On Valentine’s Day, in front of 25,000 people, Pope Francis declared that the key to a lasting marriage lies in just three words: “Please, thanks and sorry.” The Associated Press reported (Feb. 14) that “Francis told fiancés gathered in St. Peter’s Square for a special papal date that expressions of courtesy, gratitude and contrition go a long way toward conserving and enhancing...

That’s the question that I thought of when I heard the tragic story of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old California teen that went in for what was supposed to be routine surgery and ended up in an unrecoverable coma. According to news reports, doctors recommended surgery to remove Jahi’s tonsils, adenoids and extra sinus tissue. The intent was to treat the...

Nelson Mandela was many things to many people. Husband, father, political prisoner for 27 years, and finally president of South Africa, a country he worked for and inspired change from within. South Africans called him Madiba. The name derives from a chief who ruled in 18th century. It is a sign of reverence and respect; respect, in this case, befitting a...

Last July I reported on a story from The New York Times (July 25), that talked about how some doctors encountered racism from the patients they were treating. The story reported on an event that took place between an Asian female doctor treating an injured motorcyclist with a “swastika tattoo and aggressive reaction to her physical examination.” Concluding, I wrote, “While the AMA’s code...

Two stories returned to the news recently. Both surprised me in different ways. Richie Incognito, the Miami Dolphins football player accused of bullying fellow player Jonathan Martin, broke his silence recently to talk about a series of incidents that Martin deemed offensive and harassing. David Cornwell, Martin’s attorney, said in a statement, that his client “endured a malicious physical attack...

You are an ER doctor at a hospital who has just admitted a motorcyclist in his thirties who has sustained serious, but not life threatening, injuries due to drinking. You are scheduled to attend the patient who’s described as a “mean drunk.” This is what Dr. Pauline Chen faced while treating a patient. “I’m sure it freaked him out to...

Growing up, my brother and I were devoted Disneyphiles. From Walt Disney Presents to Disneyland, we loved all the fantasies as well as the marketing. When Disney’s Song of the South aired on TV, we soaked up the colorful collection of Uncle Remus stories completely unaware of the film’s racial overtones. One story has Br’er Fox entrap Br’er Rabbit with a Tar Baby – a...

I have never heard such calm, yet resolute wisdom in the words of a sixteen-year-old. “I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.” Nine months after a Taliban terrorist shot her in the head returning home from school, Malala Yousafzai addressed a gathering of students from...

In his closing argument in the George Zimmerman murder trial, Florida state prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda told a jury of six women that Trayvon Martin  “is dead because another man made assumptions, because his assumptions were wrong.” That statement pretty much sums up the entire Martin/Zimmerman incident. From the outset, as soon as the shooting death of the 17-year-old,...

The fallout for former Food Network star Paula Deen continues to grow. After learning, through a recent court deposition, that she had used racial slurs and jokes that disparage blacks, the network announced that it would not renew Deen’s contract which expires at the end of this month. Now, Smithfield Foods announced that it was taking similar action. “Smithfield condemns the use...