My Illness Narrative: the Autopathography Project (If you want this in a printable form, please email D.J. Elpern djelpern@gmail.com) You may have a complex health problem that doctors have not solved. When you enter the new doctor’s office, a perky … Continue reading
Category Archives: Elpern, David J.
Darkness Visible: A Life of Chaos
a chaos of hard clay. Byron, Darkness Darkness Visible: A Life in Chaos It takes almost a decade to train a physician: at least seven years for a family practitioner and up to ten for cardiac- and neurosurgeons. We become … Continue reading
Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health (1975)
From the Introduction: full notes at:Medical Nemesis Illich Ivan Illich, 1926-2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich) Introduction: The medical establishment has become a major threat to health. The disabling impact of professional control over medicine has reached the proportions of an epidemic. Thoughtful public … Continue reading
Notes on Pathographies
Notes on Pathographies: An Arabian Nights’ Experience David J. Elpern* * The Skin Clinic, Williamstown, Massachusetts Email A few years ago, a group of us gathered in the Osler Library at McGill. Osler guided us with his words: The … Continue reading
Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) Decision Aid
The question of whether to undergo a SLN biopsy for melanoma is a difficult one. It is clear that some experts recommend it while others don’t. If you live in Boston you will be told one thing. If you live … Continue reading
Cry the Beloved Specialty
by David J. Elpern, M.D. presented in shorter form at the Lown Institute Conference, Washington, D.C. April 9. 2018 Every peddler praises his needles. Portuguese proverb In November 2017, the NY Times published an expose about the current state of … Continue reading
Health Anxiety in Dermatology
Patients see doctors with varying degrees of concern regarding their health. While some require tests or treatments, a subset has severe health anxiety and cannot be reassured by tests, procedures, or pharmaceuticals but may be helped, at least temporarily, by … Continue reading
MUDS: In Search of Medically Unexplained Dermatological Symptoms
MUDS EAJDVby David J. Elpern, M.D. Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are relatively well-known in the literature but not discussed in any dermatology journal. A recent book, Is It All In Your Head?: True Stories of Imaginary Illness, by by the … Continue reading
Spirituality in Dermatology
by Jorge Ramon and David J. Elpern This article was published in the July 2017 Archives of Dermatology Excerpts: Spirituality is difficult to define, but a recent consensus conference defined it as the aspect of humanity that refers to the … Continue reading
Towards Continuous ‘Medical’ Inspiration
by David J. Elpern, M.D. Abstract: Physicians waste too much time mired in our pedantic and mediocre professional literature. There is no way one can keep up with it and most of the articles are forgettable and sadly will prove … Continue reading