When Did the Physician Become the Problem?
A physician examines how healthcare leadership lost trust in clinical voices—and why patient care still depends on restoring it.
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The Palliative Lens
Healthcare looks different when viewed through the realities of serious illness.
Andrew Esch, MD writes about the economic, ethical, operational, and deeply human forces shaping medicine—and what it takes to build systems that serve patients and clinicians more honestly.
Happy Birthday Dr. Sherika Newman
A personal reflection on friendship, purpose, and the remarkable people medicine brings into a physician’s life.
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The Day After the Fireworks
A reflection on place, family memory, change, and the landscapes that become part of how we understand a life.
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Excellence Is a Staffing Decision
Why excellent palliative care programs should be designed around patient needs and interdisciplinary practice—not persistent vacancies.
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Running Into Dr. Qazi
A chance airport encounter becomes a reflection on mentorship, clinical excellence, and the physicians who shape our careers.
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When Common Sense Takes a Sick Day
A frustrating banking experience becomes a sharp reflection on bureaucracy, rigid systems, and the disappearance of common sense.
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The Dad
A difficult pain visit reveals the clinical judgment, family dynamics, and human stakes at the center of palliative medicine.
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Stop Celebrating the Martyrs
Palliative care access cannot depend on exhausted clinicians. Sustainable programs require staffing, systems, and shared accountability.
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Li-Fraumeni
A palliative care physician reflects on Li-Fraumeni syndrome, inherited cancer risk, and the life that continues around illness.
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More Than Game 7
A reflection on hockey, identity, memory, and the communities that stay with us long after the final game.
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The Goodbye Some Families Never Get
A physician reflects on sudden loss, unfinished goodbyes, and the different ways families are asked to carry grief.
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Second Favorite
A patient’s honest comparison prompts a reflection on trust, continuity, and what makes a palliative care relationship matter.
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How Do I Tell My Kids?
A palliative care physician reflects on helping parents with serious illness face one of the hardest conversations of their lives.
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End the Hospice Benefit
A physician’s argument for replacing a hospice benefit that too often rewards administration over timely, humane bedside care.
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Let's Be Honest About Health Equity
A candid look at health equity, the limits of healthcare institutions, and the difficult truths hidden behind familiar language.
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The Waiting Room We Don’t See
A delayed cancer evaluation exposes the hidden waiting room created by access barriers, fragmented systems, and lost time.
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Treating Pain Without Breaking Something Else
A palliative care physician examines the daily balance between relieving pain, reducing harm, and preserving patient trust.
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The Retirement Plan That Never Comes
Serious illness can erase an imagined future in an instant. A physician reflects on work, time, and the plans patients never reach.
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The Aquachile Rounds
A physician reflects on workplace culture, clinical rounds, and the small rituals that reveal whether a team truly works together.
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The Things That Haven’t Changed
Medicine keeps changing, but patients still need presence, judgment, honesty, and clinicians willing to stay in difficult moments.
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