![Detail from Van Gogh's "The Scream."](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5520_Eny.jpg)
On complaining
It's easy to moan about what's not working for you, far harder to come up with a plan to stop it.
![Lesson no. 1 of medicine: humility.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5472_zcJB.jpg)
Getting back up
As a baby was busy being born, the author's world shifted suddenly, but not in the way she wanted.
![A red-headed family.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5382_AyoDsTCSzX.jpg)
My mutation
When medical school isn't teaching you human anatomy, it's busy revealing who you are, and why.
![Listening is the key.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5349_Ai9C3aso0h.jpg)
A different conversation
Interviewing patients is a skill and an art form that mainstream journalism only hints at.
![Listening is a doctor's overlooked gift.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5268_.jpg)
One who listens
When people ask what "kind of doctor" you want to be they may be insisting on the less important aspect of the question.
![Norman Rockwell's "The Country Doctor."](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5222_7DUuznpvFK.jpg)
Preparing to help
The end of a medical student's first year brings reflections on the meaning of the word "practice."
![A change in abbreviations...](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5191_B5.jpg)
Speaking medicine
Medical school students face a sudden disruption in the meaning of some ingrained abbreviations.
![Some people refuse even life-saving treatment.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5158_7SPMdCOWXm.jpg)
Revising “success”
"Do no harm" is one thing, but just doing good becomes complicated if a patient won't comply.
![Vitamin B12 was later discovered to play a vital role.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5122_ODar8Bvbd4.jpg)
Self-experimentation
A number of major medical breakthroughs have been the result of don't-try-this-at-home techniques.
![Blue-and-white marbled chunks where lung tissue should have been.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5089_v0ENc6bfQ9.jpg)
Food pathology
The "menu-style" pathology of bodily conditions (nutmeg liver, anyone) can stall hunger.
![Some irrational fears are difficult to overcome.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5043_PqpHLDTj2r.jpg)
Fear’s door
Choosing medicine means coming to terms with irrational worries, and facing the threat of risk.