Humane Medicine

Out of season: Coping with  an adolescent in crisis

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C October 20, 2010

An exchange with a troublesome adolescent girl incites contemplation about whether the teenage years are always a time for blooming.

Love's labors lost: Sexual dysfunction in an adolescent male

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C August 06, 2010

When a teen-age boy disguises his true intention to receive a Viagra prescription, the author reflects on relationships and reading between the lines.

House calls, homebodies: Remembering that you came

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C June 16, 2010

The comfort of a clinician's home visit is immeasurable to patients who wish to live their last days in their own home.

Telling it slant: Using poetry  as a venue for healing

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C April 27, 2010

When the author is invited to speak to a local boy scout troop, he uses poetry to find a pathway in to a difficult subject.

Charlotte's Web: Lessons learned from a pig and a spider

Sarah Zarbock, PA-C April 07, 2010

Skilled communication is especially critical during conversations with children and their families about life-threatening and terminal conditions. How can E.B. White's classic children tale make you a better communicator?

A grief observed: A belated bill must finally be paid

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C February 25, 2010

An encounter with a patient last seen 6 years previously reminds the author that there's no escaping grief. It always catches up with us.

Evaluating the patient with a measure of equanimity

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C December 29, 2009

The author reflects that no matter how many times he has examined a child who has been abused, the experience doesn't get any easier.

A jaundiced view: More than meets the clinician's eye

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C October 28, 2009

The author reflects on just how much he has left to learn about how a disease can impact the lives of those who suffer from it.

A Day in the Life: Alexandra Godfrey, BSc, PT

Alexandra Godfrey, BSc, PT October 14, 2009

A day in both the anatomy lab and the hospital teaches this student how a constant awareness of illness, suffering, and loss will be part of being a PA.

He talks to me with his eyes

Brian T. Maurer, PA-C May 01, 2006

Because Javier Gonzalez, a 6-year-old boy with spastic quadriplegia could not speak; and because his mother spoke no English, it was his 9-year-old sister Laura who answered my questions.