Joe and the winter sun
Paul Buehrens Joe and winter sun I got to know Joe pretty well. I inherited him from a partner who retired, and my first duty for Joe revolved around him coming in…
Clinical Stories
Smart, but not THAT smart
A story that is true from a very long time ago, but still perfectly relevant. When I was in college, my annoying younger brother not only skipped his last year…
Johnny can’t play!
Another day in the office, another appointment. This one turned out to be unique. Johnny, 8 years old, plays hockey, but he seems to have lost his stamina, can’t finish…
A tale of three codes and AEDs
OK, so apologies to Dickens. All three are the worst of times, if you are the patient, even if they turned out OK. First code I ever went to. I…
A “new” outpatient treatment for alcohol withdrawal
The patient admitted his alcoholism and had been through “treatment” but rejected the 12 step approach, in the days before we had anything but Antabuse to reduce drinking. He would…
One Case, One More Lesson
One case, more than one lesson. The multifactorial nature of causation in a story. The 50ish woman came in for a complete physical with nearly every symptom on the review…
When the receptionist can make the diagnosis
Standing next to her, my nurse fields a phone call. Average, 25/day. The average family doc sees about 25 patients a day of a group of about 1500 under management,…
The body has strange ways at times
Long ago I was serving in the Charleston SC County hospital as a surgical intern on my first year rotation. An elderly man had an open sore on his ankle…
Kids heal fast
Sometimes faster than you can believe! In a family practice like mine, broken bones in little ones are not very common. Sometimes the family doc can handle them, sometimes not,…
The benefits of group practice
One day in my first year, the most senior doc in our group of then 9 men asked me to listen to his patient’s heart. She was in her early…