Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The art of heart surgery, Grossmont Hospital's interns, a skeptical patient

What University Hospital's young doctors say, UCSD med school hard to enter, bruised babies

Dr. Michael Koumjian:"This morning I'll be doing a triple bypass on a 72-year-old male. Maybe a quadruple bypass, I don't know yet."
Dr. Michael Koumjian:"This morning I'll be doing a triple bypass on a 72-year-old male. Maybe a quadruple bypass, I don't know yet."

Heart Man

They were trying to distract me from the fact that Koumjian had now installed a rack of metal onto the patient's chest and was separating his rib cage with the thing by cranking a lever. The left side of the sternum was now elevated in a manner not unlike jacking up a car chassis. I was inches from the egg-like white tissue, the pericardium surrounding the heart that writhed and subsided rhythmically.

By John Brizzolara, Jan. 17, 1991 | Read full article

Jim Turnage: “If you’re going to get sick, don’t do it July 1. That’s the day the new year’s intake of interns starts."

Mrs. Teeter Has Coded

“We have to get loans — $80,000 to $100,000. And that’s without interest. You can imagine by the time you graduate how much interest has accumulated. I just think it’s not fair, realizing that all you do, 24 hours a day, almost, is care for patients, and the amount of money that you earn as a family physician is not enough to be able to pay these loans off right away.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Bill Manson, June 23, 1995 | Read full article

“Oh, Mom, he’s just super, and I'm supposed to go down next week and have him remove the stitches!”

Man vs MD

Every patient, as well as every dog, has his day, and mine came. It occurred in the local hospital ward during my recovery from a rather serious illness. In this environment our practitioner was even more formidable. No one ever seemed to see him enter or leave the ward. At a predetermined time he would materialize like a true warlock, make his radiant rounds, and dematerialize.

By Mark Ingersoll, Nov. 6, 1975 | Read full article

San Diego’s University Hospital cafeteria is in many ways similar to an army mess hall. Costumes point up rank.

Up Stethoscope

Young doctors enjoy exchanging stories about the bigwigs in their field. They nod knowingly and cynically when told of a prominent San Diego surgeon who has “mitten hands” and often makes serious mistakes during routine operations. This surgeon wields enough power to prevent any underling from confronting him with his errors. The assisting surgeons just quietly rectify the errors and store the tale away for upcoming social gatherings.

By Seth Tulsi, April 8, 1976 | Read full article

Skulls for check-out at Learning Resource Center. The classes of 1982 and 1983 caused a stir among the UCSD School of Medicine faculty when as a group they scored poorly on the national board examinations.

So You Want to Be a Doctor

One pre-med heard through a friend that a certain upper division biochemistry course was "easy" and might be a cinch. None of her fellow pre-meds had mentioned this course - which seemed strange, because word of such courses normally spreads fast. When this student showed up for the first day of class, she was surprised to see that the room was full of pre-meds. "All these people knew about it and no one had mentioned it!" she exclaims.

By Stephen Meyer, May 9, 1985 | Read full article

“These marks look like burns,” I say to Jessica’s mom, looking into her eyes.

The Marks on Jessica

As Jessica munches on the stethoscope and rolls around, I look again at the marks on her body. The bruise on the shoulder and the scratch on her abdomen are different from the other marks, because all the others have the precise bordered red color of partial-thickness burns about two days old. That means that whatever produced the burn was hot enough to kill the outer layer of skin cells, but not the inner layer.

By Alan Steinbach, Dec. 20, 1990 | Read full article

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Next Article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Dr. Michael Koumjian:"This morning I'll be doing a triple bypass on a 72-year-old male. Maybe a quadruple bypass, I don't know yet."
Dr. Michael Koumjian:"This morning I'll be doing a triple bypass on a 72-year-old male. Maybe a quadruple bypass, I don't know yet."

Heart Man

They were trying to distract me from the fact that Koumjian had now installed a rack of metal onto the patient's chest and was separating his rib cage with the thing by cranking a lever. The left side of the sternum was now elevated in a manner not unlike jacking up a car chassis. I was inches from the egg-like white tissue, the pericardium surrounding the heart that writhed and subsided rhythmically.

By John Brizzolara, Jan. 17, 1991 | Read full article

Jim Turnage: “If you’re going to get sick, don’t do it July 1. That’s the day the new year’s intake of interns starts."

Mrs. Teeter Has Coded

“We have to get loans — $80,000 to $100,000. And that’s without interest. You can imagine by the time you graduate how much interest has accumulated. I just think it’s not fair, realizing that all you do, 24 hours a day, almost, is care for patients, and the amount of money that you earn as a family physician is not enough to be able to pay these loans off right away.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Bill Manson, June 23, 1995 | Read full article

“Oh, Mom, he’s just super, and I'm supposed to go down next week and have him remove the stitches!”

Man vs MD

Every patient, as well as every dog, has his day, and mine came. It occurred in the local hospital ward during my recovery from a rather serious illness. In this environment our practitioner was even more formidable. No one ever seemed to see him enter or leave the ward. At a predetermined time he would materialize like a true warlock, make his radiant rounds, and dematerialize.

By Mark Ingersoll, Nov. 6, 1975 | Read full article

San Diego’s University Hospital cafeteria is in many ways similar to an army mess hall. Costumes point up rank.

Up Stethoscope

Young doctors enjoy exchanging stories about the bigwigs in their field. They nod knowingly and cynically when told of a prominent San Diego surgeon who has “mitten hands” and often makes serious mistakes during routine operations. This surgeon wields enough power to prevent any underling from confronting him with his errors. The assisting surgeons just quietly rectify the errors and store the tale away for upcoming social gatherings.

By Seth Tulsi, April 8, 1976 | Read full article

Skulls for check-out at Learning Resource Center. The classes of 1982 and 1983 caused a stir among the UCSD School of Medicine faculty when as a group they scored poorly on the national board examinations.

So You Want to Be a Doctor

One pre-med heard through a friend that a certain upper division biochemistry course was "easy" and might be a cinch. None of her fellow pre-meds had mentioned this course - which seemed strange, because word of such courses normally spreads fast. When this student showed up for the first day of class, she was surprised to see that the room was full of pre-meds. "All these people knew about it and no one had mentioned it!" she exclaims.

By Stephen Meyer, May 9, 1985 | Read full article

“These marks look like burns,” I say to Jessica’s mom, looking into her eyes.

The Marks on Jessica

As Jessica munches on the stethoscope and rolls around, I look again at the marks on her body. The bruise on the shoulder and the scratch on her abdomen are different from the other marks, because all the others have the precise bordered red color of partial-thickness burns about two days old. That means that whatever produced the burn was hot enough to kill the outer layer of skin cells, but not the inner layer.

By Alan Steinbach, Dec. 20, 1990 | Read full article

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Next Article

Will L.A. Times crowd out San Diego U-T at Riverside printing plant?

Will Toni Atkins stand back from anti-SDG&E initiative?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.