The Art of Prognostication

By Brendan FohtMarch 22, 2021

Her oncologist sent her in to the emergency room. The diagnosis was metastatic gallbladder cancer aggressively invading her liver, resulting in liver failure. I went down to the emergency room to see her. She only spoke Bengali, so every conversation required a phone interpreter. As I walked up to the patient’s bed I immediately noticed her jaundiced skin. Bilirubin, or breakdown products of red blood cells, above a certain level causes a yellowing of the eyes, the gums, and the skin where it deposits. It is frightening to see, the scarlet letter of illness. It is unclear what the patient... The post The Art of Prognostication appeared first on The New Atlantis.

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