Marcus Reyes, a 41-year-old emergency-room nurse in Tucson, picked up knitting after his second pandemic burnout. He chose it almost at random. A coworker brought a half-finished baby blanket to a debrief and Marcus, who had spent the previous month doomscrolling between shifts, asked her where she had bought the yarn. Six months later he … Read more
The volunteer firefighters in a small Kentucky town arrived at the abandoned barn around eleven on a school night and found Bryce, fourteen, cyanotic and pulseless on the dirt floor. A can of computer duster was clutched in his right hand. His best friend, sobbing nearby, said Bryce had been spraying it into a paper … Read more
The volunteer firefighters in a small Kentucky town arrived at the abandoned barn around eleven on a school night and found Bryce, fourteen, cyanotic and pulseless on the dirt floor. A can of computer duster was clutched in his right hand. His best friend, sobbing nearby, said Bryce had been spraying it into a paper … Read more
Eight months after the stroke that took the right side of his face and most of his short-term memory, Marcus sat in his Cleveland kitchen and tried to explain to his wife why he had cried during a paint commercial. He used to be the kind of man who fixed things. Now he could not … Read more
Eight months after the stroke that took the right side of his face and most of his short-term memory, Marcus sat in his Cleveland kitchen and tried to explain to his wife why he had cried during a paint commercial. He used to be the kind of man who fixed things. Now he could not … Read more
Reggie was a 38-year-old graphic designer in Long Beach, California, who walked into a small community hospital on a Thursday afternoon complaining of insomnia, anxiety, and an “overwhelming feeling that something was about to crawl out of my skin.” Triage assessed him as a routine anxiety presentation. He was handed a cup of water and … Read more
Reggie was a 38-year-old graphic designer in Long Beach, California, who walked into a small community hospital on a Thursday afternoon complaining of insomnia, anxiety, and an “overwhelming feeling that something was about to crawl out of my skin.” Triage assessed him as a routine anxiety presentation. He was handed a cup of water and … Read more
Yvette, a fifty-eight-year-old retired postal worker in Houston, Texas, lived with type 2 diabetes, mild heart failure, and a thirty-year history of bipolar II disorder. For most of her life, her medical care happened in one universe and her psychiatric care in another. Her cardiologist sent her labs to an electronic record her psychiatrist could … Read more
Yvette, a fifty-eight-year-old retired postal worker in Houston, Texas, lived with type 2 diabetes, mild heart failure, and a thirty-year history of bipolar II disorder. For most of her life, her medical care happened in one universe and her psychiatric care in another. Her cardiologist sent her labs to an electronic record her psychiatrist could … Read more
Bernard, a fifty-two-year-old line cook in Cleveland, walked into the ER on a Tuesday with chest pain that turned out to be a panic attack stacked on top of an ulcer. Three weeks later, an envelope arrived with a $14,800 bill for the visit, the imaging, and the overnight observation. Bernard had no insurance, two … Read more