"In order to learn the most important lessons of life, one must each day surmount a fear." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American lecturer, essayist, and poet

The flu -- suddenly it's everywhere. We read about it in the paper and see it on the news. We listen in fear to...

"He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The words "fear" and "surgery" are inextricably connected. Not only that, but hospital stays in general are full of unfamiliar experiences that can easily jeopardize even the strongest sense of emotional...

"All diseases run into one, old age."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finding oneself in the hospital can be trying at any age. But for the elderly such an experience comes with a host of separate issues, both mental and physical, that need to be addressed in conjunction with prompt and...

"Everything unknown is magnified."
--Publius Cornelius Tacitus, senator and historian of the Roman Empire

Hospital stays can be incredibly stressful. From that open blue gown you and your new roommate must wear to understanding your diagnosis and accompanying treatment, most patients feel overwhelmed and disoriented. When you finally get...

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."

-- Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy

Thanks to the recent closing of many mental health facilities as a result of today's tough economic times, the subject of mental illness has been getting a lot of attention lately. The National Institute of Mental...

Lewis Carroll wrote: "If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics. It does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, as long as there is enough of them."

When people are first told that a loved one is in the hospital, they want answers. Straight...

"Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success."

-- Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish painter, draughtsman and sculptor

"Nosocomephobia," defined as an excessive fear of hospitals,...

Thomas Edison wrote: "The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."

Medical technology has made dramatic leaps in the past 150 years. From the invention of...

Saint Augustine wrote: "Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature."

A phenomena within health care, often applied when no rational scientific explanation can be given, preexists medicine itself. Be it via the Internet, urban legends or contemporary television and cinema, we have...

Hippocrates wrote: "It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has."

Part science and part art, the practice of medicine has changed drastically in the 6,000 years since Hippocrates first uttered his famous oath. This evolution...

Aeschylus wrote: "What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?"

The hospital stay is often a time of great stress for patients and their families alike. Recently, President Obama issued a directive for the creation of rules ensuring that hospitals protect the rights of patients...