Side Effects May IncludeNow available
over the counter, the phone, or the Internet—
even on the corner—
with or without a subscription.Clinically proven to
counteract depressed mood,
soothe frazzled nerves,
decrease heart and respiratory rate …
Tag Archive: poetry
We’re all on Prozac now
The physician as humanist
In 1980 the historian G.S. Rousseau expressed concern that modern physicians no longer embodied the humanist tradition of their predecessors. Now that medicine had become overwhelmingly a science rather than an art, he claimed, the interests and accomplishments of physicians had narrowed.
It was not uncommon, for Victorian and Edwardian doctors … to write prolifically throughout their careers. … In twentieth-century America … only the most imaginative physicians can hope for this artistic lifestyle as a consequence of the economic constraints and housekeeping demands placed upon the doctor.
The physician as reader of poetry
Why My Wife Should Let Me Have a Dog
If I had a dog his soft fur would not foliate
the sofa or trigger asthma attacks
in my dear wife, ending with a hospital trip,
an adrenaline shot and those inhaler tubes
littering the house.
The physician as poet
There is harm
because there is this innocent animal,
the body;
because a baby’s unguarded gaze,
and the open regard
of animals both hold patience
with the world,
with mineral fact. Impenetrable
consciousness
arising from, locked into flesh.
Ich Habe Genug on Thanksgiving
It’s Thanksgiving and I’m feeling ‘Ich habe genug’ (I have enough). I’d like to share some poetry, music, and a film while continuing the ‘death’ theme of my last blog post. First the film, Wit, starring Emma Thompson and directed by Mike Nichols. It’s the story of Vivian, a woman with ovarian cancer who spends…
