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Being a Telepatient

A brief guide for patients becoming a telepatient for their next video visit.

Featured

The Weight of Caring at Home

I wrote/drew this opinion piece for the LA Times two years ago, right before COVID drastically changed the landscape of… well, everything. Unfortunately, care for seriously ill loved ones has not gotten any easier during the pandemic, and patients and families still often struggle to meet the demands of illness in their living rooms. Now […]

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Closing a Chapter

DURHAM, NC – When it comes to updating a website, I landed on Santa’s lump-of-coal list for yet another year. In my defense, it’s been a busy one. Apart from the usual pandemic chaos which continues to upend all of our lives, my spouse Bethany and I, along with our loyal pup Lily, have been […]

Blood or Tears

Why do we doctors feel more comfortable with blood than with tears?

Happy Doctors Day!

In honor of Doctor’s Day 2022, I took Norman Rockwell’s famous painting “Doc Melhorn and the Pearly Gates” and added some hues. I’m grateful for the caring colleagues I’ve had the privilege of working beside over the years… people who strive to know their patients “inside out” like Doc Melhorn. “’He was just a good […]

Dr. Lister vs. Hand-washing Hesitancy

*Dr. Joseph Lister did, in fact, encounter resistance and hesitancy as he shared his findings with the world. His introduction of antiseptic technique resulted in a tremendous drop in the risk of dying from surgery, but he faced skepticism both about his technique and about the broader foundations of germ theory in general. His initial […]

HOUSE HUNTERS: Nursing Facility DreamHome Edition

*As a palliative care doctor, I often spend time working alongside families that are trying to navigate the minefield of facility-based care. Whether they are learning the rules and coverage options for short-term rehab or trying to figure out how to arrange long-term care at an assisted living facility or nursing home, our country’s options […]

A New Season…?

As still another season dawns in this blur of a year, it’s been wonderful to see our COVID case counts fall here and to watch some of our hospital COVID units being converted back to regular medical wards. While we also keep a wary eye on the numbers and advocate for patients and places around […]

Living Through Uncertainty

This year has thrown many of our lives into upheaval. While I’m still not good at living in limbo, I’m trying to learn from those who’ve gone through uncertainties I can only begin to imagine. Here are the first few frames of a comic on what foster care has taught me about living through limbo. […]

Medical Purgatory

As patients with COVID continue to fill emergency departments around the country, our ICU’s are increasingly filling with patients who are trapped in the hospital from complications of the virus. My latest illustrated Op-Ed for the LA Times highlights the plight of those trapped in medical purgatory. See the article HERE. Nathan A. Gray, MD.