Incidental Findings

Medicine, Culture, and Life

Danielle Ofri

Danielle Ofri
Location
New York, New York,
Title
Physician
Bio
Danielle Ofri, M.D., Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and an internist at Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the country. She is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Bellevue Literary Review. Her newest book, Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients--is about the experience of immigrants and Americans in the U.S. health care system. She is the author of two collections of essays about life in medicine: Incidental Findings: Lessons from my Patients in the Art of Medicine and Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue. Danielle Ofri's writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and on National Public Radio. Danielle Ofri is currently working on a set of essays about medicine, while several unfinished novels in various states of disrepair gather prime New-York-City dust under her bed. Ofri lives with her husband, three children, cello, and black-lab mutt in a singularly intimate Manhattan-sized apartment. Danielle's homepage is www.danielleofri.com

MY RECENT POSTS

Editor’s Pick
JUNE 1, 2010 3:56PM

Why Don't Patients Take Their Meds?

pill bottleA good chunk of every medical visit is spent writing prescriptions. Before we had an electronic medical record, this was often an arduous task, leading to serious writer’s cramp. Now the computer makes it easier on the doctor, but it doesn’t seem to have much effect on the patient… Read full post »

Editor’s Pick
JANUARY 20, 2010 9:31AM

Writing About Patients: Is it Ethical?

Pen StethoscopeThere is a veritable epidemic of doctor-writers out there. What is going on?

Are doctors suddenly in the kiss-and-tell mode? What about confidentiality? Professionalism? HIPAA?

As one of the aforementioned doctor-writers, I look upon this trend with both awe and trepidation.  I suspect… Read full post »

Editor’s Pick
DECEMBER 6, 2009 12:14AM

In Praise of Public Hospitals

Bellevue atrium

Public hospitals have a bad rap. They’re viewed by many as hospitals of last resort, and most patients with private insurance do anything to avoid them.

As a long-time physician in a public hospital, I’m sensitive to this reputation. I wouldn’t work in my hospital if I didn… Read full post »