Rudolf Virchow, Pathologist, Anthropologist, and Social Thinker

Elliot Weisenberg, M.D.

Very early in medical or graduate school, we learn that Rudolf Virchow described the abnormal protein amyloid, and learn of Virchow’s node, Virchow’s triad, and Virchow’s angle. They learn he was responsible for the acceptance of the cell theory. Yet these major discoveries and efforts barely scratch the surface of his accomplishments. More...

Eisenhower and Crohn's Disease

James L. Franklin, M.D.

This article was first published in the Illinois Carol Fisher Chapter Newsletter of September 11, 2005, published by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

It is still well within the public consciousness that Dwight David Eisenhower suffered a myocardial infarction three years into his first term of office as President of the United States and that he overcame this illness and went on to win a second term in office. It is, perhaps, less well remembered that nine months after suffering a heart attack he underwent an operation to relieve a small bowel obstruction secondary to regional enteritis and again was able to overcome this setback and campaign for re-election. More...

The Dead Mother Series of Egon Schiele: Psychoanalytic Use of an Artist's Image

Prudence Gourguechon, M.D.

Two intensely creative men lived and worked in early 20th century Vienna, both intent on elucidating aspects of the darker side of the human psyche. There is no evidence that they knew each other. Sigmund Freud of course was developing the theory and technique of psychoanalysis. The painter Egon Schiele lived a mere 28 years before succumbing to influenza in the 1918 pandemic. In his short life and artistic career, he created a remarkable body of work that vividly communicates inchoate, nonverbal, profound psychic experiences. More...

Lost Babies:  How a Photosculpture is Changing the Etiquette of Consolation

Nancy Gershman

When infants die, mothers prepare with Kübler-Ross' five stages of grief, funeral home pamphlets, support group calendars and consolations (your fertility! Your other children!). Yet all this effort to erase a mother’s memory may change with a miraculous, three-dimensional sculpture called a Lost Baby. How these precious objects came to be, how they are teaching etiquette to the well-meaning, and how they are connecting mothers again with their babies, days or decades after their deaths is at the heart of this story. More...

The Art of Laura Olear :  Viruses and Bacteria Series

We live in an age of profound advances in health and medicine, yet there has never been a wider gap between objective and perceptive health. More...

Can Hippocrates Save Modern Medicine?: A Plea to Return to Our Roots

Patrick Guinan, M.D.

Modern medicine is in the midst of a morale crisis. In this brief review I will attempt to 1.) explain why, 2.) note that medicine has abrogated control of its destiny, and 3.) suggest that a return to the Hippocratic doctor-patient relationship can save medicine.  More...

Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Torture

This article was first published in TORTURE Journal, Volume 18, Number 2, 2008.

Jonathan Bean, third year medical student,* David Ng, third year medical student, & Hakan Demirtas,** Ph.D., and Patrick Guinan, M.D.***

Torture, whether it be domestic or war related, is a public health issue of current concern. It is the position of the American Medical Association (AMA), The World Medical Association (WMA), the United Nations Declaration and the Geneva Convention, that torture is unethical, "morally wrong" and never to be condoned. The attitudes of medical students, our future physicians, will be critical in reducing the incidence of torture.  More...

Journaling - Enhancing the Arts Experience While Traveling

Mary Ann McDermott, RN, EdD, FAAN

“The Plight of Nursing” from a collection of poems by Carol Battaglia, a retired nurse practitioner at Loyola Medical Center, concludes: “Sometimes at the end of my shift, I cannot account for all of me. I retrace my steps, in hopes of putting myself back together again.” More...

A Pilgrim’s Poems from the Heart.

Joan Callahan, MSW, RN

I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, school nurse, colleague, friend and neighbor. My vocation is healing in all dimensions of my life. I care for spirit as well as bodies, knowing that spirit guides and informs how we care for ourselves. Spirit is what guides my path, which is why my spirit leapt when I read of the opportunity to travel to France with other nurses and take time for myself in a new setting, alone. It was time for my spirit to renew itself. More...