An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
November 15th, 2015
Speechless
Friday, November 13, 2015, late afternoon. This time of year, in Boston, it feels like early evening, but the clock says it’s only a bit after 4pm. I log onto our electronic health record to check for lab results and patient messages, and get this:
There it is, the “Message of the Day”, complete with the this-is-important exclamation point, but the message box is empty, saying nothing. Must be some sort of programming glitch, a slip-up buried in the millions lines of code and ones and zeros that are supposed to represent our patients.
I’ve never seen this particular error before. What does it mean — what is the EHR trying to tell us, but can’t find the words? Should I report it? If so, the question is to whom — but does it even matter? The easier path is to just click the OK box and move on.
Shortly after dealing with this minor inconvenience, I hear about the events in Paris — over a hundred dead from carefully coordinated terrorist attacks, grim images coming forward of bloodied bodies and a city now frozen in fear.
Sadly, there is no OK box to click for this tragedy.
Words alone are insufficient to describe our support for the people of France.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6vGq_rHAmE&w=560&h=315]
6 Responses to “Speechless”
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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The singing and orchestra at the Metropolitan in NYC are better than the performance of rock music in the hall in Paris which was attacked. ISIS was more concerned with murder and the music in Paris.
well said:)
Speechless is right. It is still hard to even fathom, 2 days later.
Vive la France !
Wonderful! Viva la France’
Were you just as speechless when the US bombed the Doctors Without Borders clinic in Afghanistan?
The beginning of the end if the ISIS CRISIS is two-fold and restoration of Order in the world is likewise two-fold: (1) Support Israel wholeheartedly. Call it Eretz Shalem which means the complete Land, i.e. to complete the promise G-d gave to Abraham, that this is his inheritance for his children, the children of Isaac and Jacob, without compromise by Jews and non-Jews. Change the word peace shalom to shalem. Peace only happens on gravestones.
(2) President Obama’s Iran deal has elevated Iran’s status from “axis of evil” to a “super Power” potential which (i) has changed the perception of Islamic terror groups and Palestinians that perceive the American’s President’s deal as evidence of his support, for whatever they do, terror, terror, terror in Israel and abroad.
2 (ii) Europe has thus become an easy target, as Obama’s support for Iran means they will no longer defend Europe – Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missiles and $150 billion gift is enough to wipe out Europe, so they are taking it over, as America has given them the green light to do so, as Obama has opened the flood gates to an invasion by Moslems.
(3) The only solution for the world is to call and to summons support for Eretz Shalem, complete the Promised Land, and be firm, that that is at the forefront of every discussion and agenda and aim. Without it there is no unity and no purpose in the world, which means each nation is for itself – which will never beat the Islamic invasion. This is the Crusades in reverse.
(4) The polarizing issue is to see the world from G-d’s perspective, as a whole – and in this light understand that support for the Promised Land to be fulfilled, is the only solution, as this will unite a fragmented world.