:15817 (25 September 2013) (What Do You Expect)

Humanism in the Time of Metrics
BMJ 2013; 347:15539 (19 September 2013) (Humanism BMJ)

What Do You Expect From a Doctor? Six Habits for Healthier Patient Encounters
Ann Fam Med  2013; 574-576.  (November-December 2013  vol. 11, no. 6) (What Do You Expect)

Old Men and the Sea (Journal of the AMA, 2010)
Bringing the marginalized back into community (Old Men & the Sea)

Transformation (Medicine|Iowa, 2009)
The rebirth of a family doctor. (Transformation)

Why Rivers Run (British Medical Journal, 2008)
The river, its watershed, and the doctor-patient relationship. (Why Rivers Run)

Grace is Everywhere (Family Medicine, 2007)
Remembering my father through the eyes of a thirteen year-old. (Grace is Everywhere)

Helping Them (Annals of Family Medicine, 2006)
A status report on helping “others” with addiction. (Helping Them)

The Road to Compostela (Commonweal, 2004)
Walking in faith along the Spanish frontier. (Road to Compostela)

Just a Floor Above (Commonweal, 2002)
The circle of life inside a community hospital. (Just a Floor Above)

Vow of Connectedness (Family Medicine, 2001)
What cows (and their caregivers) are good for. (Vow of Connectedness)

Saving Fred (British Medical Journal, 2000)
What is the value of a life we save? (Saving Fred)

Facing our Morality. (Journal of the AMA, 1999)
Reflecting on the virtues of a common life. (Facing Our Morality)

Hearing Voices (New England Journal of Medicine, 1996)
Who is the doctor really listening to? (Hearing Voices)

This Silence (Commonweal, 1996)
A meditation on death, and my mother. (This Silence)