“Curtains”
Graham Elder 19 June, 2022 – 5 min read Foreword This story was submitted as part of the inaugural New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) fiction writing contest last year. The Contest rules were very specific. No more than 1500 words, and contestants must either: Write about the doctor behind the curtain or invent the back story of the patient you didn’t meet until it was too late. I decided to try and accomplish both. Alas, I didn’t win, but it was a fun effort. “Curtains” All doctors have at least one case they wish they could take back – a do-over. A case that sits deep in the pit of their stomachs…
Bite the Bullet
Graham Elder November 15, 2020 – 6 min read The recent Netflix action movie 6 Underground features an opening high speed car chase scene where a “doctor” is attempting to remove a bullet from a co-conspirator’s abdomen in the backseat of an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio sports sedan. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8106534/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Wait. Why does she have to remove the bullet with such urgency? Does the bullet really even have to come out? The presence of the bullet itself doesn’t necessarily kill you in the short term. It’s the damage the bullet causes on its way to being lodged somewhere in your body that potentially ends your life – primarily by causing you to bleed…
