When you get to the end of a wonderful book, your first impulse is to tell someone else about it. In this week’s episode, Martha and Grant discuss what they’ve been reading and the delights of great prose. You’ll find information...
You seem to hear it on all the television hospital dramas: “stat!” A physician says she knows it means “immediately,” but she doesn’t know its origins. Quick! Is there a Latin expert in the house? This is part of a...
Tomnibus n.— «A product of Democratic frustration with the tactics of Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and physician who has become the Dr. No of the Senate, the Tomnibus is a $10 billion collection of Coburn-blocked measures...
detailing n.— «Direct-to-physician activities accounted for the bulk of spending, with $5.3 billion spent on a practice called “detailing”—visits to physicians by pharmaceutical sales representatives in order to promote their...
doorknob v.— «The request usually comes after Belkin is about to walk out of the examining room. Doctors have a name for this: Doorknobbing. Metcalf said patients often “doorknob” when they’re afraid to reveal the purpose of...
umble n.— «Even if you have layered on the clothes, you may not be immune from a condition Klegg likes to refer to as “the umbles.” These are the symptoms of hypothermia. “People start stumbling, fumbling, mumbling or...