Opinions

Will Jaffee, DO (6 Posts)

Medical Student Editor Emeritus (2013-2015)

Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Will graduated in the Class of 2015 at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he is now an attending in Adult Inpatient Medicine at Maine Medical Center. He went to Oberlin College where he majored in philosophy and snark. He is passionate about reproductive health, humanism, music and riding his bike as much as possible. To see more glamorous writing on science, bioethics, and unique perspectives on the training of future doctors, check out his blog, Doctor Coffee's Brain Banter.

Who Counts, What Doesn’t: Refocusing Armstrong’s Abortion Perspective

Published by Will Jaffee, DO

I’m writing in response to Sam Armstrong’s anti-choice piece “Who Counts, Who Doesn’t: Human Value, Reproductive Freedom and the Abortion-on-Demand Debate” that was recently published online at in-Training. While a comprehensive review of student doctor Armstrong’s arguments is warranted, I will only attack those I found particularly troublesome. I’ll also add salient points he did not discuss, while maintaining an eye on the neo-proverbial “TL;DR” clock. Mr. Armstrong (who I’ll now refer to as “Sam,” as he is …

Not Enough LGBT Training in Medical School

Published by Neil Kalsi

Approximately 3-5% of the population in the United States identifies as homosexual or as having sex with a person of the same gender at some point in their life. That is approximately eight to 12 million individuals. In comparison, the population of Boston, MA is around four million people. Los Angeles, CA has a population of approximately 10 million. These statistics suggest that engaging in sex with a partner of the same gender or being transgender is not uncommon.

Women Hold Up Half the Sky

Published by Toral Patel

Many are accustomed to hearing the phrase “Behind every great man there’s a great woman.” Yet, if this is the case, why are many women of the world being tormented physically, mentally and emotionally every day? And how does medicine take a role in this dilemma? Fistulas are an abnormal connection or passageway between an organ, vessel or intestinal structure. In the Western world, obstetric fistulas are commonly due to obstructed labor or lack of …

Who Counts, Who Doesn’t: Human Value, Reproductive Freedom and the Abortion-on-Demand Debate

Published by Sam Armstrong

Introduction What makes us human? This question may strike you as simplistic, after all, our membership in the species Homo sapiens is the obvious answer, or you may interpret the question more abstractly to mean: What is the essence of being human? It is the latter sense of this question that is of particular importance to us as physicians-in-training. Now, I am sure you are wondering what this seemingly esoteric question has to do with anything practical. …

When Health Policy Cares About Costs More Than Doing the Right Thing

Published by Emily Lu

Editor’s note: This article was originally published here by contributing writer Emily Lu on her blog, Medicine for Change. Like every other health policy nerd out there, I’ve been following the debate over the Oregon Medicaid experiment results about as closely as most Chicagoans followed the Bulls game. For those not up to speed, here’s a quick replay: Due to financial constraints, Oregon was only able to expand Medicaid enrollment by 10,000 in 2008, though many more people were …

Save NIH Funding!

Published by Ryan Denu

Just this past month, the House of Representatives passed a new budget bill that would make permanent the sequestration cuts. Being a physician-scientist in training, one of my biggest concerns is the proposed 8.4% cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding of biomedical research. There are also cuts proposed to the National Science Foundation. Every single time a doctor evaluates a patient or prescribes a therapy for a serious illness, federally funded biomedical research plays …

The Role of Medical Humanities in Medical School

Published by Hormuz Nicolwala

While memorizing anatomy and learning how to perform certain medical procedures are vital in training the prospective physician, it is equally, if not more important, to prepare the upcoming physician for humanism in medicine. In 2011, 69, or 52%, of the 133 accredited medical schools in the U.S. required a course in medical humanities. It is through the window of humanity that one learns the art of medicine: the obligation to care for the sick may …

Yoga and Medicine: What Med Students Should Know About this Ancient Health Practice

Published by Jennie Barnes

Why should future physicians know about yoga? Yoga is an ancient health science based on the experimental and experiential. The physical postures and meditative practices of yoga developed through thousands of years of intent study of the body’s responses to particular postures and meditations. Many patients have already caught on to yoga as a form of mental and physical self-care and preventive health. If we adequately understand yoga, we can seize an opportunity to encourage the …

ACT NOW. Save GME.

Published by Meena Thatikunta

Dear medical students: our fates are being decided by Congress on March 1 — we don’t have time to dilly-dally, so here is a high-yield summary of this piece. Congress may cut graduate medical education (GME) funding on March 1. (GME funds residency programs). Congress is considering cuts as high as 50%, which translates into thousands of residency programs and thousands of residency slots on the chopping block. That’s your future on the line. I’ll let the …

Patient Safety on the Rocks: Reflections from the 2012 Telluride Patient Safety Roundtable

Published by Dacia Russell

Rugged yet breathtakingly subtle, the backdrop of Telluride, Colorado was a boon for our group of medical students to dissect the obstacles we encounter to safely care for our patients. The setting was the 2012 Telluride Patient Safety Roundtable. I, along with nearly 20 other medical students and leaders from prominent patient safety and health care quality organizations, convened to become better advocates for patient safety. This innovative roundtable, in its eighth iteration, sought to immerse upcoming medical professionals in discussions …

LGBT Health: A Story Behind the Statistics

Published by Meena Thatikunta

Let’s keep it real: this is a long piece and you have to study, dear medical student. But just for a moment, I’ll ask you to think upon your own LGBT medical education experience. Do you feel prepared? Do you know what to ask? Do you know how to ask it? The answers to these questions may vary from an enthusiastic “yes” to “I have to study now” to “…no.” Regardless of where you fall, …

Meena Thatikunta (4 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Northeast Ohio Medical University

Meena Thatikunta is a Class of 2015 medical student at Northeast Ohio Medical University in the 6-year accelerated BS/MD program. Meena enjoys writing about health policy, advocacy, and humanism in medicine--with a bit of humor. Pending her survival of medical school, she hopes to pursue neurosurgery or orthopedic surgery and found a media company which delivers health policy and advocacy content through innovative means. Meena's media experience includes television host, radio co-host, producer, writer, and web designer.

Meena is a recipient of the AMA Foundation's Leadership Award. She served as a Health Policy Fellow with the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA) and currently serves as Vice Chair of the AMA Medical Student Section Committee on Legislation and Advocacy and Medical Student Representative to the OSMA's Focused Task Force on State Legislation.