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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 […]

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 […]

The Pandemic Draws On

It’s been a busy year, so in one sweep, I’m going to catch my InkVessel site up to date on the art I’ve made in the last 6 months: First, amid the torrent of angst all of us were feeling about the early days of the outbreak, I produced this piece for the L.A. Times […]

The woman who changed how we die…

When it comes to courageous healthcare heroes, it’s hard to think of anyone quite like Dame Cicely Saunders – nurse, social worker, doctor, and an extraordinary spark in bringing rigorous compassion to medicine… I’m excited to share my comic on the life of Dame Saunders published with Annals of Internal Medicine just in time for […]

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.

Medicine in the Digital Age

Since its first display in 1891, Sir Luke Fildes’ classic painting “The Doctor” has become an icon for the ideals of presence and personal connection in the practice of medicine. Certainly, medical technology has made miraculous strides in the past century, but I sometimes wonder how we measure up against that ideal in our digital […]

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

Burnout

A cartoon salute to the medical folks working this #LaborDay . . . Hope you’re able to feel appreciated for the hard work you do, even when you may feel toasted!! #LaborOnLaborDay #GraphicMedicine

#TipsForNewDocs

In honor of the July arrival of new doctors at teaching hospitals around the country, the Twittersphere is actively producing a variety of #TipsforNewDocs. Here is my own compiled and drawn list of 7 graphic tips to add to the mix. Number 1- Listen to #Nurses !! Number 2 – It’s hard to remember when […]