On Being a Doctor: The Box

In preparing to present the “facts” for an autopsy, Dr. Migliore learns who a patient was and how we failed him.

Use this essay to:

  • Listen to an audio recording, read by Dr. Michael LaCombe.
  • Consider the assumptions you made when heard early in the essay that the autopsy was of a man in his 30s with a history of heroin abuse who died after an opioid overdose. How did your image of the man who died change by the end of the essay?
  • Do you learners worry that you may contribute in some way to similar tragedies? What can we each do to avoid it?

Annals of Internal Medicine is the premier internal medicine academic journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world.

Back to the August 2018 issue of ACP IMpact