Dr Rob Lamberts of Musings of a Distractible Mind is holding a “Health Care Haiku Contest“. The actual contest is at his Facebook page.
Inspired by the beautiful haiku of Dr. Ramona Bates of Suture for a Living, who also inspired T of Notes of an Anesthesioboist to write a Haiku, I started to write my own. Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop.
This is the result: 9 Health Care Haikus.
Dark when he leaves home,
Dark when he returns from work.
Resident Life.
Haiku #2
Web 2 point ooh tools,
Might help to reform health care.
Haiku #3
Health Care Reform.
An unaffordable plan?
A matter of choice.
Haiku #4
One trillion for war.
The poor denied insurance.
U.S. Death Panel.
Haiku #5
P S A screening,
rectal exams, biopsies.
Worries, no less deaths.
Haiku #6
Doctor, Desk, Patient
Questions, silence, not understood,
Frown, shake hands, such pain.
Haiku #7
Fragile hands, white sheets,
Witty old man, nurses laugh.
Shout down silent tears.
Wishing he was dead,
Paralyzed from neck down,
Nothing he can do.
Haiku #9
The man next to me
discusses end-of-life-wish.
Curtains are closed.
Notes and Acknowledgements
- Haiku #1 : Inspired by a tweet by Scott Greenberg, MD (and resident)
- Haiku #2: Own experience, Web 2.0 is more than web 2.0 tools, Web 2.0 is people (see presentation)
- Haiku #3 and #4: Based on article: “We Can’t Afford Health Care? You Lie!” at Truthorg. (see linked photo below)
- Haiku #5 A lot of money goes into screening. But is it worth while? Recent studies show that prostate cancer screening may not lower mortality. See older post: Still Confusion about the Usefulness of PSA-screening.
- Haiku #6, #7, #8, #9 All about loneliness of patients, miscommunication, the lack of being in control and the lack of privacy. Haiku #8 and #9 are based on my own experience: the man lying next to me wanted to end his life, but was not allowed to. He had to take fluid food. I overheard the conversations between him and his doctors, nurses, a psychiatrist, a dietitian and a priest. Quite embarrassing.
Photo Credits:
- July night at ER http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/1018284405/ (#1)
- Health Care Warfare Narrow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/truthout/3932066708/ (#3, #4)
- Exam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkmabus/2910025091/ (#5)
- Phading Doctor Patient Mural : http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbmd/2868594277/ (#6)
- The Patient in the Next Bed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameisharsha/2898004506/ (#8, #9)
Are you a Twitter user? Tweet this!
Related articles by Zemanta
- Putting Profit before Patients (thehealthcareblog.com)
Recent Comments