Show Me Your Saphenous Vein, James! I had wanted to be a doctor since graduating from elementary school; I never seriously considered anything else. I did not have any doctor role models in my immediate …
October 18, 2021
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Stories by Jim Eichel
Women at the Elephant Bar, Carlos Murphy’s, the Belly Up Tavern helped my career as doctor
If He Goes, I Go Too
It seemed as if everyone who worked at our local hospital knew Jake. A self-proclaimed “recovered hater of doctors,” he became a fixture, volunteering in the emergency room. The wisecracking 86-year-old’s wrinkled face, slumped shoulders, …
September 3, 2008
If You Sue Me, I Can't Be Your Physician
“The pain is in my heart. I want you to send me to a heart specialist so that I can have an angiogram and have this taken care of right away.” Stephan’s deep, subdued tones, …
June 11, 2008
Why Your Doctor’s in a Bad Mood
Managed care is forcing patients to get creative. Last year, I got a letter from an internal medicine colleague who practices just a few blocks from me. She and two other women internists took the …
April 10, 2003
As Killing as the Canker to the Rose
Melanie was 43 years old and determined. A 104-degree temperature did not keep her from going to her editing job at Blue Cross, but the mass on her left upper arm kept getting bigger and …
August 8, 2002
Malpractice from the Doc’s Point of View
WRAPPING UP A FULL WORKDAY AT 9:00 P.M., I PULLED THE LAST COUPLE OF ENVELOPES FROM MY “IN” BOX. THE HEAVY MANILA ONE PIQUED MY INTEREST, SO I OPENED IT. “Notice of Intent to Sue...” …
February 7, 2002
Irma is allergic to life
‘I NEED TO HAVE SOME TEETH EXTRACTED.” IRMA ALWAYS SPEAKS AS THOUGH EACH WORD MIGHT CONSUME THE LAST OF HER LIMITED ENERGY. “BUT I’M ALSO HAVING A PROBLEM WITH MY HEART.” Irma has never come …
December 20, 2001
I'm not God
Mt two latex-gloved fingers extended as far into Greta's vagina as they could through the tight rubbery of of her cervix, grazing the firm, smooth, slippery surface of her baby’s lowest part, but I could …
August 30, 2001
Environment of Mistrust
As I was completing my instructions to a diminutive 70-year-old Filipino gentleman with congestive heart failure, a knock at the door cut me short. “A patient is having a seizure.” Jo, a medical assistant with …
April 12, 2001
I was worried that Fred might never wake up
“HELLO?” I tried not to sound too tired or annoyed, even though I was answering the phone from my bed and looking forward to ending my day. It was about 10:00 p.m. on a Friday …
December 21, 2000
29 Reader writers on their fathers
To commemorate Father's Day, this issue contains a collection of reflections from Reader writers about their fathers: The Last Tag Sale — Jeanne Schinto An Air of Exoticism — Duncan Shepherd Kinder Than I Would …
June 15, 2000
Time on the Court
I have never thanked my father for one of the nicest and most difficult things he ever did for me, because until I thought of it just now, I didn’t realize he had done it, …
June 15, 2000
What Happens When a Doctor Makes a Mistake
“She’s contracting every seven minutes and liquid is coming out.” It was a Sunday morning in early March, and I was the doctor on call for family practice and pregnancy-related matters. This call from a …
May 18, 2000
Travel Bug
"WAKE UP, HONEY. MOM FELL" It was 2:30 a.m. and the words were coming from my wife Terry. Accustomed to composing myself at any hour, I found myself resistant to doing so now, probably because …
February 10, 2000
What is the name for this collection of events?
BUDD, THE PRESIDENT OF OUR MEDICAL GROUP, TOLD ME A FEW WEEKS AGO, “IT IS MY GOAL NEVER TO BECOME AN INTERESTING PATIENT.” I hadn’t seen Sheryl in 19 months when she showed up for …
January 20, 2000
Jim Eichel, UCSD med school alum, asks, Was this my fault?
Was This My Fault? “I THINK SHE HAS PNEUMONIA.” Anne, a nurse-practitioner student to whom I’m teaching outpatient medicine, was right. Flo, a proud, stubborn, wiry, 72-year-old African-American had called me earlier that day hoping …
August 12, 1999
UCSD med school grad works on patient's weight loss.
Two years ago, Glenda weighed 342 pounds, and it was clear to me she needed more than advice to exercise and eat right. From the face covered with zits to the ankles swollen with arthritis, …
May 13, 1999
How a primary care doc can keep staff from running off to Kaiser or the specialists
"This policy makes it clear what we should do about Jessica and Christine." Two medical assistants who worked in our office until they decided they would try going to Kaiser to improve their incomes, Jessica …
October 15, 1998
Schizophrenia, cigarettes, lung cancer
“IT’S JUST A CASE OF MIDDLE-AGED HYPOCHONDRIA.” “NO, IT ISN'T” WAS MY MIND’S BLUNT REPLY. AS I STARED AT THE NEATLY HANDWRITTEN WORDS. I FELT MY FACE GRIMACE IN RESPECTFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FATE’S TIMING. WHICH …
September 10, 1998
The first human to touch my daughter's head
“Don't push!” The command leaped from my lips as it had countless times in the past nine years, but this was different. The perineal skin blanching white just two feet from my face belonged to …
July 23, 1998
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria colonized Myrna's heart and brain,
“I feel awful.” Myrna’s 83-year-old vocal chords, partially paralyzed from her stroke two years ago, labored with the effort of speaking. The staphylococcus aureus bacteria coursing through her bloodstream had colonized her heart and brain, …
June 25, 1998
Dead baby in the womb — doctor slays demon
“Dr. Bender on line two for you, Dr. Eichel.” My mouth replied, “Thank you.” My mind thought, “Oh, no." An unsolicited, unexpected call from a radiologist never means good news. I went through my mental …
May 28, 1998
UCSD med school grad: no cure for chaos
When she first visited my office, Joanne was Mary, and I was not surprised when she told me that not long before she had been Mark. She had a linebacker’s 5´10˝, 246-pound blocklike frame and …
March 19, 1998
Cancer Isn't the Only Killer Stalking Randa
Randa’s blood pressure had risen again, and I needed to know why. An African-American police officer in her 40s and a single mother of three, Randa’s lips parted in a jovial smirk. “You really want …
February 12, 1998
Why Kaiser will rule the world of medicine
OUR INDEPENDENT PROVIDER ASSOCIATION (IPA) MEETING THURSDAY NIGHT ADDRESSED NEARLY EVERY NIGHTMARISH ASPECT OF PRACTICING MEDICINE IN THE 1990S. MEETINGS SUCH AS THIS ARE RUINING MY HEALTH. Three months ago, our IPA announced it had …
December 11, 1997
All primary care physicians have patients we call our albatrosses
If you are a woman therapist in your late 40s, about 5'7" (“but not too tall”), blond of hair, conservative in dress, self-assured, nurturing, non-flamboyant with a pleasant voice, I want to meet you. Not …
October 30, 1997
Doctor Jim Eichel on a work vacation in Mali
Underneath my name on the shingle that hangs outside of my office's front door are the words "Berkeley International Health." Until we sold our practice nine months ago. That was what my partner and I …
September 18, 1997
Suicide may be legal in Japan, but not in California
People have come into my office having heart attacks. But after Masako walked out our front door, I felt more helpless and frightened than at any other time during my four and a half years …
August 21, 1997
Jim Eichel tells of colon cancer
Some weeks in family practice have themes. This week's theme was colon cancer. Monday morning I went up to the sixth floor of the hospital to check on Viola. Now 86 years old, Viola is …
June 12, 1997
UC San Francisco neurosurgeon Charlie Wilson takes my call
One afternoon about four years ago, my brother John called me during office hours. I had finished my family practice residency about six months before and was just starting my own practice in Berkeley, California. …
May 1, 1997
We pumped Gloria full of fluid and saved her lif
RUTH ANN, MY HOUSEMATE AND FELLOW SECOND-YEAR FAMILY PRACTICE RESIDENT, HAD TOLD ME VIRGINIA WASN’T DOING WELL WHEN SHE SIGNED OUT TO ME THAT AFTERNOON IN 1990. THAT EVENING, I GOT THE CALL FROM THE …
April 10, 1997
A baby too eager to begin life outside the womb
JUST A COUPLE MORE PUSHES AND CHERYL, A 31 -YEAR-OLD JAZZ DANCER, WOULD HAVE HER FIRST BABY. I MET HER THE DAY BEFORE WHEN SHE CAME TO OUR SERVICE AT MARY HITCHCOCK MEDICAL CENTER. SHE …
March 27, 1997
How UCSD Medical School transformed a young man into a doctor
During the first year of my residency in family practice in Maine, I came home to Los Angeles for Christmas. The climate switch in the seven-hour cross-country journey, from minus 10 to 86 degrees, didn’t …
March 20, 1997