Don’t staple a patient’s butt closed

I am speechless.  (Original post.)
BALTIMORE – A man alleging a Maryland doctor stapled his rectum shut during an operation — causing him to go without defecating for 17 days — took his federal lawsuit to trial Monday in Baltimore.
Ronald Watkins, 64, of West Virginia, is suing Manuel Casiano, a doctor in Frederick County, for allegedly [...]

Your lack of interviews is not because some black applicant stole them

Troll or not, SDN poster “hug me” brought up one of the most controversial topics in the past week.  Here is his post:
Topic: color blind?
My best friend is black. We went through undergrad together and pretty much have the same EC’s. my GPA IS 3.8/MCAT 34 his is 3.4 and MCAT 29. Strangely enough. he [...]

Pagers and Facial Hair

How many cell phones do you own?  One?  While my answer is 1 and I would argue that you are weird if you have more than that, it isn’t unheard of to find someone that has more than one mobile phone.  A few of my friends’ fathers have separate phones for work (think Nextel).  A [...]

Insurance doesn’t want you to hear this, or anything

Without mincing my words, let me ask this:  Why doesn’t health insurance cover hearing aids?
I just found out from the doctor for whom I work, that families are often denied coverage for their children’s hearing needs.  Considering that a single hearing aid can cost upwards of $1,000, I find that pretty outrageous.  Being fitted with [...]

Have some Valtrex

The award goes to “naynaysaysay” for Best Topic of the Day in the Pre-Allopathic forums at SDN.  Here is the topic.  How tragic. 

MCAT talk on SDN is narrow-minded

I read the forums over at Student Doctor Network fairly frequently (maybe once a day).  In the few months I’ve been reading the posts, I’ve come to expect a few things.  First, people are always going to worry about getting into medical school, no matter their scores, their letters of recommendation, or their extra-curriculars.  After [...]

A message from Tufts

Once I got my rejection letter from Tufts on Wednesday, I wrote to them asking if I could get some feedback on my application, now that my file was closed.  Honestly, any comments from an admissions committee would be infinitely helpful, and certainly more useful than the minimal feedback I get from my undergraduate advisor.
As [...]

Killer pen caps

I just got back from grand rounds.  Let’s be honest, there’s only so much I can learn from these talks, since I don’t know the underlying medicine behind them, but I go all the same.  If nothing else, it’s interesting to see a part of medicine that is otherwise reserved for medical students, residents, and [...]

With this, my application is complete

I started my application to med school last June.  15 months ago!  It has been a very long process, as any applicant will tell you, and it only just ended.  Today I received my final rejection letter, from Tufts.
Dear ____:

I regret that we will not be able to offer you a position in the [...]