To Cure Sometimes, To Relieve Often,
To Comfort Always
Shaving William is something like performing surgery, and when the weather permits, our back porch becomes our operating room.
So begins "Caring for William," a recent New England Journal of Medicine essay by Robert Jones. It will resonate with many of you for some time to come.
Robert Jones is an unusual medical student. He has chosen to divide his life between two very different worlds: a hospital, where I'm a medical student, and a homeless shelter, where I live and work... the boundaries often blur...
The New England Journal of Medicine's articles are often stodgy, pedantic and dense. Occasionally, a piece blazes with poignant insights. Caring for William is one of these. Because this link may not work for you since most NEJM articles are not free open-access, I have provided access to the essay here: Download Caring for William (but I will remove it in three days, so as not to incur the wrath of NEJM). If you want to read it later, contact me and I'll send you a pdf (it's the equivalent of a photocopy and should be okay with the publisher).
Regarding the Open Access question see Digital Activist's Suicide Sheds Light on Open Access Movement.
Jonah Zuflacht, a first year medical student at Columbia P&S has this comment: "Robert Jones' essay artfully portrays his relationship with a schizophrenic, homeless man. It serves as both a window into the absurd nature of the system in which he (and other soon-to-be physicians) will practice and a reminder of what drew many of us into medicine to begin with."