Recently, I encouraged a dear great aunt to go into a hospice program. Like so many seniors, she lives alone, is adamant that she wants to do so, and has caregivers who come to help. Her will is strong, her mind sharp but her body is frail. Simple activities like moving around a room are […]

Here’s a shocking tidbit that doesn’t get much news coverage: The world is not overpopulated. In fact, it is steadily and rapidly becoming underpopulated. In fact, the U.S. population is just barely at maintenance (that is, each adult replaces himself or herself). And this is mainly due to immigration. People just aren’t having many children. […]

Our church has initiated a new plan for prayer. We will have an unofficial schedule during which we are advised to pray wherever we are three times daily. I like this idea. It seems an appropriate discipline in a time when the idea of spiritual discipline is often viewed as too rigid or antiquated. While […]

I just saw a patient who had elevated blood pressure. He had a history of this and took appropriate medication. He had no symptoms or complaints, except that the number was up more than normal. His wife informed me, with a smile and a shake of her head, that he checked his blood pressure all […]

I’ve seen a lot of wounds over the course of my medical career — some of them from car crashes, others from assaults. Many of them have been work-related injuries or resulted from the use of tools around the home. Still others have been due to animal bites or stings. The injuries I listed above […]

I just saw a post on social media that proclaimed, “An ectopic pregnancy is not a real pregnancy.” This was, of course, in response to legal questions in the wake of Roe v. Wade. It was also wrong and confusing. As Christians, it is incumbent on us not to simply be people who scream slogans […]

July is upon us, and it’s a big month in the world of medicine. July 1 is traditionally the day that medical school graduates start their residency training. It’s a time of anxiety for those physicians and also can be a time of confusion for people being seen and treated by them in hospitals and […]

When we think about healthcare and hospitals, most people conjure up images of physicians in surgery, or of nurses in scrubs, moving quickly and efficiently between sick patients. Hospitals are filled with many important people — from medical staff to therapists, pharmacists, X-ray and ultrasound technicians, housekeeping, laundry, kitchen staff, and a veritable army of […]

I have spent my life in the church, and, from about age 15 on, I was one of the dreaded “PKs.” That’s right, a preacher’s kid. Right up there with MKs (missionary kids) in our capacity for disruption, PKs can be a handful. But one of the great things about being a PK was having […]

Many years ago, I was reading “In His Image,” a book by Dr. Paul Brand. Brand, some will recall, was a pioneering plastic surgeon doing incredible mission work in India, operating on those afflicted with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy. Prior to that, he had experience operating on pilots who survived crashes during the Battle of […]