A Brother Like You | Brandon Grill | SPRING 2019
A laugh, a comb, a movie: a caregiver connects over the small things.
Acoustic Tiles | Carol Smallwood | FALL 2015
Sometimes dreamy dissociation is a patient’s only escape.
The Acupuncturist Explains Blood | Elizabeth Wilson | FALL 2022
It’s like a song—but maybe not one of your favorites.
A Cute Kidney Failure | Sarah Safford | FALL 2016
Humor can manifest even in the face of illness.
A Gullah Woman Comes to Clinic | Ethan Stonerook | SPRING 2019
Listen closely: A simple yet profoundly meaningful patient-provider encounter reminds us to pay attention.
Admission Assessment | Rachel Betesh | FALL 2014
Discovery and recovery: The difficulties of finding the right words to describe an incoming patient's illness.
Adult ADHD Screening Questionnaire | Kathy Tran | SPRING 2018
A medical questionnaire provides glimpses into a whirring, tumbling mind
After a Year in Hospitals | Alida Rol | SPRING 2018
When a brother's life flashes before a sibling's eyes, years of love, laughter and pain pierce the final silence.
After CPR Stops | Marta Christov | FALL 2018
Tell this to her husband when she dies
All The Girls Were There, and Gorgeous | Carlene Kucharczyk | SPRING 2017
A granddaughter listens to the clues of a life well-lived by her grandmother before the onset of Alzheimer's.
All The King's Men | Diane Birnbaumer | FALL 2022
Hand-shaped bruises and cigarette burns: a story of carelessness and an infant’s death.
All Tuned Up | Albert Howard Carter III | SPRING 2021
Sometimes death is not the worst outcome.
A Message from the Vagus Nerve | E.B. Fouts-Palmer | FALL 2021
An anesthesiologist delivers a potent reminder.
Anatomy in Nature | Jesse Holth | SPRING 2018
An astute observation of botanical anthropomorphism and nature in the shape of humans.
Anatomy Lab | Katherine White | SPRING 2023
What is learned when translating ‘cadavers’ from Greek becomes deathly personal.
An Explanation of Sorts | Michele Randall | FALL 2019
Memories unfurl when time, or illness, sparks an unexpected (and revealing) reunion.
An Inventory of Potions in Tanka | Elizabeth Morton | FALL 2018
Personalities of potions in poetic display
And You Never Think Cancer Would Be White | Dealla Samadi | FALL 2023
A medical trainee discovers cancer looks and feels unlike anything she imagined.
Apachetas | Lynn Lawrence | FALL 2011
An apacheta is a 'remembering stone' that honors those who have departed.
A Partner’s Secret | Brian Ascalon Roley | FALL 2021
Recalling the torment of losing one’s words.
Aphasia | Jen Karetnick | FALL 2013
Losing the ability to understand speech creates its own kind of language.
Aphasia | Jennifer Wolkin | FALL 2018
Questions of meaning: Understanding words that are not understandable
The Appointment | Ronald Lands | FALL 2015
A wistful look through the eyes of a caregiver.
April 17, 2018: A Brief History of Gynecological Surgery | Katherine Panushka | SPRING 2021
The voices of our mothers still speak.
Architecture of Anatomy | Anastasia Vassos | SPRING 2022
Finding the majesty in one’s spinal column.
A Slice of Strudel | Joan Michelson | SPRING 2016
What does a slice of strudel have in common with an intimate moment and terminal illness?
Assisted Living Lullaby | Ellen Sazzman | FALL 2016
Some melodies evoke memories that continue to bring pleasure.
At the Doctor’s Office, I Check, Yes, I have Experienced the Following: Sudden Weight Loss | Abby Wheeler | FALL 2023
The body can be devastated just like the earth can.
At the Green Burial Informational Luncheon | Ingrid Andersson | SPRING 2018
Musing on where to place the body of a loved one when they pass.
Atropos Comes to Planned Parenthood | Kain Kim | FALL 2022
The goddess of fate and destiny reflects on images of pregnancy and childbirth.
Auscultation of a Failing Heart | Prerana Chatty | SPRING 2019
The sounds of dying hearts speak in connection to the world
A Vacancy of Wings | Samantha Barrow | SPRING 2017
The realization of loss comes at unexpected moments.
A White Feather Falls at My Feet on the Anniversary of Your Death | Dianne Avey | SPRING 2018
Writing an elegy becomes an exercise in listening closely to one's beloved.
Baby Girl | Raeshell Sweeting | SPRING 2022
The world’s chaos is suspended in the joy a newborn brings.
Ballad of a Harlem Boy | Phyllis Capello | FALL 2023
New York City streets mourn the murder of a young Black boy named Justin.
Baptism - Bellevue Hospital 1974 | Carol Scott-Connor | SPRING 2023
Seizing the moment: A bloody rite ushers in a doctor’s religious questioning.
Bathing My Mother | John C. Mannone | FALL 2017
A daily ritual can be an experience that changes the way we look at our world.
Beautiful, Peaceful, Holy | Hannah May | FALL 2023
No two birthing experiences are ever the same.
Becoming a Doctor | Brent Schnipke | SPRING 2018
Trials and tribulations inspire this riveting and enlightening description of both ends of the spectrum of becoming a doctor—from the gritty details to the luminescent.
Before Going Under | Tabor Flickinger | SPRING 2023
Thoughts that emerge before a body’s transformation about eerily natural metamorphosis.
Behind the Door | Suzanne Travis | SPRING 2024
Preparing the body and preparing the family are different nursing rituals.
Beneath a Sycamore: Autism Revisited | Woods Nash | FALL 2013
The organic splendor of nature as seen from a particular point of view.
Berry Picking | Sara Adler | FALL 2016
Questions about what's in our food intrude on a simple outing.
Bilateral Tendencies | Jen Karetnick | FALL 2021
The haunting impact of not believing her pain.
Birds of Prayer | Sara Adler | FALL 2016
With feathers: The high flight of hope.
Black is the Color | Richard Kravitz FALL 2018
Reflections on the color and physicality of a cancer diagnosis
Bleeding | Drea Burbank | FALL 2021
Why we bleed and how it makes us better.
Bodywork | Aaron McGuffin | FALL 2021
The medical and the mechanical merge in this sharp, electric poem.
Bodies Revealed Exhibition | Joanna White | FALL 2018
A woman visits a museum with her children and is haunted by the medical terrors of her past
The Body Lives Its Undoing | Suzanne Edison | SPRING 2018
An exploration into control versus chaos in the sick body
Body of Wisdom | Lailah Shima | SPRING 2019
Glimpsing her surgeon’s notes, feeling her surgeon’s blade…
Borrowed Car | Lisa Kerr | FALL 2015
We drive toward a diagnosis, not always sure where we'll end up.
Brain as Timepiece | Jennifer Wolkin | FALL 2018
A clinician and a patient with Dementia, and the evaluation of consistently fleeting moments
Breast Lump | Michelle Dyer | FALL 2020
“I didn’t know it’d look like…”
Breast Unit | Konstantina Georganta | SPRING 2014
Voices surround us, even in nature, when bodies are at war with themselves.
Breathe | Sheila Kelly | FALL 2017
Praying and trying to stay afloat amidst a pool of past memories.
Breathing In Hospice | Alina Siddiqui | FALL 2017
Settle into the rhythms of the dying.
Brooching | Chase McMurren | FALL 2019
Patients can leave impressions on clinicians in unexpected ways.
Bruits | Martin Seneviratne | FALL 2017
Listen, as cardiologists do, to the symphony of the heart.
Buried, Somewhere | Molly Fels | FALL 2017
Memory is ushered in through the holding of a hand.
Bypass | Shreya Jalali | SPRING 2013
A lyrical meditation on the narrative created between clinicians and patients.
Cancer Speaks in Tongues | Suzanne Edison | FALL 2018
The vernacular of cancer is varied and vast, with sounds that resound time and time again.
Captain’s Song | Marta Christov | FALL 2018
There’s still time before the crash to consider what’s come before it.
Cardioneurological Cataclysm | Marc Perlman | SPRING 2021
Brain and heart battle it out on who should take the lead.
The Caregiver | Kristen Camitta Zimet | FALL 2013
The role of a caregiver goes far beyond taking care of a loved one's physical needs.
Caregiving | Brian Ascalon Roley | FALL 2019
The sad joy of caring for and parenting a disabled child.
Carnival of Rust: Haiku Sequence | Lala Tanmoy Das | SPRING 2017
Lung cancer quietly devastates.
Cartographer... | Laurel Jessup | FALL 2012
Life begins and a woman encounters the uncharted territory of a newborn baby.
Cerros | Teddy G. Goetz | SPRING 2019
A clinician can learn to understand a patient’s concerns, even in a different language.
CFTR | Teddy G. Goetz | FALL 2019
In a routine exam, a doctor sees and hears more that what’s initially presented.
The Chairs | Karen Loeb | FALL 2013
To vaccinate—or not: Remembering a parent's way of dealing with the decision.
Chemistry of Prognosis | Kirk Hathaway | FALL 2017
There's solace in looking ahead to what might be ... and how love might survive.
Chronic Black Excellence | Michael Arnold | FALL 2019
What will it take to create generations of believers?
Cicadas’ Song | Mitchell Nohner | SPRING 2023
Like an embrace: A caregiver endows the last hours of a life with whatever is left.
Cisplatin at 11:15 | Joseph Eveld | SPRING 2014
We recognize the contradictions inherent in any kind of treatment, but even more so in cancer care.
Close to the Flowers: Notes from a Tanzanian Orphanage | Woods Nash | FALL 2013
Nurture the innocent—and watch them blossom.
Code OB | Angela Tang-Tan | SPRING 2024
“God help me, I could not stop seeing the baby.”
Coming Back North | Bruce Jennings | SPRING 2017
Illness can take people in different directions — until they find their way back home.
Comma | L.N. Allen | FALL 2015
A misspelled word leads to a curiously profound reflection.
The Commiphora Myrrah Tree | Wendy French | SPRING 2016
A residue of resin remains after a tree is tapped; what's left of us when the inevitable happens?
Conjoined | Anne Corey | SPRING 2022
A sister contemplates life without her other half.
Constellation Rifts | Alicia Sometimes | SPRING 2023
Five scenes before, during and after a cancer diagnosis spur astronomical musings.
Continue to Monitor | Fiona Miller | SPRING 2022
Think about Cassandra and the curse of knowing: For a doctor, it’s difficult to foresee how vulnerable people will ultimately turn out.
Cosmetics | Mo Lynn Stoycoff | SPRING 2021
On treating a book by its cover.
Costuming | Luisa Rovegno | SPRING 2022
Trick or treat: There’s no dress code when life and death are at stake.
Cure-Alls | Anna Harvey Bluemel | SPRING 2022
Imagine if your doctor provided prescriptions addressing more than just your aches and pains.
Countertransference | Paavani Reddy | SPRING 2021
In recognizing our own reflection, boundaries begin to blur.
Crying Uncle | Varsha Kukafka | FALL 2020
A striking glimpse and examination of a family’s grief.
Cut it Out | Kee MacFarlane | SPRING 2013
A desperate request from a patient for the surgeon to cut her open, in order to make her whole again.
Daffodils | Deb O'Rourke | SPRING 2024
A daughter draws daffodils to help her mother remember.
Dances with Pills | Jen Karetnick | FALL 2013
Heal, reveal, conceal: Medication can affect us and our symptoms in so many ways.
Daughter Gesture | Joanne Clarkson | SPRING 2023
Memories slip out of reach but the hands—and holding them—remain
Dear Patient | Jen Hartmark-Hill | FALL 2017
When one listens closely, revelations come at the most unexpected times.
Dear Stephanie, It Made Sense | Hannah Baggott | SPRING 2015
Having an illness in common doesn't make you best of friends—or even sympathetic.
Death Calls Often | Sylvia Sensiper | SPRING 2021
There is an interplay of resentment and grief in a mother’s near death.
Decision | Ron Lands | SPRING 2019
The Delivery | Scott Ruescher | FALL 2018
The beauty of midwifery in an indigenous community
Dementia Waltz | Kathryn Paul | SPRING 2021
It’s not always easy to deliver news that might change the course of a person’s life.
The Devil Overhead | Tulsi Patel | FALL 2021
Connecting to a patient ultimately means honoring their personhood — their love for birds, for religion, for poetry.
Diagnosis | Simona Carini | SPRING 2019
On the delicate balance between floating and sinking.
Diary of Psychiatric Meds Taken by Patient MS | Marjorie Sadin | FALL 2012
A list of what helped, what didn't—memories of medications and doctors and moments in treatment.
Dictum Wisdom | Ceren Ege | FALL 2021
Reborn: A child describes her father’s death and mother’s reaction with powerful, unflinching imagery, reflecting on what we can’t look away from.
d.IF.ferent | Billie Holladay Skelley | FALL 2017
A look inside the isolating nature of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The "Difficult Patient" | Kendra Peterson | FALL 2017
Charting the difference between noticing suffering and not.
Disheartening News | Alina Plavsky | SPRING 2018
Sometimes there are only bad signs, no matter where you look.
Diving into the OR | Geoffrey Rubin | FALL 2017
An operation as oceanic excavation.
DNA | Mary Anne Moisan | FALL 2021
A quiet, riveting musing on what is fated, on what can and cannot be known.
DNR | Amir Adam Tarsha | FALL 2013
A contemplation—about medical choices, before and after death.
Doctoring in Nicaragua | Greg Stidham | FALL 2017
Reflection and its rewards: A physician looks back with satisfaction on a job well done.
The Doctor's White Room | Sumit Parikh | FALL 2023
Reimagining what can take place between four walls.
The Donna Summer Operation: A Slam Poem | Jordan Teitelbaum | SPRING 2020
Conquering cancer is as much a dance as a fight.
Don’t Leave | Sophia Wilson | SPRING 2020
Whether to stay or go is the push and pull of being a healthcare worker with a family at home.
The Doorbell Rings, I Am Off My Meds | Maya J. Sorini | SPRING 2022
Welcoming back a familiar stranger: This time, comfort and convince her to stay on track.
Dorothy’s Hands | Pamela Hart | SPRING 2018
An attentive tribute to what happened to Dorothy's body over the years.
Dovetail | Zoe Mays | SPRING 2016
Cancer doesn't make sense. Did you expect it to?
Drawing Dying Hands | Lauren Catlett | FALL 2014
The art of connection is a sketch in reality.
Drive | Joanne Clarkson | SPRING 2023
In the rumble seat: An existential joyride at 15 mph.
Driving | Meg Lindsay | FALL 2018
A caregiver makes a life or death decision.
Dude, the Stage? | Sean J. Mahoney | FALL 2014
Cue applause: A patient is a kind of performance artist on an unfamiliar stage.
During Chemo, My Father Ate Canned Mandarins | Amy Ratto Parks | FALL 2022
Sometimes the simple pleasures in dark times are just enough.
Early Mornings | Noam Margalit | FALL 2021
Small, delicate, startling images - fragile violet vessels on hands, a scar under the crease of an arm - frame this poem about the “weight of watching.”
E.B. | Amy Caruso Brown | SPRING 2015
How suffering continues to revisit us, no matter how many times we experience it.
Emergency Department | Stefanie Reiff | SPRING 2015
Sometimes what is witnessed in a hospital is experienced at the most unexpected moments.
Entering the Sick Room | Cortney Davis | FALL 2018
How to be the bearer of news.
E.R. Prophet Night Shift Spring 2020 | Katrina Kostro | SPRING 2020
Intake questions reveal the past and prophesy the future.
Essential | Alexis Rehrmann | FALL 2020
When the world changes, we consider what is most essential.
Eva Borrisov | Joan Michelson | FALL 2015
Even the traces of past lives eventually vanish.
Evening Music | Anna Delamerced | SPRING 2020
Something new, something old - a portrait.
Even the Ground is Moving | Tess Langan | FALL 2022
McDonald’s and rounds of UNO mark the end of an era—and the beginning of a new one.
Exchange | Wendy French | SPRING 2017
A glimpse into a quiet world.
Expecting | Jennifer O’Brien | SPRING 2022
All the preparation in the world can’t make you ready for a life-changing moment when it arrives.
The Faithful | Elisabeth McKetta | FALL 2015
A moment of care from a caregiver, questioning who cares.
Falling | Larry Oakner | FALL 2017
A series of events gives rise to questions about an incident in the past.
Family as Six Scenes | Ting Gou | FALL 2016
Those most familiar to us come together through stories.
Family Meeting: Medical Student Meets Patient’s Daughter | Katrina Kostro | SPRING 2020
A woman makes her final wishes heard.
Fanny (Your Monster) | Sarah Joyce | SPRING 2014
The many triggers of memory stir up complex associations.
Fear of Causing Pain | Irene Mathieu | SPRING 2015
The prick of a needle holds a host of emotions and memories.
Field Notes from a Healthcare Worker in America | Jane Newkirk | SPRING 2022
What a caregiver does to overcome the reality of challenging conditions? Simply care.
FIFE Erasure from p. 78 Bates Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking | Zamina Mithani | FALL 2021
Take the usual form to fill out with questions to pose and deconstruct it to see what you really are asking.
First Page | Jennifer Stella | FALL 2019
An urgent plea against time and death.
First Year | Anna Harvey Bluemel | FALL 2022
A summary of time, and all of the tasks a clinician does, captured by moments of vitality.
For My Father, Lost | Larry Oakner | FALL 2017
Memories, found: A son relives a long-ago trip to the berry farm with his dad.
Four A.M. | Albert Leung | SPRING 2021
In the still of the night: A physician reflects on the dying process with loved ones.
The Four Stages of Grief | Kate Steger | FALL 2014
Four stages of cancer. Endless stages of grief. A daughter grapples with her mother’s absence.