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stages- the Olympics !” said an Amazon reviewer .
Dr . Kowey has published two books : Lethal Rhythm ( 2010 ) and Deadly Rhythm ( 2012 ). His principal area of interest is , as you might guess , cardiac rhythm disturbances .
On Living and Dying
Death and illness ( not taxes ) are obvious topics for physician-writers and some ( if not most ) of the seminal works on death have been penned by physicians . Sherwin B . Nuland ’ s How We Die : Reflections on Life ’ s Final Chapter ( 1994 ) won a National Book Award and is considered one of the most important books on the topic . Dr . Nuland was an American surgeon .
Also on this list : Elizabeth Kübler-Ross , who wrote the 1969 ground-breaking classic On Death and Dying , which massively reshaped the way we talk about mourning , the process of moving from anger to acceptance . It remains basic reading for those interested in life and living as well as death and dying . Many of Kubler-Ross ’ s observations on living and dying are so much a part of popular parlance , that their origin has been forgotten . For example :
“ The opinion which other people have of you is their problem , not yours .”
“ There are no mistakes , no coincidences . All events are blessings given to us to learn from .”
“ It ’ s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth — and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up — that we will begin to live each day to the fullest , as if it was the only one we had .”
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Not Ill , Just Chill : Docs Who Rap
The list of physician-rappers is a good bit smaller than that of physician-writers . That said , many physicians are attracted to music and are avid hobby musicians .
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But unlike physician-writers , physician-musicians labor with a little less notoriety .
Any way you look at it , ZDoggMD is in a world of his own . ZDoggMD is an Internet and YouTube celebrity who has done more than 110 music videos , parodies , and comedy sketches about contemporary medical issues . His real name is Zubin Damania , MD , and he ’ s a Stanford-trained internist . While working as a hospitalist in Palo Alto , CA , Dr . Damania created his alter ego — ZDoggMD — to let off steam and educate patients .
In his parodies of well-known songs , ZDoggMD switches up the words to present medical messages . So , R . Kelly ’ s “ Ignition ” becomes “ Readmission ,” with lyrics like , “ Now , I ’ m not tryin ’ to be rude but , hey , CHF is killin ’ you … That ’ s why I ’ m all up in your grill , tryin ’ to get you to a Lasix pill …” That video has 1.6 million hits on YouTube .
To raise awareness of stroke , ZDoggMD performed on camera with a taped-back ( to look frozen ) face and sung , “ At least I won ’ t need Botox now cause half my face looks young .” His goal : align
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his creativity and love of music with raising awareness about medical issues in a humorous way , all “ while mercilessly satirizing our dysfunctional health care system ,” he says on his blog .
No one can say ZDoggMD dodges tough issues : in summer 2015 , he published a video called “ Ain ’ t the Way to Die ” that took on the issue of end of life care . Rapped to an Eminem / Rihanna song , the lyrics are poignant : “ Just gonna stand there and watch me burn , end of life and all my wishes go unheard . They just prolong me and don ’ t ask why , but it ’ s not right ‘ cause this ain ’ t the way to die . This ain ’ t the way to die .”
ZDoggMD has covered a large array of issues — physician burnout , vaccines , hands-only CPR , EHRs , bodily secretions , pediatric constipation , “ Trumpcare ,” unappreciated nurses , and even the Zika virus . Dr . Damania , who practices internal medicine in Las Vegas , is an in-demand speaker at heath care conferences . He calls himself “ The Best Health Care Speaker .” Are meeting program planners reading this ?
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