Paul Harasim
They each weigh about 2.5 milligrams and fly about 1.5 mph. You might think of them more as annoying pests than anything else.
They are, however, far more than annoying – they’re the most dangerous creatures on Earth.
Mosquitoes.
So often Dr. Heather Allen sees it – a patient arrives, most often a woman, with anxiety buzzing inside her head like a power drill.
Fear is a natural response to a threat, the physician knows, and the threat her patient has received – a diagnosis of breast cancer – can leave her patient too shell shocked to focus on survival, particularly if she does not believe a legitimate counterattack is at hand.
It should have been a wonderful time for Dr. Dale Carrison.
But as he received an award for contributions to the community, he knew that the business of medicine too often had gotten in the way of keeping in close touch with friends and family.
At three in the morning Dr. Florence Jameson helped bring a new baby into this world. Five hours later, she stood in the lobby of the Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada clinic and excitedly talked about giving birth to a facility to help the uninsured.
Given his background and what he says happened during a recent four-day stay at Summerlin Hospital, it should come as no surprise that Marine Corps veteran and retired entrepreneur Ivan Fankuchen let administrators know he was unhappy both in person and by letter.
One of the first visitors Maria Del Carmen Gomez had after her recent cancer operation at Valley Hospital was the surgeon who saved her hands.
Though she was so weak, she was barely able to raise her left arm, she waved at Dr. Carl Williams, who she calls an angel.
We all begin to die the moment we’re born, but most of us don’t have a good sense of how it will end.
At age 28, Jennifer Hill already has a good idea.
Actually, she’s pretty much known for four years.
It’s painful to think about: There are doctors and scientists and businessmen and government officials who lie to people about the safety of work they’re asked to do.
As I talked with 70-year-old Oscar Foger, such behavior was front and center.
It may seem strange: Medical practitioners could learn a lot from Col. Rodolfo Meana. Yes, from him they could learn to really care about people. In Las Vegas, Meana will undoubtedly be remembered as the first to die from the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak.