Her vitals were fine. That takes a little more time, you know, equitable hiring, equitable pay. They have no role in a febrile seizure. I'm always more appreciated in the community and even within hospital systems. But I always seen it an opportunity. My trainee, the resident, was white. It's more challenging when that's not the case. Their youngest son Maverick Nicolas Phelps was born a year after that in 2019. Copyright 2020 NPR. And my mother said, well, she didn't want to pursue charges if it meant my brother was going to be incarcerated. And it's a long, agonizing process, you know, administering drugs, doing the pumping. But there was one time that I called. Well, she wasn't coming to, which can happen. And it's the end of my shift. Her book is called "The Beauty In Breaking.". And you write that while you knew violence at home as a kid, you know, you didn't grow up where - in a world where there was danger getting to school or in the neighborhood. Turns out she couldn't, and the hospital legal told her that I was actually quoting the law. Harper writes about this concept when she describes her own survival. No. Each step along the way, there is risk - risk to him being anywhere from injured, physically, to death. Every Deep-Drawn Breath: A Critical Care Doctor on Healing, Recovery, and Transforming Medicine in the ICU, by Wes Ely, MD. Michele Harper was a teenager with a learners permit when she volunteered to drive her older brother, John, to an emergency room in Silver Spring, Md., so he could be treated for a bite wound on his left thumb. So it never felt safe at home. She wanted to file a police report, so an officer came to the hospital. There are limitations in hirings and promotions. Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center Residency, Emergency Medicine, 2006 - 2009. Working to free a man wrongly convicted of murder. In one chapter, she advocates for a Black man who has been brought in in handcuffs by white police officers and refuses an examination a constitutional right that Harper honors despite a co-worker calling a representative from the hospitals ethics office to report her. At that point, at that time of the day, I was the only Black attending physician, and the police were white. There was nothing to it. And the consensus in the ER at the time was, well, of course, that is what we're supposed to do. So I call the accepting hospital back to let them know that. So in trying to cope and trying to figure out what to do, she started drinking, and that's why we're seeing her getting sober. This is her story, as told to PEOPLE. This final, fourth installment of the United We Read series delves into books from Oregon to Wyoming. Harper looks each one in the eye. You were the attending person who was actually her supervisor, but she thought she could take this into her own hands. We want to know if the patient's OK, if they made it. The patient, medically, was fine. So they brought him in because part of their legal work is to prove it. 'It Was Absolutely Perfect', WNBA Star Renee Montgomery on Opting Out of Season to Focus on Social Justice: 'It's Bigger Than Sports', We Need to Talk About Black Youth Suicide Right Now, Says Dr. Michael Lindsey. What that means is patients will often come in - VA or otherwise, they'll come in for some medical documentation that medically, they're OK to then go on to a sober house or a mental health care facility. Working on the frontlines of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, in a predominantly Black and brown community, Ive treated many essential workers: grocery store employees, postal workers. Dr. Michele B. Harper is an emergency medicine physician in Fort Washington, Maryland. So it was a natural fit for me. You want to describe some of the family dynamics that made it hard? (SOUNDBITE OF RHYTHM FUTURE QUARTET'S "IBERIAN SUNRISE"), DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're speaking with Dr. Michele Harper. In that sameness is our common entitlement to respect, our human entitlement to love.. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, THE CRYSTAL FRONTIER: A Novel in Nine Stories. By Carlos Fuentes . Translated from the Spanish by Alfred MacAdam . Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 266 pp., $23, Festival of Books Cheat Sheet: A guide to making the most of your weekend, I read books from across the U.S. to understand our divided nation. I subsequently left the hospital. DAVIES: The resident in this case who sought to go over your head and consult with the hospital's legal department - did you continue to work with her? Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, by Vivek H. Murthy, MD. Penguin Random House/Amber Hawkins. He had no complaints. Hyde.) True or false: We ignore the inconvenient problem because it doesnt have a rapidly accessible answer. How does this apply to the world outside an emergency room? School was kind of a refuge for you? Ive never been so busy in my life, says Harper, an ER physician who also is the author of The Beauty in Breaking, a bestselling memoir about her experience working as Black woman in a profession that is overwhelmingly white and male. I mean, she said that she had been through a lot. So the experiences that would apply did apply. Situations, experiences, can break us in ways that if we make another set of decisions, we won't heal or may even perpetuate violence. But, you know, I'm a professional, so I just move on and treat her professionally each shift. And I'm not sure what the question here is. I Chose to Forgive Him. For example, I had a patient who, when I walked into the room and introduced myself, cut me off and said, "Okay, yeah, well, this is what you're going to do for me today." Michele Harpers memoir could not be more timely. And so I left because that was too much to bear. Heather John Fogarty is a Los Angeles writer whose work is anthologized in Slouching Towards Los Angeles: Living and Writing and by Joan Didions Light. She teaches journalism at USC Annenberg. This is FRESH AIR. Join our community book club. She has a new memoir about her experiences and how her work with patients has contributed to her personal growth. We're speaking with Dr. Michele Harper. But I could amplify her story because this is an example of a structure that has violated her. 6 Jeremiah: Cradle and All 113. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design's . She spent more than a decade as an emergency room physician. Often, a medical work environment can be traumatic for people (and specifically women) of color. So it felt like there was nothing left to do but continue to live in silence because there was going to be no rescue. There are so many barriers to entry in medicine for people of color: the cost of medical school, wage gaps, redlining, access to good public education and more. But, and perhaps most critically, people have to be held accountable when it comes to racism. Dr. Michele Harper has worked for more than a decade in emergency rooms in the South Bronx and Philadelphia and shares some of her experiences in a new book, "The Beauty In Breaking." MICHELE . I support the baby as she takes her first breath outside her mothers womb.. HARPER: So she was there for medical clearance. We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. DAVIES: You know, you write in the very beginning of the book, in describing what the book is about, that you want to take us into the chaos of emergency medicine and show us where the center is. There have been clear violations of that mission, deviation from that mission. On Tuesday, July 21 at 7 p.m., well be talking live with Michele Harper on our Instagram. It was traumatic brain injury, and that's why she presented with altered consciousness that day. And I was qualified, more than qualified. And then if we found it and we're supposed to get it out, then we'd have to put a tube into his stomach and put in massive amounts of liquid so that he would eventually pass it. That has inspired her to challenge a system that she says regards healthcare providers as more disposable than their protective equipment. It relates to structural racism. Ultimately, Gilmer argues, the criminal justice system focuses too much on punishing rather than healing the thousands in its care who suffer from mental illnesses. 1 talking about this. Murthy also shares riveting stories a veteran who misses his former comrades and a young man who joined a gang partly to find connection, among them as well his own early experiences with loneliness. HARPER: Yes. Elizabeth, for example, found women too often frivolous and too infrequently aware of their own capabilities. It was me connecting with her. Nobody answered. And it was impetus for me to act because it's one thing to realize. I drove a cab in Philly in the late '70s, and some of the most depressing fares I had were people going to the VA hospital and people being picked up at the VA hospital. Whether you have read The Beauty in Breaking or not there are important lessons in self-healing to take . Talk about that a little. In this book, Gilmer describes his growing understanding of his new friend as well as the dire need for better care for incarcerated people. So it felt particularly timely that, for The . How are you? I don't know what happened to her afterwards. The Beauty in Breaking is a journey of a thousand judgment calls, including some lighter moments. It's your patients. As a Black woman, I navigate an American landscape that claims to be postracial when every waking moment reveals the contrary, Michele Harper writes. This is an interesting incident, the way it unfolded. We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. Check out our website to find some of Michele's top tips for each of our products and stay tuned for more. Theyd tell me the same thing: were all getting sick. The other part of me was pissed off that she felt so entitled to behave so indecently. MICHELE HARPER: I'm - I feel healthy and fine. He said it wasn't true. 7 In the Name of Honor 138. Of the doctors and nurses on duty, I was the only Black person. HARPER: And yes, you know, that's - and I'm glad you bring that up. And one of the reasons I spoke about this case is because one may think, OK, well, maybe it's not clear cut medically, but it really is. Elizabeth Blackwell the first woman to be granted an MD degree in the United States was admitted to New Yorks Geneva Medical College in 1847 as a sexist joke. There are so many powerful beats youll want to underline. When youre Black in medicine, there are constant battles. I mean, you say that her body had a story to tell. So they're coming in just for a medical screening exam. I love the protests. DAVIES: I'm, you know, just thinking that you were an African American woman in a place where a lot of the patients were people of color. I enjoyed my studies. She is an emergency medicine physician who has written a new memoir about her life and experiences. A graduate of . About Us. HARPER: It does. Fashionista and businesswoman who is known for her eccentric dress style and public appearances. But it was a byproduct. Did they pull through the infection? This was not one of those circumstances. Driven to understand how Vince Gilmer, MD, a beloved community figure, could strangle his own ailing father, the young doctor paired up with This American Life journalist Sarah Koenig to dig further. But I feel well. It's called "The Beauty In Breaking." That's an important point. Growing up, it was. One of the gifts of her literary journey, she says, are the conversations she is having across the country and around the world about healthcare. Where: Free live streaming event on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. All of those heroes trying to recover from the trauma of the pandemic are trying to figure out how to live and how to survive.. But this is another example of - as I was leaving the room, I just - I sensed something. Emergency room physician & new author of the book, "The Beauty in Breaking", Copyright 2022 Michele Harper. And if they could do that, if they could do an act that savage, then they are - the message that I took from that is that they are capable of anything. And I thought back to her liver function studies, and I thought, well, they can be elevated because of trauma. And it was a devastating moment because it just felt that there was no way out and that we - we identified with my brother as being our protector - were now all being blamed for the violence. Just as Harper would never show up to examine a patient without her stethoscope, the reader should not open this book without a pen in hand. Everyone just sat there. dr michele harper husband switching from zoloft to st john's wort. Do you think of police in general as being in the helping fields? All rights reserved. I mean, it doesn't have to go that way. But the hospital, if I had not intervened, would have been complicit. HARPER: Yes. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. So the medical establishment, also, clearly needs reform. Growing up the daughter of an abusive father, Michele Harper, MD, was determined to be a person who heals rather than hurts. She has a new memoir about her experiences called "The Beauty In Breaking." I don't know if the allegations against him were true. So in that way, it's hard. And I told the police that not only was that request unethical and unprofessional, it's also illegal. 8 Joshua: Under Contract 166. She was young. allopurinol withdrawal; HARPER: Yes. And I should just note again for listeners that there's some content here that might be disturbing. That's what it would entail to do what the police were telling us to do. So I hope that that's what we're embarking on. And it just - something about it - I couldn't let it go. [Doctors are] compliant and conscientious and rigidly perfectionistic, characteristics that put us at risk for choking to death on our own misery. Hortons own story involves growing up with a severely disabled sister, whom she credits with teaching her the compassion central to quality care. They didn't ask us if we were safe. And it's not just her. But I could do what I could to help her in that moment and then to address the institution as well. You write that the hospital would be so full of patients that some would wait in the ER, and then you would be expected to care for them in addition to those arriving for emergency care. Combating racism that runs throughout the health care system. Michele Harper is a female, African American emergency room physician in a profession that is overwhelmingly male and white. We are so pleased to announce Dr. Michele Harper as our Chief Medical Advisor! So for me, school - and I went to National Cathedral School. For years, Linda Villarosa believed that Black Americans ill health often was the fallout of poverty or poor choices. DAVIES: Eventually, your father did leave the family. EXCLUSIVE: In competitive bidding, Universal Pictures has acquired the next project from Michelle Harper, whose first script Tin Roof Rusted made the Black List and was acquired by TriStar. 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I feel a responsibility to serve my patients. This was a middle-aged white woman, and she certainly didn't know anything about me because I had just walked into the room and said my name. DAVIES: Dr. Michele Harper is an emergency room physician. Stigma and career risks often cause providers to hide their mental health challenges. And, you know, of note, Dominic, the patient, and I were the two darkest-skinned people in the department. This man has personal sovereignty. Four doctors share their journeys, hoping to inspire others to seek care. But Lane Moores new book will help you find your people, How Judy Blumes Margaret became a movie: Time travel and no streamers, for a start, What would you do to save a marriage? In her first book, "The Beauty in Breaking," Dr. Harper tells a tale of empathy, overcoming prejudice, and learning to heal herself by healing others. I asked her nurse. It's called "The Beauty In Breaking.". And I should just note to listeners that this involves a subject that will - well, may be disturbing to some. It's people outside of your departments. Michele Harper, thanks so much for being here. Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of patients are harmed by medical errors. She was saying, "Leave. human, physician, author, occasional optimist, constant abolitionist And even clinically, when I'm not, like when I worked at Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia, it's a similar environment. Each chapter introduces us to a different case, although Harper never boils people down to their afflictions. Most of us have had the experience of heading to a hospital emergency room and having a one-time encounter with a physician who stitches our wounds, gives us medication or admits us for further treatment. What was different about me in that case when my resident thought I didn't have the right to make this decision was because I was dark-skinned. Nobody in the department did anything for her or me. At the center of the book are the stories of two patients one with leukemia and one with severe burns whom Ofri believes died in part due to hospital errors, as well as the prolific authors candid retelling of her own near misses. It was fogging up. DAVIES: Yeah. Dr. Michele Harper is a New Jersey-based emergency room physician whose memoir, The Beauty in Breaking, is available now. Is that how it should be? As Harper remembers it, The whole gamut of life seemed to be converging in this space., She decided she wanted to become an emergency room doctor because unlike in the war zone that was my childhood, I would be in control of that space, providing relief or at least a reprieve to those who called out for help.. I was the only applicant and I was very qualified for the position, but they rejected me, leaving the position vacant. And I felt that, in that way, I would never be trapped. And my emergency medicine director was explaining that even though there was no other candidate and I was the only one who applied, they decided to leave it open. But you don't - it's really the comfort with uncertainty that we've gained. Some salient memories that just remind me of the insecurity of it - there would always be some kind of physical violence. And it's a very easy exam. Whats interesting and tragic is that a lot of us are feeling demoralized, Harper says. I'm Dave Davies, and this is FRESH AIR. It involves a 22-month-old baby who was brought in who apparently had had a seizure. DAVIES: I don't want to dwell on this too much. In this summer of protest and pain, perhaps most telling is Harpers encounter with a handcuffed Black man brought into the emergency room by four white police officers (like rolling in military tanks to secure a small-town demonstration). One of the more memorable patients that you dealt with at the VA hospital was a woman who had served in Afghanistan, and you had quite a conversation with her. Get out. A teenage Harper had newly received her learners permit when she drove her brother, bleeding from a bite wound inflicted by their father during a fight, to the ER. And I don't know whether or not he took drugs. During our first virtual event of 2021, the ER doctor and best-selling author shared what it means to breakand to healon the frontlines of medicine. I mean, there was the mask on your face. And I felt that if I just left the room and didn't ask that I would be ignoring her pain. They didn't inquire about any of us. It made me think that you really connect with patients emotionally, which I'm sure takes longer but maybe also has a cost associated with it. She was chief resident at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx and has worked in several emergency medicine departments in the Philadelphia area where she lives today. Dr. Michele Harper is an emergency room physician and the author of The Beauty in Breaking, a memoir of service, transformation, and self-healing.In her talks, Dr. Harper speaks on how the policies and systemic racism in healthcare have allowed the most vulnerable members of society to fall through the cracks, and the importance of making peace with the past while drawing support from the present. It was a gift that they gave me that, then, yes, allowed me to heal in ways that weren't previously possible. And, you know, while I haven't had a child that has died, I recognized in the parents when I had to talk to them after the code and tell them that their baby, that their perfect child - and the baby was perfect - had passed away, I recognized in them the agony, the loss of plans, of promise, the loss of a future that one had imagined. The fact that, for this time, there are fewer sicker patients gives us the time to manage it. We are so pleased to announce Dr. Michele Harper as our Chief Medical Advisor! Though we both live in the same area, COVID-19 kept us from meeting in a studio. Thomas Insel, MD, neuroscientist and psychiatrist, says the mental health crisis can be solved by focusing on social supports and mental health care systems. Education & Training. DAVIES: And what would they have wanted you to do, other than to evaluate his health? She looked well, just stuporous. A graduate of Harvard University and the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, she has worked as an ER doctor for more than a decade at various institutions, including as chief resident at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx and in the emergency department at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia.