from ‘Playing God’ - by
10. A note of warning to patients when all else fails
/
/ Sometimes the needle is too blunt.
/ The stethoscope is too quiet.
/ The…
medicine
These are the Hands - by
for the 60th anniversary of the NHS
/
/ These are the hands
/ That touch us first
/ Feel your head
/ Find the pulse
/ And make your bed.
/
/ These…
Second Opinion - by
We went to Leeds for a second opinion.
/ After her name was called,
/ I waited among the apparently well
/ And those with bandaged…
From the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh - by
My only talent lay in these.
/ My father rubbed his hands together,
/ stared as though their whorls held codes
/ of thirty years obstetric…
Twenty-eight Weeks - by
We nearly missed her.
/ This little storm of life,
/ could have blown by
/ before we weathered her.
/ But here she is: sturdy,
/ definite, pointing her…
A brief format to be used when consulting with patients - by
The patient will talk.
/
/ The doctor will talk.
/
/ The doctor will listen while
/ the patient is talking.
/
/ The patient will listen while
/ the…
From ‘Doing Calls on the Old Portpatrick Road’ - by
12 Graham’s Landing
/ ‘The ear says more
/ Than any tongue’
/
/ I thought I spoke the language
/ asking what the matter was, the wrong.
/ I only…
From A Year and a Day: 19 October 1979 – 19 October 1980 - by
To be taken in small doses as required
/
/ October
/
/ 25: Miss G -, born while Queen Victoria was still alive,
/ standing proudly…
A Medical Education - by
for Dr Peter Rothwell
/
/ In obstetrics I learnt that a woman opens swiftly like an elevator door.
/ The body wriggles free…
Cocktail hour - by
Measure out, administer.
/
/ Katie’s half dribbling, half tiny-bubbling.
/ She’s laughing (gentle). She’s not swallowing this, tells it
/ in a viscous mumble, bright red…
Dissection of an Infant – Vascular Preparation - by
I would have loved you, wept
/ with your father and your mother
/ over these tiny perfect hands, perfect feet
/
/ preserved skin-free, en-pointe –
/ as…
Corneal Graft - by
For all the eye specialists I’ve seen – in varying degrees of haziness – over the years,
/ and for the…