Essays

Why do doctors write? I believe that medicine is inherently about storytelling, and the better we tell the story of our patient's illness, the better care we can deliver. I write to understand my patients, to pay homage to them and their stories, and to process the deluge of humanity, in all its beauty and all its grittiness, that I am privileged to see every day. Then again, asking a writer "Why write?" is like asking a person, "Why breathe?"

The Washington Post

Perspective | Abortion ruling may restrict options for pregnant cancer patientsSome treatments can cause irreparable harm or death to the fetus and to the patient. Adding possible legal consequences complicates the decision-making.

Advice | My patient joined a clinical trial. Was it the right decision?Many patients who sign up for clinical trials haven't been properly informed and have unrealistic expectations for what they might get out of it.

Advice | Ask a Doctor: Should I join a clinical trial? A doctor who leads clinical trials explains the goals of this type of research and what questions you should ask before joining.

Perspective | Cancer patients often want ‘one more round.’ Should doctors say no?Studies show that patients when cancer returns, patients often are quite willing to receive toxic treatments that promise minimal potential benefit.

The Wall Street Journal

Opinion | Are You Sure You Have Cancer?Ask for a second opinion. Misdiagnoses are all too common, especially for rare forms of the disease.

The New York Times

The Covid Balancing Act (Published 2021)At the start of the pandemic, I was “Dr. No” to my in-laws and cancer patients, but my conversations have become more nuanced.

Does an Autoimmune Disorder Affect My Covid-19 Risks? (Published 2020)Patients with conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, who may take immune suppressing drugs, do not appear to be at greatly increased risk from coronavirus.

Cancer, Religion and a ‘Good’ Death (Published 2020)It is hard to know how much my patient, caught in an eternal childhood, understood about his cancer.

Finding, and Curing, Cancers May Be Another Casualty of Coronavirus (Published 2020)As the death tolls rise to the coronavirus pandemic, those of us who specialize in oncology are bracing for another wave of victims: People not yet diagnosed with cancer.

The Universal Language of Caring (Published 2020)Hospitals have interpreters. But doctors and patients who speak different languages do not always need a translator’s help.

Coronavirus and the Cancer Patient (Published 2020)My patients’ immune systems are so exquisitely fragile that it doesn’t take much to catch an infection that could kill them.

Does Cancer Chemotherapy Increase My Covid Risks? (Published 2020)People with cancer, especially leukemia, are at higher risk of dying from Covid-19, though chemotherapy does not appear to increase the risk.

When the Teenager or Young Adult Has Cancer (Published 2020)Adolescents and young adults are a special population of cancer patients.

Snapshots of My Patients (Published 2019)Thumbnail images in electronic health records provide insights into the patients we care for.

Starting Chemotherapy, When You’re Ready (Published 2019)It’s better if you start cancer treatment when you can jump in wholeheartedly and without regrets.

When Patients Need Opioids to Ease the Pain (Published 2019)Some patients genuinely need powerful painkillers to make their excruciating existence at least somewhat tolerable.

Getting to Know Our Patients (Published 2019)Listening to patients is a critical part of a doctor’s education.

When Opposites Attract, for Life (Published 2019)Of all the obstacles to initiating hospice care that have been cited, the devotion of wife to husband, or child to parent, is the hardest to quantify.

A ‘Sentimental Journey’ in the Cancer Clinic (Published 2019)I am a firm believer in the ability of music to help people express their emotions, hopes and fears, making their medical conditions more tolerable.

What Lies Beneath the Surface (Published 2018)It wasn’t the first time patients have told me that having a life-threatening diagnosis roused some past demons, or made them see their relationships in a different light.

Watching My Patient Die, Remotely (Published 2018)As more and more hospitals have adopted electronic medical records, their records have become linked and you can follow your patients, virtually, hundreds of miles away.

How Do You Die From Leukemia? (Published 2018)Though survival rates have improved markedly, a variety of problems can cause death.

Playing Doctor to Our Children (Published 2018)We dismissed our 9-year-old son’s complaints and directed him to the bathroom. But then he stopped eating.

When the Bully Is a Doctor (Published 2018)Bullying among health care workers is far more common than we acknowledge.

The Best Medicine? What’s Meaningful to Our Patients (Published 2018)Living their own lives helps doctors and nurses make better decisions about how to care for their patients.

Waiting to Treat the Cancer (Published 2018)It would be a race between the leukemia returning and the insurance company approving the procedure that could keep it at bay permanently.

Resolutions of a Cancer Doctor (Published 2018)My mother’s cancer diagnosis gave me the opportunity to approach my patients with a new resolve in the coming year.

When the Doctor’s Mother Has Cancer (Published 2017)I braced myself for what would come next: The beginning of every cancer story, when the seemingly innocent cough or dizziness takes a sinister turn.

Finding My Father, Preserved on Canvas (Published 2017)His art collection, with its movement and irreverence for boundaries, took him places he could no longer travel.

Sometimes It’s Better Not to Know (Published 2017)My 97-year-old patient told me he didn’t know if he was looking forward to being 98.

Informed Patient? Don’t Bet On It (Published 2017)Most patients don’t have any idea what they have agreed to let their doctors do to them.

A Place to Be Heard (Published 2016)My clinic rooms, clean and nondescript as they are, sometimes provide a safe house for laying bare the wrenching decisions that tug on my patients.

Making Promises We Cannot Keep (Published 2016)Even when the compassionate part of me aches to alleviate my patients’ fears, I should know better than to make promises I can’t keep.

The Doctor's TiesPerhaps I’m in the minority of men, but I appreciate being given ties.

Shopping for a Doctor Who 'Fits'Decades ago, when physicians worked within a much more paternalistic system, “doctor shopping” by patients would have been considered inappropriate. Now it has become a routine part of my practice.

Wondering What Caused the CancerMany of my patients ask what caused their cancer. I often wonder the same thing.

When Doctors Have Conflicts of InterestWhat should a doctor say to a patient if he gets royalties for prescribing a drug or implanting a device?

Breaking Bad News to Patients (Published 2016)Some doctors engage in light conversation with their patients before telling them their cancer has returned, but I have always felt that to be disingenuous, writes Dr. Mikkael Sekeres.

A Doctor Revisits His Own TraumaOver a year has passed since the beautiful summer day I rode my bicycle down a steep hill, crashed and landed in the hospital, bruised and battered.

Love on the Hospital WallsI admire the creativity, the support, the love that I see on the walls of my patient’s rooms. I get to appreciate my patients from the time before they were sick, and I can also see what they are trying to return to.

How Much Do You Want to Know About Your Cancer?One of the biggest problems we face as oncologists is that we often can’t figure out what our patients would like to know about their prognosis. Even when we ask.

Wondering If I Hastened a Patient's DeathAt the very least, I was guilty of that act of hubris of which oncologists are often accused: giving chemotherapy to a person only days before his death.

When Cancer Treatment Offers Hope More Than CureWith the most recent return of her leukemia in the fall, I asked her, not for the first time, if she had been through enough, and would like to forgo any more treatment.

Cured From Cancer, AlmostA leukemia specialist wrestles with using the word “cured,” and chooses to tone it down.

Opinion | Trying to Fool Cancer (Published 2015)Which mutations are evil, and which are innocent?

When Doctors Withdraw Cancer TreatmentAs oncology doctors and nurses, we place a person’s cancer treatment in his own hands. But the patient is not always willing to comply.

Seeing God Through My PatientsReligion and medicine can make for awkward bedfellows.

Deciding On a Parent's DeathThe call from my patient’s daughter wasn’t the first time a patient or family member had revealed to me a plan for an exit strategy.

The Punishing Cost of Cancer CareAs the price of chemotherapy now routinely reaches $100,000 for a full treatment course, my patients are forced more and more into making the equivalent of Sophie’s Choice when it comes to treating their cancer.

The Doctor's RitualsEvery night when I put my 6-year-old son to sleep, we go through the same routine. I do the same with my patients.

Learning From My Oldest PatientsIt is with a good deal of trepidation that I start any new medication in my patients who are very old, for fear of disrupting the myriad forces of genetics and environment that have allowed them to live so long.

Numbers in the Cancer FightWe cling to numbers because there’s so little we really can control in cancer.

In Sickness and in HealthPeople make sacrifices for each other when it comes to health, just as they do with family and careers. When both partners develop cancer, it is no exception.

Feeling as if I Failed the PatientI thought about the patient I had been treating for three years for leukemia. I would be seeing her in clinic in a few hours, and I had a bad feeling about her disease.

The Doctor Gets V.I.P. TreatmentBefore I knew it I was getting the V.I.P. treatment: given a private room, sent for a lot of tests, strapped to a cardiac monitor overnight and visited by several consultants and the hospital president.

Life Beyond the Cancer ClinicAn oncologist realizes his training in treating cancer has given him only limited insight into how the disease impacts his patients’ lives.

Can Doctors Be Taught How to Talk to Patients?Research suggests that physician communication about important topics is associated with a better quality of life for patients, but teaching communication skills to doctors is not easy.

Letters to the DoctorI suspect that family members sometimes send doctors letters because they aren’t sure they had done everything they could to help prevent a loved one’s death.

What Our Patients Can Teach UsA critical component to true health care reform is in changing our core expectations about the use of heroic measures at the end of life.

Trusting the DoctorIn the end, aren’t most of our major life decisions based simply on trust?

Waiting to Hear From the DoctorMy wife reminded me that when one of my patients calls, concerned that they have leukemia, that I always reassure them that the test was probably wrong. Then she asked, “Why can’t you follow your own advice?”

A Doctor in the FamilyEmotions, particularly those that steep over years, can act like vapors that cloud our judgment, despite our best intentions. But when your father asks for your help, it’s hard to say no.

Keeping Cancer a SecretIt’s our job, as doctors and nurses, to be deliberate in asking our patients how they will explain their cancer to others, to make sure they understand. Keeping such a diagnosis hushed, from those who love and care for us, is an unfair burden we shouldn’t allow cancer to dictate, too.

When Fear Is a Barrier to Good CareFear, mistrust and assumptions had gotten in the way of my patient’s care, and we had to treat these — in ourselves, and in him — before we could control his leukemia.

Seeking Calm on the Cancer WardWe joke with our patients that we love boring — it is, in fact, a medical ideal that our patients complain of nothing more than ennui on a daily basis. But the psychological mettle it takes to endure leukemia treatment is remarkable, and there’s little that can prepare a person for it.

God and DoctorWhen a patient who had refused blood transfusions on religious grounds died quickly, the staff of the leukemia floor was plagued by a question: Had we done enough for him?

A Doctor's Struggle With NumbersOncologists are notoriously bad at predicting survival. We try to provide hope, but not false hope.

A Patient's Goal: Get Him to the Church on TimeWithin oncology, it is taken as almost a truism that people die only after they have said their goodbyes to their immediate family, or achieved some life milestone.

Poking Fun at My PatientsI joke around with my patients to create an environment that feels at least a little normal in the craziness of their disease, so they can focus on living, not dying.

The Widow's Doctor VisitThe patient had died months before. Now his widow, along with the children, wanted to meet with me, the doctor who had treated him.

Huffington Post

My Best Friend And I Are Straight Married Men, And We Tell Each Other 'I Love You'"We try to model how we treat each other for our children, so hopefully, it will be the norm for them."

The Scary Future of Cancer TherapyThe Scary Future of Cancer Therapy

Refocusing Cancer Drug Approval on PatientsWhat the 21st Century Cures Act ignores is the prevailing, patient agnostic approach to drug development. We need to move toward a patient-centric approach to drug development and approval, and we should start with cancer treatments.

Brace Yourself, Here Come The DoctorsOn July 1 across America, recent medical school graduates will engage in an activity that will be altogether new, and probably terrifying. Should those of us who might be on the receiving end of this rite of passage be worried?

The Hill

COVID and the Cancer MoonshotBecause of the pandemic, enrollment to cancer trials was compromised.

Cancer patients left in the lurch when some drugmakers stop clinical trialsMy patient would no longer receive the pills from the study sponsor. She would have to obtain “commercial supply.”

The disgrace of cancer clinical trialsOPINION | In a study, we found that many patients were unnecessarily turned away from potentially life-altering treatments.

First, do no harm: Healthcare and empathy in a time of war This past month, we witnessed indiscriminate atrocities enacted on people in Israel and the Gaza Strip who were going about the activities that we take for granted in a free and open society: some …

Salon.com

The pandemic has eroded our trust in doctorsAs a doctor and a patient, I saw firsthand how the medical establishment floundered to maintain the public's trust

The doctor is in, but scared to see youSome health care providers, even those already vaccinated, are reluctant to leave the comfort of telehealth

When illness and family secrets collideA leukemia patient's sister wanted to donate marrow — which led to a 48-year-old secret being revealed

StatNews

What the Makena vote means about accelerated approval, trust, and the FDADrugs that receive accelerated approval should come with a large asterisk on the drug label, warning patients and prescribers that the approval may be temporary, with additional data on safety and effectiveness yet to come.

Slate.com

The Tragic Case of Poisoning That Finally Got Us Safe DrugsThe elixir had antifreeze, for flavor. Nobody blinked—at first.

Why I’ll Never Forget the Summer My Father and I Tried to Lose WeightWhen I found crumpled junk-food wrappers in the closet, I felt personally betrayed.

American Society of Hematology (ASH) Clinical News

Oncology Times

MedPage Today

https://ashpublications.org/search-results?q=mikkael+sekeres&f_JournalDisplayName=ASH+Clinical+News&fl_SiteID=1&qb=%7b%22q%22%3a%22mikkael+sekeres%22%7d&page=1&f_SemanticFilterTopics=Editor%27s+Corner

In ASH Clinical News, I penned 34 Opinion pieces from 2015-2019. In Oncology Times, I wrote 26 editorials from 2011-2014. In MedPage, I wrote 3 editorials for the Second Opinions column. Topics ranged from the practice of medicine to the relevance of board certification, the conduct of clinical trials, grammar and semantics, humor pieces and book reviews. My essays garnered awards from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors, the Azbee (Amer Soc of Business Editors) National Award for Editorials, the Apex Grand Award for Writing, and the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts.

journals.lww.com/oncology-times/pages/results.aspx?txtKeywords=mikkael+sekeres

Opinion | A Letter From a Miami Jail to the American Board of Internal MedicineThe Longitudinal Knowledge Assessments are no vacation

Opinion | When a Revolutionary Cancer Treatment Causes CancerThe potential benefits of CAR T-cell therapies still far outweigh the risks