Blood or Tears

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

Featured

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 […]

Dying Words Aren’t What I Imagined

The things people say (and don’t say) at the end never cease to surprise me… Here’s the link to my comic, made for Spiralbound on Medium, about the tremendous privilege of sitting together alongside both the marvel and the messes of dying words.

Good Medicine

Sir William Osler is widely considered the father of modern medical education and created the first residency specialty training program for doctors. He was famous not only for his glorious mustache but for his passion for drawing students out of the classroom and to the bedside of their patients. His influence can be seen throughout […]

Finding Humanity in Medicine’s High-Tech Death Ritual…

Durham, NC – My latest graphic medicine piece was published last week, and I’m grateful to Topic magazine for giving this story a platform. I tried hard to capture the pain and grit of one of the hard decisions that patients and doctors are forced to make in the midst of life-threatening illness. While I believe strongly […]

Flute Music, Existential Distress, and Sloppy Surgeons…

Here are a few recent Palliative Care cartoons from the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management and AAHPM Quarterly! I’m grateful, and still a bit surprised, to have my scatterbrained cartoons featured in respectable publications… Images copyright ©2018 Nathan A. Gray

Empathy: The Throw Pillow Rule of Thumb…

N. Gray, MD I’ve definitely said my share of words that weren’t helpful in fragile moments with people who were suffering. Learning to be present without pity, preaching, or patronizing is an art that requires the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and hear your words with their ears. I find I’ve rarely […]