Electric, Oh, that Word

Today, an enthusiastic crowd is described with the overused term “electric.” Ben Franklin was not into self-preservation. He risked life, limb and wealth along with his fellow signatories (as opposed to Tories) of our Declaration of Independence. Historians tell us that Franklin almost lost it while conducting an experiment with electricity in his lab. He was stunned by the voltage, collapsed and, fortunately for us all, recovered.

But his big risks had big rewards. The Western world knew him as a great scientist. A genuine rock star in his time in France, he was the key figure in obtaining our nation’s dire needs while the infantry was ensconced in Valley Forge.

The King of France, despite the risks of supporting a budding Democracy, delivered the goods for this shining star on the world stage. We are talking ships, soldiers, weapons, etc. It turned the tide of the American Revolution.

And so here we are turning a viable word like electric to dust, making it trite whenever we can. However you will not hear “That was a gas!”

Some Med School Events, 50 Years Ago

Thoughts on my med school experience…

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

I had spent 18 years in classrooms through my second year of medical school. In my third the clinics were upon us. Classroom time dropped to essentially nil.

The first clinical course, one I felt bad about, was internal medicine, a field with a knowledge base as wide as the universe. My shortcomings became quickly obvious in addition to my limited knowledge. A sickly patient had a cardiac arrest, clearly the first I had ever observed.

She quickly drew the attention of her resident, her intern, her nurses and me. I was asked in this life threatening event, “Rubin get the blood pressure.” The word “pressure” is the operative one here. I guess I got one but what shouts back at me is the first command to me under life threatening circumstances. It’s a moment one never forgets particularly after 18 years in the quiet of the classroom.

The first…

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