Jerry Rabinowitz, Family Physician, Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania

“We ourselves shall be loved for awhile and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”
― Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey 

Eleven Jews were slaughtered in Squirrel Hill on October 27, 2018.  Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz was one of them,  A remarkable obituary of the physician was published a few days later in  the New York Times.

How and why were these 11 at their synagogue on particular sabbath morning.That is a question Thornton Wilder attempts to answer in The Bridge of San Luis Rey,  We can only wonder.  Yet we can honor them and reading the fine NY Times essay is one way to do so. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Should doctors share their personal experiences of healthcare with patients?

Robinson F. Should doctors share their personal experiences of healthcare with patients?

BMJ 2018;363:k4312 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k4312 Full Text.

Few studies have investigated the effect on patients of doctors disclosing personal experiences. It’s a divisive topic, the author, Fran Robinson finds: some doctors feel strongly that it can help when done carefully, but others struggle with its potential to detract from the patient's concerns and needs.

This is a reasoned, insightful introduction to an important topic.

Medical Crooks at a Center of Excellence

NY Times

Both articles by Katie Thomas and Charles Ornstein

Medical Crooks in High Places

Dr. Craig B. Thompson, the chief executive of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, resigned his seats on the boards of drug maker Merck and another public company, the latest fallout from a widening institutional reckoning over relationships between cancer center leaders and for-profit health care companies

He received $300,000 in compensation from Merck in 2017, according to company financial filings. He was paid $70,000 in cash by Charles River in 2017, plus $215,050 in stock. 

In 2016, he received $6.7 million in total compensation from the hospital and related organizations, according to the most recent Internal Revenue Service filings.

He keeps his job at Sloan Kettering and gets a slap on the wrist.  How do these industry ties impact on patient care? MSKCC is a sorry spectacle.

Also see: Case of Dr. José Baselga, a towering figure in the cancer world, and the chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. NY Times September 8, 2018.

Murky Water

Cathryn Lapedis, M.D. Murky Water 

in the On Being a Doctor Section

Ann Intern Med. 2018 Sep 18;169(6):415-416.

Link to Full Text.

"At the recent Association of American Medical Colleges national conference, there was a call to focus suicide and depression research initiatives on the culture, policies, and structures of our institutions of medical education rather than on individual factors related to the students themselves. This call was summed up with a simple metaphor: ;We've examined the fish; they're fine. It's time that we start examining the water.' ”

Cathryn's essay about a friend's suicide in medical school is a poignant reflection on an important topic that we infrequently consider.