By Vivek Murthy
Case report:
Mrs. B is a 68-year-old female with a PMH of small cell lung CA metastatic to the liver s/p last chemo six weeks ago presenting with RUQ pain migrating to her RLQ for the last 24 hours. Physical exam reveals a fatigued but pleasant African-American female appearing her stated age, in obvious pain that is making her eyes water. Exam is significant for R supraclavicular LAD, a distended abdomen, + Murphy’s sign, and exquisite tenderness to palpation and guarding in…
By John Hwang
Patient is a demented, chronically ill elderly male lying in bed attached to a ventilator, appearing anything but his stated age. Contracted in a fetal position, huddled under the bed sheet with only his bald head and wrinkled skin showing, he alternately resembles a centenarian or a newborn child—someone very much at the brink of life.
Mental Status Exam
Patient awake and alert, but severely cognitively impaired. Completely nonverbal and does not repeat or respond to commands. He…
By Kristen Mattei
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Mr. H was an 85-year-old former merchant marine and self-proclaimed lothario who presented to the VA emergency room with a six-month history of lymphadenopathy, a six-week history of cough, and a two-week history of decreased exercise tolerance. The physical exam was remarkable for impressive lymphadenopathy in the anterior cervical, posterior cervical, submandibular, axillary, and inguinal regions. A CT scan of his neck, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis revealed a pulmonary embolism and diffuse lymphadenopathy. …
By Laurel Naversen Geraghty, MS4
Faculty Peer Reviewed
CC: “I’m stuck in the hospital at 9:30 p.m.”
HPI: L.G., a female G1P1 medical student immediately s/p the grueling hours and night-float duties of her OB/GYN clerkship, experienced acute onset elation about her next rotation: psychiatry. She felt excited for the clerkship—and for the tantalizing promise of a 9-to-5 schedule, which would allow her to see her four-month-old daughter for more than 30 waking minutes per day.…
Christopher Tully, MD
Bellevue is a beast. I’m not sure if there is any other way to describe it. The corridors feel as if the streets of New York City have spilled into its sprawling confines as patients, families and employees mix to create a constant buzz. The piecemeal construction of the hospital center only adds to the chaos. There are just enough blind angles to make awkward collisions with a patient or co-worker common-place. Its endless hallways and linoleum floors…
By David Chong, MD
As the world watched the greatest athletes gather to compete in Vancouver, I was on a plane to Haiti. Just getting on the plane was quite a feat. After I received an urgent e-mail for volunteer doctors from the University of Miami’s Project Medishare field hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti late on a Friday night during an overnight shift at NY Presbyterian hospital, I began to send frantic requests for coverage for the week. Slowly, I began to…
John Trahanas
She was not my patient. Actually, she was nobody’s patient, she was just a wife; she was “the family.” She was a rough, stern looking woman, and with good reason as she had weathered many difficult times. Her husband had been severely demented for many years; however, it was only in the past few months that he required such intensive inpatient care. He was not conscious or communicative, but he was clearly in pain from the gaping,…
Bellevue Hospital, the nation’s oldest public hospital and the heart of our residency program, provides unique and unforgettable training for new physicians. It is probably safe to say that every resident who trains at Bellevue graduates with a lifetime of stories about the experience. “Tales of Survival” was created to convey some of those stories.
Christopher Tully, MD
The entrance to Bellevue Hospital is a spacious, I.M. Pei-designed Ambulatory Care Building consisting of five floors of exam rooms enclosing a sun-drenched…
Bellevue Hospital, the nation’s oldest public hospital and the heart of our residency program, provides unique and unforgettable training for new physicians. It is probably safe to say that every resident who trains at Bellevue graduates with a lifetime of stories about the experience. “Tales of Survival” was created to convey some of those stories.
Judith Brenner MD
Many years have passed since I was first an intern on the Bellevue wards. The details are blurred into a hodgepodge of images: running to…
Bellevue Hospital, the nation’s oldest public hospital and the heart of our residency program, provides unique and unforgettable training for new physicians. It is probably safe to say that every resident who trains at Bellevue graduates with a lifetime of stories about the experience. “Tales of Survival” was created to convey some of those stories.
Benjamin Bergman MD
Sometimes surviving a hospital stay is not so easy and the reasons are not so obvious. This is the story…
Bellevue Hospital, the nation’s oldest public hospital and the heart of our residency program, provides unique and unforgettable training for new physicians. It is probably safe to say that every resident who trains at Bellevue graduates with a lifetime of stories about the experience. “Tales of Survival” was created to convey some of those stories.
Melissa Price MD
As a second year medicine resident, we are required to rotate through the Bellevue Emergency Department for a solid month’s time. To describe this…
Bellevue Hospital, the nation’s oldest public hospital and the heart of our residency program, provides unique and unforgettable training for new physicians. It is probably safe to say that every resident who trains at Bellevue graduates with a lifetime of stories about the experience. “Tales of Survival” was created to convey some of those experiences.
Nathan Cox MD
Entering internship, I fully expected to be presented with…
