Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 28, no. 6 (2009): 1807-1813 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.1807 © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Narrative Matters

Dying Of A Treatable Disease

Carla C. Keirns

WE WERE STANDING AT THE BEDSIDE of a frail young woman in a hospital in Botswana. She wore a white tank top and a much-washed blue skirt. Each time she inhaled, her labored breaths revealed her ribs, collarbone, and neck muscles. She was only twenty-three years old, with close-cropped hair, and her deep brown eyes were sunken with dark circles below them. Each day her mother and sisters sat vigil; two young children waited for her at home. She reminded me of pictures I’d seen of famine victims. The women’s ward in the one-story hospital was crowded, holding more . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Doctoring In Botswana

 

A Course In Realities And Miracles

 

When You Have To Say No

 

Acknowledging Futility

 

The Effects Of Shortages

 

Understaffing And Burnout

 

Health, Social Justice, And Infrastructure

 

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