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Ranjana SrivastavaThe Guardian |
I waited until I was 15 years old to have my first major disagreement with my physicist dad. We were living in India, and I had just been elected...
“I hope you’re not going to do something like this,” warns my son on his way to attend a surprise 18th party courageously arranged by his...
“Please see this patient for an urgent second opinion,” pleaded the letter on my desk. But when I read the referral, it became clear that the...
“Now I am crying because you are sitting there.” “I am sorry,” I say, preparing to jump up. “No, please stay!” This is our first meeting....
At my medical graduation over 25 years ago, the earnest guest speaker made us promise we would get ourselves a GP. All 160 of us humoured him,...
“Your ankle has hurt for months, what brought you in today?” “It’s quiet on Sundays.” The instant dismay of seeing a well person in...
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing. Thus...
“I feel fine,” she says, brushing the crumbs off her top. “What’s the fuss for?” I have dashed to my patient’s bedside after being...
Last week, I met a young man with cerebral palsy, hospitalised with an infection. Not capable of speaking, he lay quietly in his bed. Although he...
“I like you, that’s why I come here. You talk nicely.” She flatters me, but my patient’s warm words are cold comfort. This is her 14th...
Twelve months ago, I received a call familiar to many migrants with relatives spread around the world. Bare Papa was gravely ill in intensive care in...
“I am sorry to have ruined your morning,” she says, clasping my hand, both of us tearful. I spot her bracelets, beaded ones spelling the names of...
We have heard all about accountable doctors. Here’s why patients must be held accountable. “I saved you a voicemail,” my friend says over a...
This is the story of a 90-year-old woman, her ill treatment at the hands of Australia’s broken aged-care system and how I came to dispense possibly...
By the time most people read this, the funeral of my longest-living patient will probably be over. We first met when I was pregnant and she found out...
“Why don’t you ever say, ‘I love you’ to Nanima?”, you used to ask. “I am Indian! I take my mum to the temple instead.” By now, you have...
“What’s a Festschrift?” my youngest asks. “In German it means ‘celebration writing’,” I say, “I’m going to an academic conference to...
“I can’t thank you enough for your help.” This gratitude from a cancer survivor surprises me since I recall doing little of the sort. Some years...
“Ranjana, how long can Fifi live with liver cancer?” An unexpected aspect of being an oncologist (for humans) is being approached for advice about...
It’s fair to say my patients were using cannabis long before I knew it was a “thing”. My first memory of encountering the drug was a decade ago...
”Don’t judge me, but I saw a chiropractor”, says my friend. Last time we discussed her lower back pain, I had advised her to keep moving, avoid...
“Hold your mum’s hand and call an ambulance.” “Should I give her extra morphine?” “Good idea.” Then I say something I rarely say when I...
“It must be cancer. Just look at her face and hair.” Even knowing that she meant well, I stopped my friend from speculating about his aunt....
“And one more thing, what do you want to do about this?” The trainee looks so apologetic that I suspect a medical error relating to our...
Nearing the end of his life, a patient tells me, “If you should ever need it, I hope your doctor is as good to you as you have been to me.” It is...
“Why do you want a dog? Don’t you have enough to do?” To be fair, my parents had reacted similarly to my decision to have a third child and...
Every December a hospital communique concerning gifts “provided and received in the course of your work” lands in my inbox. It says, naturally,...