Opinions

Farah Dadabhoy Farah Dadabhoy (2 Posts)

Contributing Writer

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Farah is a Class of 2017 medical student at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She has a passion for food and writing, although most of her meals are bought from the freezer aisle and most of her writing is associated with powerpoint slides.




The Doctor-Patient Waltz

Published by Farah Dadabhoy

After graduating from college, I worked at an outpatient oncology facility. I was an administrative assistant, manning the phones, sorting the mail, hounding the doctors to sign insurance forms and complete refill requests—basic, unspectacular stuff. I inhabited the bottom of the workplace hierarchy, beneath the nurses and nursing aids, below the receptionists and medical assistants. They say nurses and nursing assistants are a patient’s first point of contact; in reality, a patient’s first exchange with …

Examining Altruism in Medical Student Volunteer Work: A Reply to Pham’s Article

Published by Sian Hsiang-Te Tsuei

Author’s note: This article was written by Sian Hsiang-Te Tsuei and Amy Po-Yu Tsai. Pham (2013) questioned medical students’ underlying reason for volunteering to perform physical exams at free clinics and concluded in the article “Volunteering in Medical School: A Waste of Time?” that volunteering will never be a waste of time because medical students matriculate to “improve the quality of life for humankind, to service the underserved and to advocate for our patients who …

Take Back the Conversation on End-of-Life Care

Published by Amol Utrankar

The epicenter of the debate surrounding costs and utilization of health care is on end-of-life care. A full one-third of Medicare expenditures are spent on chronic illness patients in the last two years of life. For perspective, consider this graph: our costs of care are comparable to those of European countries for the first five decades of life, but we spend twice as much on people in their sixties, thrice as much on people in their seventies, and over four …

Beyond the Walls of Hospitals: Life as a Physician-Congressman

Published by Corey Meador

Currently, 20 physicians hold seats in the US Congress. Their training in the medical profession has instilled within them a unique skill among politicians—the capacity to listen. Not unlike the diagnostic process, a congressman must listen to those citizens that he or she represents and establish the main concern and the plan to address that concern. In speaking with two of the current physician-congressmen, I learned that listening to citizens as a US congressman very …

The Medical Gaze: What Do Foucault and the French Revolution Have to Do with Modern Medicine?

Published by Steven Lange

As students of medicine, we become familiar with the proper course of questioning that leads us to identify a patient’s problem. We take for granted a traditional paradigm of questioning, asking: “What brings you into clinic today?” and “Where does it hurt?” What we do not realize is that this conditioning is the result of a great epistemological leap taken after the French Revolution, which shaped the face of modern-day medicine.

A Mind Based Approach to Addiction Treatment

Published by Ozan Toy

Addiction is a chronic illness characterized by the use of a psychogenic substance despite negative consequences associated with its use. Biological dependence is marked by cravings, increased dose and/or frequency of use due to tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms upon cessation of substance abuse. Addicts gain pleasure via the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is released from the ventral tegmental area of the brain and into the nucleus accumbens. This reward encourages and solidifies the addictive behavior and …

Medical Students: The Anti-Millionaires

Published by Daniel Coleman

A few months ago, CBS Moneywatch published an article entitled “$1 million mistake: Becoming a doctor.” Aside from the possibility that devoting one’s life to helping others might be considered a mistake, I was struck by the “$1 million” figure. Was it actually that much? I mean, $1 million is a lot of money. When I was younger, millionaires seemed a rarefied breed. They drove expensive cars and had houses with names like “Le Troquet” or “Brandywine Vale.” The …

Women, Autoimmune Diseases and the Demographic Transition

Published by Ryan Denu

The incidence of autoimmune diseases has tripled in the past few decades, and they cost the United States more than $100 billion each year. Additionally, an autoimmune disease typically lasts for the person’s lifetime, and there are no known cures, which further put a major financial burden on the health care system. Current estimates show that 5-8% of people have autoimmune diseases worldwide, and it is estimated that over 23 million Americans suffer from them. …

Elder Abuse and You: Read Between the Lines

Published by Shaudee Parvinjah

My medical school recently hosted a sweet elderly patient to share her experience of living with gout. Mrs. J is a poised, elegant and vibrant lady of 82 years who has the stamina and vitality of a young adult. Her zeal for life and positive attitude—despite the debilitating disease—is contagious. Her openness about her struggles and the challenges she faces as a patient make her an invaluable teacher to us as medical students.  She states that …

6 Quick Fixes Toward an LGBTQ-friendly Medical School

Published by Jacob Walker

Starting an LGBTQ student group… Leading sensitivity or safe-space training sessions… Overhauling the LGBTQ health curriculum… Planning and promoting a visiting lecture series… These are but a few of the tried-and-true techniques to promote a safe and enriching environment for medical students and faculty of sexual and gender minority groups. They’re also a lot of work. If you’re short on time and resources but care a whole hell of a lot about promoting LGBTQ health …

A Bias Towards Present: Why Investing in Personal Health is So Difficult, and Why Behavioral Economics Has the Answer

Published by Birju Rao

We have now entered a world where most the obviously good ideas are already taken. Someone has already invented the chair. Someone has already invented the desk. The spaces where innovation will occur now are in the crevices of where academic disciplines come together. By using paradigms from behavioral economics, I believe physicians and public health officials can utilize this interdisciplinary terrain to solve the U.S.’s current obesity problem. In the late 1970s, famous behavioral …

The “Specialist” Doctor: The Problem of Competition in Indian Medical Education

Published by Yashwin Tah

Competition since time immemorial has forged the spirit to excel. It has driven us to learn, to evolve, to survive. In every aspect of life, from sports to politics to education, competition plays its part. After all, it was competition which put man on the moon. So naturally, medicine, and more precisely medical education, also has competition. All of the examinations, tests and everyday learning involve some form of competition. Competition motivates us to learn …

Yashwin Tah Yashwin Tah (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences

I'm a medical student in India. I believe in global unity and dream of a liberal India. Traveler, observer, dreamer, Star Wars fan.