a visit to the doctor short story

A Visit To The Doctor

Short Story by: Sal

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Yesterday, I went to the doctor because I felt a sharp pain. "Park" exclaimed the doctor as she looked at my stomach. She said my eye ball had become expired and she'd never seen anything like it.Slowly, she took me to the nearest operating room where a fast nurse waited. "This won't hurt," she said harshly, holding a large india in her left hand. "I'm really only a little bit ugly," I said. The next thing I knew, everything went aqua.

When I awoke, the doctor was tooting at me. She said that everything went well, but for a while, at least, I couldn't be too careful about not disturbing my toes. I told him I would try not to eat more nurses so as to prevent any future trouble of this kind.

Yesterday, I went to the doctor because I felt a sharp pain. "STOP" exclaimed the doctor as she looked at my stomach. She said my INTESTINES had become rotten and she'd never seen anything like it.Like i was a monkey, she took me to the nearest operating room where a chilly nurse waited. "This won't hurt," she said with the grim reaper, holding a large people in her left hand. "I'm really only a little bit stinking," I said. The next thing I knew, everything went the doctors big head.

When I awoke, the doctor was laughing at me. She said that everything went well, but for a while, at least, I couldn't be too careful about not disturbing my right acute sensitive ligament. I told him I would try not to eat more humans so as to prevent any future trouble of this kind.

Submitted: January 01, 2012

Children Stories humans india nurse doctor intestines ligament

Add Your Comments:

HI SAL! LET ME ASK ONE QUESTION AND ONLY ONE! COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME THE SARCASM {OR IS IT?} IN THESE TWO SENTENCES I TOLD HIM I WOULD TRY TO EAT MORE NURSES.......................THIS KIND. I TOLD HIM I WOULD TRY TO EAT MORE HUMANS.................THIS KIND

Author Reply

read the description its a program were you type random words and it makes a story it is not sarcasm

@anada sorry i forgot a word its supossed to be i will try not to eat.......thanks for pointing that out.

What program is it?

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1842 Short Story

A visit with the doctor.

Black and white Photo of Author T.S. Arthur (1809 - 1885)

A Visit with the Doctor is an English Moralistic Fiction short story by American writer T.S. Arthur . It was first published in 1842.

A Visit with the Doctor by T.S. Arthur

“How are you to-day, Mrs. Carleton?” asked Dr. Farleigh, as he sat down by his patient, who reclined languidly in a large cushioned chair.

“Miserable,” was the faintly spoken reply. And the word was repeated,–“Miserable.”

The doctor took one of the lady’s small, white hands, on which the network of veins, most delicately traced, spread its blue lines everywhere beneath the transparent skin. It was a beautiful hand–a study for a painter or sculptor. It was a soft, flexible hand–soft, flexible, and velvety to the touch as the hand of a baby, for it was as much a stranger to useful work. The doctor laid his fingers on the wrist. Under the pressure he felt the pulse beat slowly and evenly. He took out his watch and counted the beats, seventy in a minute. There was a no fever, nor any unusual disturbance of the system. Calmly the heart was doing its appointed work.

“How is your head, Mrs. Carleton?”

The lady moved her head from side to side two or three times.

“Anything out of the way there?”

“My head is well enough, but I feel so miserable–so weak. I haven’t the strength of a child. The least exertion exhausts me.”

And the lady shut her eyes, looking the picture of feebleness.

“Have you taken the tonic, for which I left a prescription yesterday?”

“Yes; but I’m no stronger.”

“How is your appetite?”

“Bad.”

“Have you taken the morning walk in the garden that I suggested?”

“O, dear, no! Walk out in the garden? I’m faint by the time I get to the breakfast-room! I can’t live at this rate, doctor. What am I to do? Can’t you build me up in some way? I’m burden to myself and every one else.”

And Mrs. Carleton really looked distressed.

“You ride out every day?”

“I did until the carriage was broken, and that was nearly a week ago. It has been at the carriage-maker’s ever since.”

“You must have the fresh air, Mrs. Carleton,” said the doctor, emphatically. “Fresh air, change of scene, and exercise, are indispensable in your case. You will die if you remain shut up after this fashion. Come, take a ride with me.”

“Doctor! How absurd!” exclaimed Mrs. Carleton, almost shocked by the suggestion. “Ride with you! What would people think?”

“A fig for people’s thoughts! Get your shawl and bonnet, and take a drive with me. What do you care for meddlesome people’s thoughts? Come!”

The doctor knew his patient.

“But you’re not in earnest, surely?” There was a half-amused twinkle in the lady’s eyes.

“Never more in earnest. I’m going to see a patient just out of the city, and the drive will be a charming one. Nothing would please me better than to have your company.”

There was a vein of humor, and a spirit of “don’t care” in Mrs. Carleton, which had once made her independent, and almost hoydenish. But fashionable associations, since her woman-life began, had toned her down into exceeding propriety. Fashion and conventionality, however, were losing their influence, since enfeebled health kept her feet back from the world’s gay places; and the doctor’s invitation to a ride found her sufficiently disenthralled to see in it a pleasing novelty.

“I’ve half a mind to go,” she said, smiling. She had not smiled before since the doctor came in.

“I’ll ring for your maid,” and Dr. Farleigh’s hand was on the bell-rope before Mrs. Carleton had space to think twice, and endanger a change of thought.

“I’m not sure that I am strong enough for the effort,” said Mrs. Carleton, and she laid her head back upon the cushions in a feeble way.

“Trust me for that,” replied the doctor.

The maid came in.

“Bring me a shawl and my bonnet, Alice; I am going to ride out with the doctor.” Very languidly was the sentence spoken.

“I’m afraid, doctor, it will be too much for me. You don’t know how weak I am. The very thought of such an effort exhausts me.”

“Not a thought of the effort,” replied Dr. Farleigh. “It isn’t that.”

“What is it?”

“A thought of appearances–of what people will say.”

“Now, doctor! You don’t think me so weak in that direction?”

“Just so weak,” was the free-spoken answer. “You fashionable people are all afraid of each other. You haven’t a spark of individuality or true independence. No, not a spark. You are quite strong enough to ride out in your own elegant carriage but with the doctor!–O, dear, no! If you were certain of not meeting Mrs. McFlimsey, perhaps the experiment might be adventured. But she is always out on fine days.”

“Doctor, for shame! How can you say that?”

And a ghost of color crept into the face of Mrs. Carleton, while her eyes grew brighter–almost flashed.

The maid came in with shawl and bonnet. Dr. Farleigh, as we have intimated, understood his patient, and said just two or three words more, in a tone half contemptuous.

“Afraid of Mrs. McFlimsey!”

“Not I; nor of forty Mrs. McFlimseys!”

It was not the ghost of color that warmed Mrs. Carleton’s face now, but the crimson of a quicker and stronger heart-beat. She actually arose from her chair without reaching for her maid’s hand and stood firmly while the shawl was adjusted and the bonnet-strings tied.

“We shall have a charming ride,” said the doctor, as he crowded in beside his fashionable lady companion, and took up the loose reins. He noticed that she sat up erectly, and with scarcely a sign of the languor that but a few minutes before had so oppressed her. “Lean back when you see Mrs. McFlimsey’s carriage, and draw your veil closely. She’ll never dream that it’s you.”

“I’ll get angry if you play on that string much longer!” exclaimed Mrs. Carleton; “what do I care for Mrs. McFlimsey?”

How charmingly the rose tints flushed her cheeks! How the light rippled in her dark sweet eyes, that were leaden a little while before!

Away from the noisy streets, out upon the smoothly-beaten road, and amid green field and woodlands, gardens and flower-decked orchards, the doctor bore his patient, holding her all the while in pleasant talk. How different this from the listless, companionless drives taken by the lady in her own carriage–a kind of easy, vibrating machine, that quickened the sluggish blood no more than a cushioned rocking chair!

Closely the doctor observed his patient. He saw how erectly she continued to sit; how the color deepened in her face, which actually seemed rounder and fuller; how the sense of enjoyment fairly danced in her eyes.

Returning to the city by a different road, the doctor, after driving through streets entirely unfamiliar to his companion, drew up his horse before a row of mean-looking dwellings, and dropping the reins, threw open the carriage door, and stepped upon the pavement–at the same time reaching out his hand to Mrs. Carleton. But she drew back, saying,–

“What is the meaning of this, doctor?”

“I have a patient here, and I want you to see her.”

“O, no; excuse me, doctor. I’ve no taste for such things,” answered the lady.

“Come–I can’t leave you alone in the carriage. Ned might take a fancy to walk off with you.”

Mrs. Carleton glanced at the patient old horse, whom the doctor was slandering, with a slightly alarmed manner.

“Don’t you think he’ll stand, doctor?” she asked, uneasily.

“He likes to get home, like others of his tribe. Come;” and the doctor held out his hand in a persistent way.

Mrs. Carleton looked at the poor tenements before which the doctor’s carriage had stopped with something of disgust and something of apprehension.

“I can never go in there, doctor.”

“Why not?”

“I might take some disease.”

“Never fear. More likely to find a panacea there.”

The last sentence was in an undertone.

Mrs. Carleton left the carriage, and crossing the pavement, entered one of the houses, and passed up with the doctor to the second story. To his light tap at a chamber door a woman’s voice said,–

“Come in.”

The door was pushed open, and the doctor and Mrs. Carleton went in. The room was small, and furnished in the humblest manner, but the air was pure, and everything looked clean and tidy. In a chair, with a pillow pressed in at her back for a support, sat a pale, emaciated woman, whose large, bright eyes looked up eagerly, and in a kind of hopeful surprise, at so unexpected a visitor as the lady who came in with the doctor. On her lap a baby was sleeping, as sweet, and pure, and beautiful a baby as ever Mrs. Carleton had looked upon. The first impulse of her true woman’s heart, had she yielded to it, would have prompted her to take it in her arms and cover it with kisses.

The woman was too weak to rise from her chair, but she asked Mrs. Carleton to be seated in a tone of lady-like self-possession that did not escape the visitor’s observation.

“How did you pass the night, Mrs. Leslie?” asked the doctor.

“About as usual,” was answered, in a calm, patient way; and she even smiled as she spoke.

“How about the pain through your side and shoulder?”

“It may have been a little easier.”

“You slept?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What of the night sweats?”

“I don’t think they have diminished any.”

The doctor beat his eyes to the floor, and sat in silence for some time. The heart of Mrs. Carleton was opening towards–the baby and it was a baby to make its way into any heart. She had forgotten her own weakness–forgotten, in the presence of this wan and wasted mother, with a sleeping cherub on her lap, all about her own invalid state.

“I will send you a new medicine,” said the doctor, looking up; then speaking to Mrs. Carleton, he added,–

“Will you sit here until I visit two or three patients in the block?”

“O, certainly,” and she reached out her arms for the baby, and removed it so gently from its mother’s lap that its soft slumber was not broken. When the doctor returned he noticed that there had been tears in Mrs. Carleton’s eyes. She was still holding the baby, but now resigned the quiet sleeper to its mother, kissing it as she did so. He saw her look with a tender, meaning interest at the white, patient face of the sick woman, and heard her say, as she spoke a word or two in parting,–

“I shall not forget you.”

“That’s a sad case, doctor,” remarked the lady, as she took her place in the carriage.

“It is. But she is sweet and patient.”

“I saw that, and it filled me with surprise. She tells me that her husband died a year ago.”

“Yes.”

“And that she has supported herself by shirt-making.”

“But that she had become too feeble for work, and is dependent on a younger sister, who earns a few dollars, weekly, at book-folding.”

“The simple story, I believe,” said the doctor.

Mrs. Carleton was silent for most of the way home; but thought was busy. She had seen a phase of life that touched her deeply.

“You are better for this ride,” remarked the doctor, as he handed her from the carriage.

“I think so,” replied Mrs. Carleton.

“There has not been so fine a color on your face for months.”

They had entered Mrs. Carleton’s elegant residence, and were sitting in one of her luxurious parlors.

“Shall I tell you why?” added the doctor.

Mrs. Carleton bowed.

“You have had some healthy heart-beats.”

She did not answer.

“And I pray you, dear madam, let the strokes go on,” continued Dr. Farleigh. “Let your mind become interested in some good work, and your hands obey your thoughts, and you will be a healthy woman, in body and soul. Your disease is mental inaction.”

Mrs. Carleton looked steadily at the doctor.

“You are in earnest,” she said, in a calm, firm way.

“Wholly in earnest, ma’am. I found you, an hour ago, in so weak a state that to lift your hand was an exhausting effort. You are sitting erect now, with every muscle taughtly strung. When will your carriage be home?”

He asked the closing question abruptly.

“To-morrow,” was replied.

“Then I will not call for you, but–“

He hesitated.

“Say on, doctor.”

“Will you take my prescription?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation.

“You must give that sick woman a ride into the country. The fresh, pure, blossom-sweet air will do her good–may, indeed, turn the balance of health in her favor. Don’t be afraid of Mrs. McFlimsey.”

“For shame, doctor! But you are too late in your suggestion. I’m quite ahead of you.”

“Ah! in what respect?”

“That drive into the country is already a settled thing. Do you know, I’m in love with that baby?”

“Othello’s occupation’s gone, I see!” returned the doctor, rising. “But I may visit you occasionally as a friend, I presume, if not as a medical adviser?”

“As my best friend, always,” said Mrs. Carleton, with feeling. “You have led me out of myself, and showed me the way to health and happiness; and I have settled the question as to my future. It shall not be as the past.”

And it was not.

T.S. Arthur

Timothy Shay Arthur (1809–1885), commonly known as T.S. Arthur, was an American author and editor. He is noted for his moralistic and didactic stories, including “Ten Nights in a Bar Room,” which addressed social issues and moral dilemmas in 19th-century America.

Back To The Course

Readings – level 2.

Lesson 01: Dogs and Parks
Lesson 03: Saint Patrick’s Day
Lesson 04: Women and Shoes
Lesson 05: Spring
Lesson 06: Books are Source of Knowledge
Lesson 07: Sally’s Children
Lesson 08: A visit to the Dentist
Lesson 09: Going to Work
Lesson 10: Summer
Lesson 11: Summer Refreshments
Lesson 12: Making Spaghetti
Lesson 13: Vacations Abroad
Lesson 14: Independence Day
Lesson 15: Fall
Lesson 16: Judy’s Garden
Lesson 17: Making a Deposit in your Bank Account
Lesson 18: Halloween
Lesson 19: Chritsmas in The United States
Lesson 20: Winter
Reading – Level 2

A visit to the Doctor Hi everyone, my name is Gary. I live in Detroit Michigan. I work as a teacher for public school 34 in downtown Detroit. I woke up a little bit drowsy and I am not feeling very well today, so I will have to call in sick. I think I need to see my doctor. First, I have to make an appointment to see him. I am going to call the receptionist and make an appointment so he can see me right away if possible. When I get there, they will not ask me to fill out some forms because I filled them out the very first time I was there. I have health insurance, so I only have to pay a co-pay of 10 dollars. It is important to have health insurance because if you do not have it, a visit to the doctor can be very expensive. When I go to my doctor’s office, one of the nurses who work there is going to take my vital signs: pulse, temperature and weight. When the doctor gets in, he will ask me how I am feeling, and he will also ask me what symptoms I have. After that he will review my clinical history to see if I have any of the symptoms described in my previous visits to his office. After he examines me, he will write a prescription so that I can go to the pharmacy and get the medicine that will make me feel better. He will also write the directions on how to take the medicine. Finally, he will ask me to come again in two weeks for a follow up. document.createElement('audio'); http://easyworldofenglish.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/readings_level2_19b.mp3

A Summary and Analysis of Franz Kafka’s ‘A Country Doctor’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Country Doctor’ is one of the best-known and most widely studied short stories by Franz Kafka (1883-1924). This short story, which Kafka wrote during the winter of 1916-17, tells of a country doctor who makes a visit to a nearby village to tend to a sick boy, but the doctor’s account of his experiences is full of bizarre and unlikely details – details which make us question the doctor’s sanity.

You can read ‘A Country Doctor’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Kafka’s story below.

‘A Country Doctor’: plot summary

The story is narrated by an elderly country doctor, who is summoned one winter night to visit a boy who is unwell. The boy is in a village some ten miles away, and the story recounts the doctor’s struggles in making the journey to visit the boy.

First, he learns his horse has died of exposure to the cold, but a mysterious groom appears in his pigsty and produces two strong horses for the doctor to use in his journey. The groom makes it clear he wishes to have his way with the doctor’s servant girl, Rose.

The doctor makes the journey to the village, at which he appears to arrive in a suspiciously short amount of time. But the boy who is supposedly unwell appears to be fine. The doctor believes the boy should get up and stop malingering, but the boy begs the doctor to let him die. Shortly after this, the doctor notices a towel soaked with blood in the boy’s sister’s hand, and decides to re-examine the patient. He discovers a wound in the boy’s body, from which worms start to appear, and realises the boy is dying, after all.

The family of the boy undress the doctor and place him in bed alongside the patient. He reassures the boy that his wound is not that bad and he will be all right, before opening the bedroom window and climbing down onto one of his horses and riding for home.

However, in contrast to the swift outward journey, the ride home proceeds at a very slow pace, and the doctor’s thoughts keep returning to his maid, who is at risk of being molested by the mysterious groom back home. The doctor regrets answering the call, which he likens to a false alarm.

‘A Country Doctor’: analysis

‘A Country Doctor’ is, along with ‘The Metamorphosis’ (which we have previously analysed here ), perhaps Kafka’s most fantastical or surreal work. It takes its cue from Gothic literature – it has echoes of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne – and analysing and identifying the core ‘meaning’ of the story has proved tricky. Even when set aside Kafka’s other work, ‘A Country Doctor’ remains particularly cryptic and opaque.

The mention of Poe is especially pertinent, since it was Edgar Allan Poe, more than any nineteenth-century writer, who helped to pioneer what we might call the ambiguous supernatural tale: a story in which we cannot be sure whether the events being described really happened, or whether they were merely perceived by some unstable and perhaps insane narrator.

So, in Poe’s ‘ The Tell-Tale Heart ’, we cannot be sure if the narrator actually hears the beating of his victim’s heart from under the floorboards, or if this is an auditory hallucination, a manifestation of his guilty conscience (perhaps even the sound of his own quickened heart rate as his panic starts to mount).

The same is true of ‘A Country Doctor’: can we be sure that the doctor is experiencing all of the events in the story for real? Or is he mad?

There are many details of this short tale which suggest that the country doctor is an example of the unreliable narrator: the way the groom, whom he has never seen before, suddenly appears; the way the groom appears to make two horses materialise out of nowhere; the telescoping of the ten-mile journey to the village so that it seems to have taken place instantaneously; the fact that the patient appears to be fine until the bloody towel reveals to the doctor that the boy actually has a disgusting and festering wound which the doctor managed to miss upon his initial examination.

These details lend a dreamlike – or perhaps more accurately, nightmarish – quality to ‘A Country Doctor’. And given the fact that the doctor’s own state of mind is so central to the story, critics have often interpreted Kafka’s story from a psychoanalytic perspective, arguing that the doctor’s behaviour is an example of sublimation. This Freudian analysis of Kafka’s story is summarised well in the excellent A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia , but is worth exploring, and developing, here.

Sublimation is the investing of unacceptable impulses into more socially acceptable pursuits: in this case, the country doctor’s sexual attraction to his young servant Rose has been redirected into his work. But when he is called out to an emergency visit, his repressed desires come up to the surface, leading to the menacing figure of the groom and the doctor’s fear that she will be at the mercy of this other figure.

Indeed, we might take this analysis even further, and argue that the groom – who, we should remember, seems to appear out of nowhere – is actually the doctor’s own double, a manifestation of his own psyche (his ‘ id ’, if you will), or embodiment of his repressed animal desires for the young girl. He needs to speed his way from her – and from temptation – as quickly as possible and lose himself in his work again.

Revealingly, the groom emerges from the pigsty – which, as a symbol of the doctor’s repressed instincts, hasn’t been used for years – on all fours, in an act of clear animal symbolism.

It is curious that the boy-patient on whom the doctor attends is diagnosed to be fit and well, but his sister’s brandishing of a bloody towel (symbolising the loss of the servant girl’s virginity at the hands of the doctor/the ‘groom’?) is what leads to the doctor re-examining the boy.

There, in a physical embodiment (a literal em bodi ment, we might say) of the doctor’s own disturbing of his repressed psychical instincts, the boy’s body is discovered to be diseased and putrefying, just as the unpleasant and disgusting desires of the ageing doctor towards his young maid threaten to make themselves known.

The further details of the story can also be easily made to fall in with such an interpretation: the mysterious ritual of the family undressing the man and putting him into bed with the boy are a parody of his own desire to undress himself and climb into bed with Rose, if he could but act upon his primal impulses.

The fact that the journey home seems to take forever mimics the gulf between his desires and the reality of his age: he is too weak, too aged, to become the ‘groom’ and take advantage of his servant, even if he wanted to.

This, then, is why ‘A Country Doctor’ carries the force of a dream: Kafka understood that stories, like dreams, often communicate their truths to us only indirectly, through symbol, narrative, and ambiguous imagery.

According to Freud, a dream is our unconscious trying to communicate something to us: something which is often too overwhelming for us to face directly. The fantastical and unsettling details in ‘A Country Doctor’ might then be regarded not as the manifestation of the doctor’s madness but his own erotic desires, which he has repressed for moral and social reasons, finally coming up to the surface.

Modernist texts from this period often use ambiguous symbolism to hint at sexual desire, especially taboo desire. Only a year or so after Kafka wrote ‘A Country Doctor’, Katherine Mansfield published ‘ Bliss ’, a short story about a young woman, Bertha, who is only partially aware of her own attraction to another woman, Pearl Fulton.

The symbol of the pear-tree is used throughout the story to suggest Bertha’s unspoken and unspeakable desire for Pearl. Such ambiguous symbolism serves a dual purpose: it allows writers to broach themes such as sexual desire in ways which it would have been harder to do at the time if one was more direct or plain-spoken, but it also reflects the extent to which characters like Bertha, and Kafka’s country doctor, are at best only half-aware of their own desires.

Symbolism is the only way they can approach them – and even then, we as readers are likely to realise the extent of these desires more clearly than those characters themselves do.

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By Meera Nair

The doctor sighed as he passed the nurse his prescription through a little window that was built for that purpose. It was five in the evening. He had lost count of the number of patients he had seen that day it was the flu season and he had spent the day copying out the same prescription over and over again. It was very cold in that room. The thermostat was always set at an incredibly low temperature, but its effect was compounded that day by the rain that had fallen without stopping since the morning. He felt his senses dulled by the cold and he was very tired. The lighting in his office did not help in the least. It was a bright white fluorescent light. It intimidated him as much as it did some of his patients, the latter who, in their sickened state, were convinced that they had seen the afterlife in his room. The lights harshly lit up the posters and diagrams and pictures on his walls, most of which depicted cross-sections of various organs in the human body. They were not at all to his taste he would much rather have Van Gogh's paintings than a blackened, tar-filled lung on his wall. And the poster reminding patients of the constant need for exercise, pasted so carefully on his door by his nurse, struck him as being particularly unfair. He never got any time to exercise. As his eyes fell upon the picture of the smoker's lung for the umpteenth time, the doctor wondered if he could redecorate his office. One of those certificates of his that his nurse had insisted on hanging at the entrance to the clinic would look much better in his office. The lung could go outside. And that poster there, the one showing the cross-section of a "Ready for the next patient?" the nurse's voice broke through his thoughts. The doctor sighed again and rubbed his eyes. "How many more, Marianne?" he asked. "This is the last," she said, smiling encouragingly at him. He gave a small grunt that she took to be assent to her first question and he heard her call the next patient in. He sat straighter and assumed a professional air. Outside, a flu-ridden Sandra dragged herself to the doctor's office. She had not intended to visit the doctor at all, believing that the flu would cure itself with a lot of rest and water. But the arrival of her mother on a week-long visit from her home town in Malaysia had left her with no choice but to seek professional help. It was that, or a week of constant nagging. There really is no need for this, she thought as approached the doctor's office. Except for a runny-nose, a sore throat and a slight headache, I really am fine! Ma is such a nag. She raised her fist and knocked on the lacquered wooden door that led to the doctor's office. A name was embossed on it, but she did not read it. "Come in," a male voice said from within. Sandra pushed open the door and strode in, determined to get this over and done with. In and out , she thought, hardly glancing at the doctor as she shut the door behind her. Then she turned. "Sandra?" the doctor said, the same time she said, "Andrew?" She stood there for a moment, stunned, and then glanced down at her attire. Yellow flip-flops, an ugly pink flowered pair of shorts, and a faded green T-shirt on which the words "Bugger off" were still faintly visible. "You're a doctor?" she asked the man in the immaculate shirt and trousers, sitting ramrod straight like a businessman out to conduct the deal of a lifetime. "Obviously," he said, smiling. "Why don't you sit down?" He gestured at the chair next to his desk, both of which were leaning against a wall. It was a very odd set-up. She looked dubiously at the chair and then at him. Then she moved towards the chair and sat down. "I can't believe you're a doctor!" she said as he opened his mouth to speak. He grinned. "How have you been?" he asked. She shrugged, still in disbelief. "You?" she asked. "Good, good," he replied. He looks the same , she thought. Just a little more...mature, I guess. There's a kind of seriousness in him that I've never seen before. This is really strange . Aloud, she said, "You look exactly as you did before!" He laughed. "It's been like, what? Ten years? Give or take?" he asked. She nodded. "I can imagine your surprise," he continued. "The last time we met, I was probably getting yelled at by some teacher!" "If I recall correctly, you spent more time outside the classroom than you did inside!" she said. He laughed again. "True. I still remember Mrs Chan telling me that I came to school only to disrupt as many lessons as I could!" "And Mr Lee said you should get into the Guinness Book of World Records for your talent!" They laughed and Sandra tried to suppress a cough. "So are you a dancer now? I remember you declaring in Primary Six, was it? that you wanted to be a dancer," he said. "No," she said ruefully. "I grew out of it. I work in Public Relations now." "Enjoy your work?" "I guess. It still doesn't have the kick dancing gives," she said. "How about you? Medicine really your calling then?" "It is, actually. I could never have foreseen that I would ever have an interest in this, but it's been stimulating." "Ah, stimulating," Sandra said. "When did you start using such words?" He laughed. "No wait. Let me rephrase. When did you become so serious?" Sandra asked, half in jest. He shrugged thoughtfully. "I grew out of it. In Secondary Three," he said. "Huh. Sad that I couldn't see the transformation. From Primary One to Secondary Two, you were always the class clown," Sandra said lightly. He grinned mischievously. "Well, my early interest in biology was always evident. I used to keep cockroaches as pets," he said. Sandra pulled a face and quickly stopped. The stretching sensation was making her head pound. "I only remember you frying tadpoles you caught on the OHP," she said. "Don't remind me. I can't believe I did that. I've repented," he said. Almost as an afterthought, he added, "I'm a vegetarian now." "Oh?" Sandra asked. She could not reconcile the idea of the meat-loving boy she used to know now being a vegetarian doctor. She laughed suddenly as a memory intruded. "Remember you rallied the class into singing for every teacher who taught us that day? In Secondary Two, I believe," she said. "Oh yes! Probably one of my proudest accomplishments to date," he said, looking quite animated. Like the boy I used to know , Sandra thought. "And when the class ended up in detention because of that, you got us to start an impromptu band then and there," she said, tapping her fingers against his desk as she recalled the tune they had played. "I did?" he asked, his surprise evident. "You did!" she said. "How could you forget? You made a drum set out of teacher's table when she left the room." "I don't remember that!" he said. "Well, you did!" Sandra insisted. "I remember you shoving an ordinary mineral water bottle into my hand and asking me to scrape a pencil along its sides like a guiro!" He laughed a little wistfully. "I wish I could remember that. It sounds really fun!" "It was," Sandra said. "If only we could go back to those days," he sighed. "Good old Mrs Lim, Mr Pereira, Mrs Lee, Ms Simon " "Ms Yan," Sandra interjected and they both burst out laughing at the memory of the elderly woman from their primary school days who had been convinced the only way to rehabilitate people like Andrew was to chase them with a wooden cane. "She chased me onto the field one day, did you know? I ran down the stairs from our second-floor classroom, to the canteen and then to the field. And she followed me all the way, rotan in hand!" he said. Sandra felt herself getting short of breath from all the laughing and started coughing. "Ah, don't laugh now," he said suddenly. Sandra nodded, an act that proved difficult as she was also clutching her side and coughing. She tried to draw a deep breath and ended up coughing more. Gradually, though, she got her coughing fit under control. "Better?" he asked. She nodded. "Sorry, I should have asked you what was wrong earlier," he said contritely. She shook her head, still trying to breathe evenly. "So, how can I help?" he asked. "Well, it's nothing much. Just the flu," she said, still gasping for breath in between words. "Okay. What are your symptoms?" he asked, quite professionally, she thought. "Just a headache, a runny nose and a sore throat," she mumbled. She found it a tad awkward to have him as her doctor. "And a cough," he said. "Only when I laugh," she said immediately. She did not like the taste of cough syrup. "I'll still give you the medication, just in case," he said. She groaned slightly. "I'll need you to open your mouth. The sore throat," he said, pointing at his throat. "I know what a throat is," she muttered and did as he said, wishing she were anywhere but there. "Yes, it's inflamed," he said and she heaved a sigh of relief at the fact that he did not stick an ice-cream stick down her throat. "Well, anything else?" he asked. She shook her head. What should she do now? Say bye? Walk off? "Um," she started. "Want to meet up some time? After you recover?" he asked. She nodded in relief. It had been fun reminiscing over the past with him. "Cool. Facebook," he said with a grin. She smiled and waved goodbye. Outside, the nurse called her almost immediately to the counter to get her medication. As she labelled the packets of pills and that one bottle of syrup with the prescription, she asked, "So you're a friend of the doctor's?" "We were classmates before," Sandra said. The nurse laughed. "I never knew he was that entertaining in his school days." She lowered her voice so that he could not hear through the little window in the wall. "He seems so quiet and overworked here. It's nice that he finally found a way to unwind." Sandra nodded. It was interesting how people could change so drastically over the years. Yet he was not all that different. Hadn't their conversation proved that? She paid for her medication and left. The doctor left soon after the last patient left. As he waved goodbye to her, the nurse thought that she had never seen him look so cheerful before. Previous Page ^ > Next Page

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by Anton Chekhov

Return to the Anton Chekhov library , or . . . Read the next short story; The Duel

Short Story

A Visit To The Doctor

Michelle Fragomeni, Grade 7

Bring! Bring! I herd the phone ring on that bright Sunday morning. I was 4 and it was the summer 1999. When my mum picked up the phone, I left the room. I didn’t think it would concern me. “That was Dr. James on the phone” she said happily “So?” I nudged. “What does it have to do with me?” “You’re going to get a check up.” My first thought was ‘this sounds fun!’ Though I wasn’t aware of what I was about to hear. A few minutes later, my brother Anthony entered my room with a cheeky smile on his face. “So, you’re going to see Dr. James today.” “I know, I can’t wait” I replied. “That’s only ‘cause you don’t know what happens when you go there. Do you?” he said as I shook my head. “What happens?” I asked as my teeth chattered. “When you get there, they prick you with this enormous needle” Now I knew I was really feeling sick. As if I really did need to go to the hospital. “They even cut your stomach in half. Look at the scar I got” He said as he pointed to his stomach. “And you know what the worst part is?” I quickly leaned in forward. “It’s when they lock you in the stinky little toilet and you can’t get out” When he left my room, I herd my heart beat louder. ‘I need to get out of the appointment?’ I thought. I wasn’t very smart. “I need a plan then can get me out of this...” Beep! Beep! “What was that? I mumbled. I looked outside the lounge room window and saw my mum waiting for me in the car. She called me a couple of times before I could see her walking inside the house. The next thing I knew, my mum was dragging me by the foot, while I tried to hold on to the carpet. “Come on Michelle” she said as she pulled a little tighter. “No Mummy, I don’t want to go. PLEASE!” That’s when I let go. It was over. I had to the doctors. As soon as we got there, I could feel my heart racing. Well… until we actually got in. Everything so clean “Excuse me. Is your name Michelle?” asked the secretary “Yes she is. I’m her mother Yolanda” answered my mum. “Come straight in.” When I saw Dr. James, he smiled. “Why are you so nervous Michelle?” “Well… my brother said that horrible things were going to happen to me” Dr. James laughed “I think he was just trying to scare you. I’ll make a deal with you” he said as he pursed his lips. “I’ll give you one lollypop if you let me check your heart.” I nodded with pleaser straight away. So I got my lollypop and Dr. James checked my heart. I really had nothing to worry about and I can’t wait to go back to the doctors again. By Michelle Fragomeni

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29 good kids' books about doctor visits.

The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor

Of all the children's picture book characters, the Berenstain Bears address everyday family life in the most comforting, reassuring way. For little kids who have a case of the jitters, order a copy of this picture book that will surely put them at ease. It is time for the Bear family to get their annual check-up, so they head off to Dr. Grizzy's office. All of the normal, routine parts of an exam are covered very matter-of-factly. As an added bonus, a generous page of stickers is included on the very last page.

Helpful Doctor Books for Kids

Never underestimate the power of reading good children's books about checkups with the pediatrician. It is perfectly normally for kids to feel anxious about their annual exams. Sharing picture books about this experience is an excellent tactic to calm their nerves, answer their questions, and help them understand that doctors are to be trusted. Reading children's books about going to the doctor can help. It's important for kids to understand what to expect during their visit. The best stories use colorful illustrations to share comforting stories about how physicians are here to take care of us. They convey important information, address a child's questions, and teach young readers that they need not be afraid. For more helpful books about medical care, be sure check out the best kids' books about the hospital .

Peppa Loves Doctors and Nurses

Peppa Pig is just the one to show your children that doctors and nurses are the best. In this adorable book, Doctor Brown Bear and Nurse Fox visit Peppa and friends during playtime to teach them all about eating healthy and good hygiene. A handy poster comes with this storybook that can be hung in the bathroom as a reminder to wash hands.

You can always rely on a Winnie the Pooh book to help a child feel better. Pooh is very nervous about going ot the doctor for a check up. (Sound like someone you know?) Fortunately, Owl is the physician and Christopher Robin is there by his side the entire time. A gentle, warm, reassuring book perfect for toddlers who have a doctor's visit coming up soon.

Splat the Cat Goes to the Doctor

Splat can hardly contain his excitement over his upcoming check up at the doctor's office. Unfortunately, his friends dampen his spirits with all kinds of frightening stories about what will happen. When he finally musters up the courage to face the doctor, Splat realizes that it isn't so bad after all.

A cute little hippo engages in some pretend play, but not everyone is in the mood to humor him. He decides to be a doctor for the day, with plans to examine all kinds of animals like Lion, Elephant, Crocodile and Giraffe. This pretend doctor gets a bit of a scare and seeks comfort from his mother, the best medicine of all.

Perfect doctor book for preschoolers who watch the Daniel Tiger television series. In this cute book, Daniel is quite nervous about his upcoming visit. However, as soon as he meets Dr. Anna, all his worries disappear and he has a great experience.

We're Going to the Doctor

Getting a shot is probably the most anxiety-inducing event associated with check ups. This interactive board book shows children that a needle doesn't hurt much! Lots of tabs to pull and flaps to lift as little ones explore all of the interesting things that happen at a doctor visit. This is a reassuring story packed with useful tips for parents and caregivers preparing a child for an impending appointment.

A short, sweet read for toddlers getting ready for their yearly check up. All of the customary things happen at his routine examination, including getting a shot, but Leo is brave and behaves well. He is rewarded with a special book at the end of his appointment. A very informative, easy-to-understand book perfect for the littlest readers.

Barbie fans will love this novelty book, with a bonus wellness chart and 50 stickers. Little sister Chelsea is afraid of going to see the doctor. Her big sisters come to her rescue by providing her with comfort and moral support. Kids love to see that even their favorite toys and characters need help from their trustworthy doctor from time to time.

My Friend the Doctor

Author Joanna Cole has expertly written many books that appeal to toddlers. Here is another positively happy book about a young child who trusts her doctor. She goes for an annual checkup, and despite getting a shot, she comes to the conclusion that it wasn't so bad. A great book especially for young children who are nervous about an impending doctor visit.

Let's Meet a Doctor

This children's doctor book is perfect for a little one who has questions about all the important things a physician does to help people. Cartoon-like illustrations appeal to preschoolers. This is a fun, straightforward, reassuring book about all the ways doctors help us feel better.

Doctor Maisy

Pretend play and team work are at the very core of this charming Maisy book. Doctor Maisy takes care of all her friends when they are not feeling well, but who will care for Maisy when she is sick? Nurse Tallulah! She steps in to provide all the tender loving care Maisy needs to feel better. An endearing story of friendship and caring for others.

Toddlers and young children who are fans of Nickelodeon's Paw Patrol will especially love this book about going to the doctor. All the friendly characters are here to reassure children that there is nothing to be scared about. A gentle, informative storybook with a surprise page of stickers on the last page.

In this I Can Read book, Pete the Kitty doesn't feel well, so he has to visit the doctor. He is very nervous about going, but his father assures him that the doctor is someone to trust. Pete overcomes his fear and learns that visiting the doctor can be okay. Adorable illustrations and repetitive language make this a great book for emerging independent readers.

A fantastic book in the best-selling How Do Dinosaurs? series that expertly handles the topic of visiting a doctor. In this cute story, the dinosaur has a terrible case of the flu and learns what he must do to get better. A trip to see his doctor is required. Fun verse and funny illustrations will have young kids giggling to the very end.

You can leave it to Froggy to interject humor into all of life's stressful situations. And this adorable book is no exception. Froggy is a bundle of nerves as he is waiting to see the doctor. He worries about every single thing that could happen, including the one thing on top of every young child's anxious mind- getting a shot! But never fear, Froggy survives his doctor's visit and even earns a gold star for his excellent behavior.

Corduroy Goes to the Doctor

A cute, classic Corduroy book in sturdy board book format suited for toddlers. Our favorite little bear visits the doctor for a check up, gets a shot, and scores a balloon at the end for being a good patient. A comforting book that will surely ease the jitters of little ones who are nervous about a medical appointment.

I Want to Be a Doctor

An inspiring book for kids learning to read independently. A little girl provides support for her brother who visits the emergency room after breaking his foot. While there, she becomes fascinated with the many different types of doctors who care for her brother. This experience makes her decide that she would like to become a doctor herself on day! Many children have to go to the hospital at some point in time. This book does a good job of explaining what will happen while putting kids at ease.

There's a Doctor for You

A board book with sturdy pages teaches little readers about all the different kinds of doctors. Cute illustrations and simple, straightforward text will keep the attention of toddlers. No matter what body part needs attention, there is a special doctor who can help you feel better. This cute baby book does a nice job explaining a variety of medical roles.

Biscuit Visits the Doctor

Yearly check-ups can sure be fun, especially if you are a cute little doggy! Biscuit is excited to visit the vet. He will find out how much he has grown this past year and see all kinds of furry friends in the office. Biscuit will show young readers that there is nothing scary at all about visiting the doctor.

Elmo Goes to the Doctor

Elmo has to go to the doctor because he has a tummy ache. And then he has to visit the doctor again for a routine check up. During both of these visits, Elmo shows little readers that doctors are here to help us. Adorable illustrations and a cute story make this perfect for story time, and especially if a toddler has a doctor's appointment in the near future.

Charlie Goes to the Doctor

Even doggies are afraid to go to the doctor sometimes. When Charlie refuses his favorite treats, him mom knows he is not feeling well. So off to see Dr. Jan. Charlie is really nervous about going to the doctor, but he puts on a brave face when he sees a quivering little puppy in the waiting room. Charlie puts his fear aside and learns that the doctor is his friend.

It's Time for Your Checkup

This is the most comprehensive book for children about visiting the doctor that we have come across. Tons of valuable information about what will happen at the check up itself, as well as advice for parents on how to prepare the child for the visit.

Say "Ahhhh!" Dora Goes to the Doctor

Tag along with Dora as she goes for her annual checkup! Young children will get a firsthand glimpse at all the things to expect. The doctor weighs and measures Dora, checks her vision, and takes a peak up her nose and in her throat. At the end of the visit, Dora gets to pick a special treat as a reward for her good behavior.

Future Doctor

A precocious tot knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up- a doctor! This adorable board book has lots of information about what a doctor does. For children a teensy bit nervous about a doctor visit, this book will make them feel better! The most important job of a doctor is to help others, so there is no reason to be afraid.

richard scarry's nicky goes to the doctor

The characters of Busytown, an aptly named locale, are always full of excitement and learning something new. Nicky approaches his visit with the doctor as an opportunity to find out all kinds of fascinating facts about himself, like his height and weight. He doesn't mind the shot at all, and he's very cooperative as the doctor checks his hearing and vision. An uplifting children's book about the doctor with a ton of bonus stickers for extra fun.

Goofy Goes to the Doctor

Goofy goes to great lengths to avoid his checkup! Fortunately, his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse friends are a few steps ahead of him. With some quick thinking and clever tricks, they win over Goofy and convince him that he has nothing to fear.

Doctors and What They Do

Sometimes a lab coat and all of those medical instruments can be intimidating for a young child. This instructive book teaches us all about how doctors help us feel better. Whether we have fevers, wounds, broken bones, or pain anywhere in our body, doctors use their special tools to fix us. Once kids understand the role of their doctor, going for a check up won't seem so scary.

Lion Needs a Shot

Little lion cubs muster up the courage they need to survive their very first check up at the pediatrician's office. Big brother Luka confidently explains everything to little sister Lulu. He is brave, confident, and even holds her hand while she is being examined. But when it's his turn, Luka gets jittery and doesn't really think he needs to see the doctor after all. A reaffirming story for any child who is a bit nervous about going to the doctor for the first time.

The Lollipop Book Club is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Kids' Books About Check-Ups With the Doctor

Anticipating a visit to the doctor can conjure up some seriously anxious feelings in children. The visit may be for a routine check-up, or as is often the case, to get a diagnosis, remedy and/or guidance for an illness or condition. To help prepare a child for an appointment with the doctor, we suggest that you gather together some good kids' doctor books. Kids who are curious about doctors and other medical care will also benefit by reading books about ambulances . Although it's impossible to predict when an emergency may occur, it's always a good idea to reassure children that medical professionals will take good care of them.

Let's face it. Even grown-ups can get a case of the jitters when it comes time to visit a doctor. For young children who are a little nervous, reading some good picture books will help them understand what to expect during their visit. These books will help show them that doctors are to be trusted and there really is nothing to fear.

Tips to Help Children During a Doctor Visit

Some kids are prone to experiencing bouts of anxiety, especially around doctor visits. Saying things like "don't worry about it" simply invalidates their feelings and only exacerbates their sense of uneasiness. Rather, we suggest trying some of these tactics to ensure a smooth, stress-free checkup for both child and parent.

Bring small toys and treats to the appointment as a form of distraction. A little bribery can go a long way.
Don't talk about the upcoming appointment before the day it is scheduled if a child has anxiety. There is no reason to spend time worrying for days or weeks beforehand.
Be honest about whether or not the child will be getting shots. If you lie, then you end up losing the child's trust. Also, you are indirectly communicating that shots are something to be feared.
Request for shots to be administered at the beginning of the visit. By doing so, a child can relax for the rest of the examination instead of spending the entire time nervous about the grand finale.
Educate your children about why annual check-ups are so important. Read them books about what they can expect at a doctor visit. Kids who don't do well with surprises will fair better if they know ahead of time what will and won't happen on the day of the exam. Little ones dealing with serious health conditions can benefit by reading books about their illness. For instance, here is a list of the best children's books about cancer .
Save the tough questions for the doctor for when your child is out of earshot. If you have concerns about your child's health and wellbeing, try not to have that conversation with your child in the room. Your child will feed off your anxiety and worries. Allow yourself time to process the doctor's guidance before you communicate with your child.

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A Country Doctor

Franz Kafka

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1919

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v.334(7595); 2007 Mar 31

Medical Classics

The doctor stories.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) made his living as a doctor and his reputation as a writer. After initial training in New York he worked as a family practitioner in his home town of Rutherford, New Jersey, for 40 years, seeing—in his own estimation—a million and a half patients. His formative working life was spent during the Depression, his patients being mainly blue-collar workers and the unemployed underclass. Many were immigrants who spoke little or no English, and a chronic feature of his consultations was their struggle to pay him even a meagre fee. He worked hard, seeing patients every day and regularly attending calls through the night.

In view of this punishing workload, it seems astounding that Williams produced a canon of writing that leaves him regarded as one of America's foremost poets. In addition, he was a prolific prose writer, and The Doctor Stories , a compilation of short stories and autobiographical essays written between 1932 and 1962, is a compelling testament to his originality and skill, both as writer and doctor.

His subject is his patients and, to a lesser extent, his colleagues and domestic life. So, there are stories about mothers who lose their babies, about a girl with suspected diphtheria who won't let him look down her throat, and about a badly burned workman who needs a sick line to placate his unforgiving boss. The key feature of Williams's prose is its absolute, sometimes brutal, honesty. If he finds his patients (even children) physically attractive, he tells us; if he doesn't like his patients, he explains why. Williams holds nothing back about them, nor little about himself, in his desire, as he puts it, to “penetrate to some moving detail of a life.” These days, the GMC might take issue with a doctor reporting his clinical experience so freely, but a key issue for Williams seems to be deciding which is the over-riding responsibility: of the doctor to his patient, or the artist to his subject? As he states, in an autobiographical chapter: “My business, aside from the mere physical diagnosis, is to make a different sort of diagnosis concerning them as individuals.”

In his prose style, Williams is a modernist, and at first reading his stories seem almost draft in form. On reflection, however, the style is a crucial part of the honesty and testifies to the pressured reality of his life as a doctor-writer. He worked fast. Thus, he writes like an impressionist paints, quickly capturing the essence of a clinical moment. As a result, The Doctor Stories leave images of patients that last forever.

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15 People Share Their Most Embarrassing Doctor Visits To Prepare You For the Worst

Doctor's appointments can end up being pretty awkward. If you want to learn how to avoid embarrassment at the doctor's, or at least prepare for it, then keep reading! And don't forget to vote on the most embarrassing stories that let you know what to expect at the doctor's office.

They Didn't Realize Their Swimsuit Was Causing Their Symptoms

From Redditor u/ goat_on_a_pole :

I was getting ready to go to a BBQ/pool party. Changed in to to my swimsuit, put clothes over it and I was doing chores before I left home. My face started feeling numb and I was getting a headache. Called the advice nurse, she told me to call for an ambulance. Paramedics come, transport me to hospital, check in to the ER. They do an exam, CT scan, and labs. They find nothing and decide to discharge me to follow up with my regular doctor.

While waiting for discharge paperwork, I'm sitting on a hospital bed in the hall. My neck is really aching from my halter-top swimsuit holding my chest up so I pull the strap over my head to relieve the pressure.... And then it hits me; I'm fairly large chested and my halter-top swimsuit was pinching a nerve in my neck and causing all the symptoms. I was too embarrassed to tell the doctor or nurses.

They Wore The Wrong Underwear To Their Pelvic Exam

From Redditor u/ Cloberella :

I to the gynecologist and she said “I appreciate the glitter, very fancy.” I was very confused until I realized I had worn new shimmery underwear and it apparently shed glitter everywhere.

They Had The Worst Valentine's Day Ever With Their Doctor

From Redditor u/ FartWeaver :

Valentine's day, 2019. I see blood in the toilet bowl in the morning and made an emergency appointment. My doctor is a 60 something year old woman, and she says to me "you realize you can't tell me something like that without me having to take a closer look."

I'm lying sideways on the bed with my knees tucked up. I make the awkward remark "you haven't even taken me out to dinner yet". Dead silence.

"Nothing wrong as far as I can see" she tells me... "Have you eaten anything like beetroot recently?"

I immediately remember the beetroot juice smoothie I had drunk the day before, but I'm too embarassed to admit to it, so I lie.

Worst Valentine's day ever.

They Thought Air Freshener Was Ear Freshener

From Redditor u/ NowCanBeLoudAndProud :

I was 5 years old, not too bright, and thought Air Freshener was EAR Freshener. So I plugged the end of a Febreze into my ear and let loose. I actually made it to the second ear before I realized I messed up. Burning pain, damaged my eardrums from the pressure, bad everything for me.

Their Gynecologist Asked A Very Awkward Question

From Redditor u/ GargleHemlock :

The time I went for a pelvic exam, and my gynecologist was rummaging around down there and suddenly asked me if I'd ever been to the Grand Canyon.

Their ENT Doctor Made An Embarrassing Comment About Their Ear Infection

From Redditor u/ Siobhanbacan :

This was most recent embarrassing doctor visit, as I’ve had pretty terrible luck with medical professionals in general. I had a recurring/constant ear infection for probably around 8 months last year. I did a televisit with a new primary and he prescribed antibiotics and said if it didn’t clear up that I’d have to go to the ENT. I finished the round and my ear cleared for a little bit but then returned to fully messed up. Ended up on another round of antibiotics for an unrelated incident and same story.

We have a long wait time for doctors and specialists where I live, so many months after my ear infection had started, I go to the ENT. He takes one super quick look in my ear and leads me to another room. He has me lay on my side and pulls out a hearing aid dome that apparently had fallen off and gotten stuck in there. He also waited to pull the thing out before telling me what the problem was; I’m guessing for the drama/amusement factor.

I was embarrassed since I had lost a dome but figured it had fallen out somewhere and not into my ear. The timeline of the two incidents never connected for me, so I never pieced it together as an option for what might possibly be wrong. He tried to reassure me that it happens pretty often, but then he had to throw in that usually it happened to elderly patients and I was probably the youngest person he had pulled one out of.

They Had To Explain That They Broke Their Wrist Playing Video games

From Redditor u/ Vampryssa :

Having to explain how playing soccer on the xbox connect years ago caused me to break my wrist. I'm very clumsy due to my epilepsy (that we found out years later) and when I tried to kick, I fell backwards and used the palm of my hand to cushion the fall.

The doctor sat in awe at how I managed that.

Their New Perfume Made The Doctor Laugh

From Redditor u/ msnovtue :

I had just bought a new type of perfume and put some on in the morning. By mid-day, though, my neck was red, puffy, & itchy. Home/OTC stuff wasn't doing anything, so I headed to the college infirmary.

Got in, was giving a nurse the details before the doctor came in--you know the drill. But then she asked the question I was dreading: "And what perfume was it?"

Me: "It's by Christian Dior. It's called..."

Nurse: "What was it?"

Me: "..."

Nurse: "I'm sorry, dear, but I didn't quite catch that."

Me: (sighs) "It's called 'Poison' by Christian Dior."

I look over at her, and she just has this look on her face.

Me: "Go ahead, laugh. I would be if I were you."

She did grin pretty widely, and there was a bit of a giggle when she told the doctor.

They Used Equipment That Definitely Wasn't Meant For Them

From Redditor u/ tdmmnnl :

As a 15 year old boy I was laying on that short table waiting for the doctor. I couldn’t figure out why that dumb table was so short and tried to figure out a way to make it longer. Well, I realized at the end of the table there were these fancy leg extensions. So I pulled them out and waited. The doctor came in and started laughing hysterically and asked me what kind of exam I wanted? I didn’t realize what I had done until 20 years later I went to the doctor with my wife. Kind of a delayed embarrassment!

I probably should include the part as to the look I had on my face 20 years later when it all came to me and I figured out what actually happened! I am sure my wife was puzzled as to why I was laughing so hard while she was having her check-up done!

They Wanted To Look Like A Pirate And Ended Up In Urgent Care

From Redditor u/ Polaris2acrux :

When I was about 13 , I got one of my little sister's stick on earrings stuck in my ear. I had been watching a documentary about pirates and decided I wanted to look like one and have an earring on one ear. Somehow it ended up inside my ear canal rather than on my earlobe. And in trying to get it out, I pushed it in deeper to the point that no one could get it out.

We had to go to urgent care. I was embarrassed to tell my parents, let alone a doctor, how and why it happened as I was old enough to know that it was a pretty ridiculous story: "I wanted to look like a pirate and I pushed this tiny metal sticker deep in my ear because I was watching TV at the same time as trying to put the sticker on"

They Burped In The Doctor's Face

From Redditor u/ Nintendevotion :

I burped in the doctor's face during a strep test. I felt so bad lol

Their Extreme Pain Was Just Constipation

From Redditor u/ DAM5150 :

Went to the ER for stomach pains, worried about appendix, spleen, gall bladder, etc.

I was constipated.

My brother still tells the joke that the one time I went to the doctor I was full of sh*t.

They Chewed A Tylenol And Threw Up Everywhere

From Redditor u/ Freikorp :

I was pretty young, had never swallowed a pill before, my only experience with anything pill like was Flinstone vitamins. I was in there with my mom and was given a Tylenol and a cup of water, and I guess no one imagined I had never taken a pill before, so I immediately popped it in my mouth and vigorously chewed, and then immediately threw up from the bitter taste. My reaction was surprise and confusion.

The doctor was just like "You just swallow them... with the water..." like I was dumb.

They Were Worried About Sores But Just Needed A New Toothbrush

From Redditor u/ throwra92927261 :

I had sores on my tongue and thought I might have an STD. Went to my doctor super worried. Turns out my new toothbrush was more firm than I was used to and I had brushed my tongue so hard with it that I caused damage. I got a prescription for a softer toothbrush.

They Thought Something Was Seriously Wrong But It Was Just Allergies

From Redditor u/ Quietcatslikemusic :

I easily get eye infections so the first sign of something being wrong, I usually take note. At this time, my parents had just moved to a new home and invited me to come spend some time there and help them unpack and so on.

My eyes were super sensitive and I was basically in a state of crying, there were tears running down my face with no effort from me what so ever. After a day or so. I told my dad, hey something strange is happening and my eyes won't stop leaking tears. So he recommended that I go to the eye doctor just in case there is a major problem.

I literally was wiping my face every 30 seconds, I had never experienced anything like that and it was so consistent. I was convince that it was a cry for help, my eyes were warning me something was wrong.

Anyways the doctor hears what I have to say, he looks at my eyes and just goes....you have allergies.

Awkward & Cringey
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A Visit to the Cinema (short story)

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A Visit to the Cinema was a Brief Encounter short story published in Doctor Who Magazine 190 . It depicted Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. as fictional elements within the Doctor Who universe .

2 Characters
3 Worldbuilding
4.1 Parody or straight?
5 Continuity
6 External links

Summary [ ]

The Third Doctor has a bit of free time on his hands, which is rare for him, and so goes to the cinema to watch a double-bill of a particular couple of movies starring Peter Cushing .

Characters [ ]

Third Doctor

Worldbuilding [ ]

The Doctor refers to Peter Cushing as "that splendid chap Van Helsing ".
The text refers to several things in the 1960s Dalek films: a " young chap sitting on those chocolates ", the titles of the second film being orange, actors wearing "bizarre eye make-up", and a "highly amusing scene with a food machine ".
The narration suggests that the Doctor is in the early days of his third incarnation: it is said that "his afternoons off were few and far between" and that his other option was to enjoy a bag of chips with Sergeant Benton .

Parody or straight? [ ]

While the films are never specified by name, the story suggests that the events of the 1960s Dalek films are fictional parts of the DWU : the Doctor is entertained by a memorable moment for Roy Castle 's character in Dr. Who and the Daleks . Later, two elderly ladies sitting next to the Doctor — who have disapproved of his outbursts of amusement — exclaim that they wish the Doctor would develop the manners of "that lovely Mr Cushing ". Likewise, The Doctor compares the "bizarre eye make-up" worn in the film to that employed by Jo Grant , making light of the make-up used on the Thals in Dr. Who and the Daleks to make them appear more alien than their televised counterparts.

However, the reader is also given scope to imagine it's parody when the Doctor says, "How wonderful to have seen that particular planet in colour at last." The Doctor can't be referring to Skaro here, because obviously he would have seen it in colour, even if TV viewers did not, although by some accounts he may have been colour blind at the time of his earliest visits. Yet, if it's not Skaro he's talking about, then he's not watching Dr. Who and the Daleks . Thus, this can be read as a meta-fictional comment, which takes the piece closer to parody. This is all only as far as the authorial intent at the time could be considered; however, long after the short story's release, Steven Moffat 's novelisation The Day of the Doctor revealed that the Doctor's first and second incarnations were colour blind, giving a perfectly good in-universe reason for the Doctor not to have seen Skaro in colour by the early days of his third incarnation. The Day of the Doctor also suggests that the films exist as fiction within the Doctor Who universe, revealing that the Eleventh Doctor was such a fan of the films that he went back in time to make friends with Peter Cushing, even lending him the waistcoat he wore in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

Continuity [ ]

The UNIT Black Archive contained VHS cassette copies of Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth . During the creation of the peace treaty between the humans and Zygons , the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor watched the films and then pitched a third to Peter Cushing on the phone. ( PROSE : The Day of the Doctor )
By another account, Dr. Who and his eight-year-old granddaughter Suzy were creations of the real Doctor to distract the Five O'Clock Shadow . ( PROSE : The Five O'Clock Shadow )
The Doctor could only see in monochrome until his third incarnation . ( PROSE : The Day of the Doctor )

External links [ ]

A Visit to the Cinema at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
1 Weeping Angel
2 The Toymaker
3 List of Doctor Who television stories

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Going To The Doctor Social Story

a short children's story titled "Going To The Doctor to prepare children for a visit to the doctors office

This free “Going To The Doctor” social story will help you prepare your child for a visit to the doctor. A doctor visit is sometimes scary and increases anxiety for children with autism. This is because it is unfamiliar. Autistic children thrive on routine and consistency. Going to a new place, or somewhere they don’t go often is something different. It is so important to prepare them for this change. Social stories are a great way to help prepare your child! They give information about what is going to happen and can be read several times before the appointment. Bring the story with you to and review each step as you go through it.

Be sure to bring some favorite snacks and toys to help during times you have to wait. Waiting is so hard! Another idea for waiting is to bring a busy bag . A busy bag can be a small bag with a variety of small toys and objects in it. It should be novel, meaning that your child doesn’t play with it during a typical day. That way, it is exciting and captures their interest.

The Going To The Doctor social story can be combined with a portable visual schedule . A visual schedule can show a bigger overview of what is going to happen. For example, pictures of car, clinic, doctor, car, ice cream, home. Many times, seeing what is coming next can help the child get through the new event. You can also use a play doctor’s set to practice on each other and on stuffed animals at home.

Download the Free Going To The Doctor Story here .

If your child needs to get a vaccination during the visit, this social story about getting a shot will help. Remember that preparation is key! If you think social stories help your child, you can see a full list of the free Autism Little Learners stories here .

Be sure to grab your free Visual Supports Starter Set from Autism Little Learners!

a photo showing several visual supports for young children with autism

The Dentist — a short story for English reading

Michael hates going to the dentist.

And today is no different.

But he has some work to do on his teeth.

Today though, the dentist introduces a brand-new painkiller. It could be just the thing that Michael needs.

Check out my short story, The Dentist, which comes with a full and complete lesson plan that you can use in your English class today.

Take a look below… And tell me what you think.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Do you like to go to the dentist? Why/why not?

What do you dislike about going to the dentist?

What is a psychopath?

Could a dentist be a psychopath? What if he was?

The Dentist

Michael hated it.

He hated sitting in the chair and feeling helpless. The bright light above his head and the clean, hygienic walls that surrounded him.

It all made him feel incredibly uneasy.

“Michael, I can assure you, there is nothing to worry about,” said Mr Crane. He wore his dentist’s white coat and had perfect white teeth. He gazed back at Michael with a relaxed air. Like there was nothing to worry about.

It was all right for him. He wasn’t sitting in the chair. He was not about to have treatment for a new crown to be fitted.

Michael shifted his weight in the chair and grimaced.

“I’m sorry about last time,” he said. “It’s just a stupid fear I have.”

“Fear of going to the dentist?” asked Mr Crane. “Don’t worry about it. I get this all the time from patients.”

He leaned forward. “Some are a lot of trouble, I can assure you.”

He gave Michael an encouraging smile.

This did nothing for Michael’s nerves. He would rather be anywhere else than in this dentist’s chair. He could accept the pain in his tooth. That was much better than sitting here, while Mr Crane drilled into the offending tooth.

“Michael, I have something I want to show you,” said Mr Crane, going to a small tray to the side of the room. He turned and picked up a small glass vial. He raised it to show to Michael. It was filled with a clear liquid.

“This is a new anaesthetic on the market,” he went on. “It is brand new, and only my private students are allowed to have it. The company that makes it wants it to be very secret.”

Mr Crane sat on the stool next to Michael and looked down at him. “But this is an incredible formula. It is probably the best pain-killer on the market.”

The dentist continued to hold Michael’s gaze. “Would you like to try it?”

“I- I don’t want to be any trouble,” said Michael.

But his eyes were fixed on the small vial held between Mr Crane’s finger and thumb.

“It’s no trouble at all,” said Mr Crane. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Our little secret.”

The thought of being given something so powerful that he would not experience any pain at all sent a calm, soothing feeling through Michael’s nerves. He could feel himself relaxing as if he were already under the influence of the new painkiller.

“Are you sure?” asked Michael.

“No problem,” said Mr Crane.

Michael lay back in the chair while Mr Crane filled the syringe from the tiny bottle. He hummed a small tune as he did it and Michael recognised it as a popular song that was on the radio.

Through the window, he could make out normal life carrying on outside. He heard a bus drive by and the sound of a bell on a bicycle.

People’s voices and children laughing.

Everything was fine. There was nothing to worry about at all.

“Shall we?” said Mr Crane, and he raised the syringe in front of him.

Michael nodded. He would pass by all this pain and torture and not feel a thing. He was so happy. So relieved.

Mr Crane leaned forward. “You’ll just feel a little jab as the needle goes in. Then, nothing to worry about.”

Michael tensed as the needle entered his gum. Yes, very uncomfortable, and ice-cold, but in a few minutes nothing but deep relaxation.

“All done,” said Mr Crane. “I’ll be back in a few minutes and we can begin.”

Michael lay deeper into the chair and half-closed his eyes. The muscles of his arms, legs, his entire body felt relaxed. A warm soothing feeling washed over him and he felt as if all the worries and anxieties he had ever experienced left him for good.

His body was so relaxed that all he could do was breathe. He tried to lift the little finger of his right hand and it felt as if it moved a little but he couldn’t be sure. He forgot about it and allowed the dream-like quality of the anaesthetic to wash over him.

A little nagging thought tapped at his inner-most mind and he tried to move his little finger again.

It felt as if it moved but he could not feel it really move. It was like he imagined it moving only.

He went to move his head to the right to see his hand more clearly. He could not.

A small jab of tension cleared his mind a little, and he tried again. Nothing.

He could not move his head at all.

He took a deep breath of air into his lungs and automatically tried to lift both of his hands. But they stayed on the armrests of the chair like they were glued there.

No resistance. No feeling.

He simply could not move his arms or head at all.

He kicked out, and neither foot moved.

Michael sucked in a chest full of air and went to call out to Mr Crane. No sound came.

He could not move. And he had lost the power to make any sound.

He was paralysed. Stuck to the chair, but wide awake.

A shadow appeared beside him.

“We should be about ready by now,” said Mr Crane.

His voice sounded like an echo and far away.

And where was the nurse? The dental assistant?

There was usually a young woman helping. It was just him and Mr Crane. Why was he alone with him?

The dentist’s face loomed up in front of Michael.

“Shall we see if this new drug has taken effect yet?” he asked.

He had a bright, shiny scalpel in his hand.

Michael tried to scream but no sound came. He just lay in the chair unable to move.

Mr Crane opened Michael’s mouth and jabbed the scalpel against his tongue. A dagger of pain soared through Michael’s mouth and into his brain.

Inside his head, he let out a scream.

“ Let’s get to work then,” said Mr Crane, closing the blind of the window.

Reading Comprehension Questions

Where is Michael?

How does he feel being there?

What specific aspects of the dentist’s office make Michael uneasy?

Describe Mr Crane’s demeanour as a dentist.

What is Michael’s concern regarding his dental treatment?

What does Mr Crane think about Michael’s feelings? What expression does he use to try to calm him?

Is this Michael’s first visit to see Mr Crane?

Where does Michael want to be instead?

What does Mr Crane show Michael?

Does Mr Crane want Michael to try the new anaesthetic?

What kind of patients usually use this anaesthetic?

Why does Michael agree to try the new anaesthetic?

What can Michael hear outside the window?

How does Michael feel immediately after Mr Crane gives him the injection?

What effect does the anaesthetic have on Michael’s body and mind?

What part of his body does Michael try to move?

What does he try to move next?

Describe Michael’s initial reaction when he realizes he can’t move.

Why does Michael become increasingly panicked?

How does Michael attempt to communicate his distress?

What was Michael’s first clue that something might be wrong with Mr Crane’s intentions?

Is there a nurse to help the dentist?

What actions does Mr Crane take after Michael’s paralysis becomes apparent?

What realization dawns upon Michael about the situation?

What does Mr Crane have in his hand?

What does he do with this object?

What is Michael’s reaction?

How does Mr Crane react to Michael’s initial attempts to move and call out?

What does Mr Crane do next after realizing the drug has taken effect?

What does Mr Crane do next?

Why does Mr Crane close the blind of the window?

True or False

Go over all the sentences below and say if they are true or false.

The correct answers can be found at the end of the lesson plan.

Michael is at the dentist.

Michael loves going to the dentist.

Michael feels comfortable and at ease while sitting in the dentist’s chair.

Mr Crane wears a white coat and has perfect white teeth.

Michael’s fear of going to the dentist is uncommon and rarely experienced by other patients.

Mr Crane doesn’t know Michael.

Michael needs a new filling for his tooth.

Mr Crane shows Michael a little vial.

Mr Crane introduces a new tooth cleaner to Michael.

Michael doesn’t want to try this new medicine.

It is during the daytime at the dentist’s.

Mr Crane lets Michael use the syringe on himself.

Michael feels relaxed and relieved of all worries and anxieties.

Michael can move his head and little finger after the painkiller is administered.

Michael cannot speak.

The nurse helps Mr Crane.

Mr Crane taps Michael’s gum with his finger.

Mr Crane closes the blind of the window to let more light into the room.

Michael becomes increasingly panicked and tries to scream for help.

Mr Crane expresses concern and tries to assist Michael when he realizes something is wrong.

Michael is able to call out to Mr Crane for help when he is paralysed.

Essential Vocabulary

Write down all the words and phrases in your vocabulary notebook. Look in your dictionary and find the meaning of each word. Write the definition next to each word.

Then make up your own sentences using each word or phrase.

For example:

Relaxed air — a calm and easygoing atmosphere or demeanour, promoting comfort and informality.

Scream — a noun and verb that refers to a loud and high-pitched vocal expression of intense emotion, often conveying fear, excitement, or distress.

Then write a sentence of your own that uses the new word or phrase correctly.

I entered the room of the party and was glad to see that the place had a very relaxed air.

The woman let out a scream when the man outside banged on the door.

Do this with all the vocabulary and, over time, this will help improve all your English skills — reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Discussion Questions

Have you ever had a similar experience at the dentist, where you felt nervous or uneasy? Can you share your story?

What is Michael’s feeling about going to the dentist?

Why does he feel like this?

Put yourself in Michael’s shoes. How would you feel and react if you were in his situation?

Describe the dentist, Mr Crane, and his attitude towards Michael. Does he seem like a nice person?

Has Michael been to visit Mr Crane before? What happened last time, do you think?

Is Mr Crane used to people being afraid? How do you know?

Mr Crane shows Michael a new anaesthetic. What is really in this little vial, do you think?

What do you think is the significance of the new anaesthetic being described as a “secret formula”?

Why do you think Michael decides to try the new anaesthetic despite his fear?

Why is there no nurse to help the dentist today?

Is Mr Crane a psychopath?

Or is Michael imagining it all?

Discuss the idea of trust in the story. Why does Michael initially trust Mr Crane, and how does this trust change over time?

Imagine you are one of the characters in the story — either Michael or Mr Crane. How would you describe your thoughts and feelings during the crucial moments?

What emotions and thoughts might have gone through Michael’s mind when he realized he couldn’t move or make a sound?

Why do you think Mr Crane chose to close the blind of the window before proceeding with his actions?

What do you think about this story?

Do you think it is realistic? Why/why not?

Do psychopaths live within our normal society? What do they do? What kind of jobs do they have?

This is a role play exercise.

This role has two characters:

2. Mr Crane

Take all the existing dialogue and use this as a basis for your role play.

You can add your own lines of dialogue if you wish, and you can change all the dialogue if you really want to, but in the end, you should have a complete role play to show the class.

Take some time to prepare and when you are ready, perform your role play in front of the class.

This is a survey activity.

Look at the questions below and ask these questions in class.

Try to evaluate the responses and talk about the outcomes.

For example; most people feel comfortable going to the dentist. Or; some people hate seeing the dentist.

How frequently do you visit the dentist for regular check-ups and cleanings?

What is the main reason you typically schedule a dental appointment? (e.g., routine check-up, specific dental issue, cleaning)

How do you feel about visiting the dentist? (Very comfortable, somewhat comfortable, neutral, somewhat uncomfortable, very uncomfortable)

Have you ever experienced dental anxiety or fear before a dental appointment?

If yes, can you briefly describe what aspects of visiting the dentist make you anxious or fearful?

What strategies, if any, do you use to cope with dental anxiety or fear? (e.g., deep breathing, listening to music)

How important is the demeanour and communication style of the dentist and dental staff to make you feel comfortable during your visit?

Are there specific amenities or features in a dental office that help alleviate your anxiety or make you feel more comfortable? (e.g., soothing music, comfortable waiting area)

How well-informed do you feel about the procedures and treatments your dentist recommends?

Have you ever postponed or cancelled a dental appointment due to anxiety or fear?

If yes, what could have been done differently to encourage you to keep the appointment?

How likely are you to ask questions or voice your concerns to your dentist during a visit?

Have you ever sought professional help, such as therapy or counselling, to address dental anxiety or fear?

Do you find that the overall environment and decor of the dental office influence your comfort level?

How would you rate your overall dental experience in terms of comfort and anxiety level? (Very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, very negative)

Are there specific dental procedures that cause you more anxiety than others? If so, please specify.

How important are online reviews and recommendations when choosing a new dentist?

Have you ever had a particularly positive or calming experience at the dentist? If yes, could you describe it briefly?

What suggestions do you have for dental offices to create a more comfortable and anxiety-free environment for their patients?

Overall, how satisfied are you with your current dentist and the care you receive?

Quiz — Are You a Psychopath?

This is just for fun! Or maybe not… Answer all the questions and find out if you or any of your classmates are psychopaths!

1. Do you never feel fear?

2. Do other people like you a lot?

3. Do you like to act spontaneously?

4. Do you lose interest in people and new interests quickly?

5. Do you think the idea of falling in love is silly?

6. Are you good at charming others?

7. Do you think money is the most important thing in the world?

8. Do you sometimes pretend to be nice to people, even though you don’t want to?

9. Do you think you are better than others?

10. Do you have the ability to be very polite when needed?

11. Do you find other people to be a little stupid sometimes?

12. Do you get bored easily?

13. Do you get jealous of other people sometimes?

14. Do you tell many lies?

15. Do you sometimes spend money on foolish things?

16. Have you ever cheated your family or friends?

17. Do you feel indifferent when people are sad?

18. If you get caught doing something wrong, do you feel no sense of shame or guilt?

19. Are you good at manipulating and/or exploiting others to get what you want?

20. Do you think you are an aggressive person?

21. Do you have few friends in your life?

22. Do you like to take risks?

23. Do you laugh at inappropriate moments?

24. If you answer ‘Yes’ to most of the questions, then you could be a psychopath!

Now discuss in the class.

Which people answered yes to most of the questions?

Do these people seem like psychopaths to you?

This is a creative writing exercise.

You are going to write a short story. It is a continuation of the story you read at the beginning of the lesson plan. The title of the story is:

The Dentist From Hell

Use the questions below to help you come up with some ideas.

Does Mr Crane try to kill Michael?
Is the pain all inside Michael’s head? If so, why?
What does Mr Crane do when he finds that Michael cannot move or speak?
Does someone come to help Michael?

Now write your story.

When you have finished writing, you can read it out loud in front of the class.

Or hand it to your teacher for review.

You can download the full lesson plan by clicking the link below!

You can also join my mailing list by clicking the link below. I will send you new guides, articles and lesson plans when I publish them.

Gold – a Short Story for English Reading Comprehension

The Trick – a short story for English reading comprehension

The Egg – a short story for English reading comprehension

2 thoughts on “the dentist — a short story for english reading”.

I think this is a great story and an excellent topic for discussion. Going to a dentist is an inevitable experience we must all undergo and not too many people are thrilled about it! It is also en excellent opportunity to discuss fear and pain. I particularly liked the extension activities in this lesson as they opened new doorways and opportunities for additional related lessons.

Many thanks Leona, I am glad to hear your thoughts on this lesson. I am hoping to write more of these short story lesson plans in the future as I think they could be useful for students and make learning English fun.

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While the bulk of the funds are reserved for Ukraine, a total of $26.38bn (£21.2bn) would be provided to support Israel and reimburse US military operations in response to recent attacks.

How that breaks down:

About $5.2bn will go toward replenishing and expanding Israel's missile and rocket defence system, with $3.5bn going towards purchasing advanced weapons systems.

Another $1bn would enhance weapons production and $4.4bn would boost other supplies and services provided to Israel.

The bill would also give $9.1bn for humanitarian needs.

Gaza's need for aid

It would prohibit funds to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides support to Palestinian refugees.

Yesterday, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Israel's commitments to improve aid access in Gaza have had limited and sometimes no impact.

"To avert imminent famine, and further preventable deaths from disease, we need a quantum leap in humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza," he said.

Nine people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Gaza, according to hospital authorities, including six children.

According to Gaza's civil defence, the strike hit a residential building late yesterday in a western suburb in the city of Rafah, where Israel has repeatedly said it will target remaining Hamas militants.

Abu Yousef al Najjar Hospital's records show the bodies of the six children, two women and a man were taken there.

Relatives cried and hugged the bodies of the children, wrapped in white shrouds, at the hospital.

Among those killed were Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah and their three children, his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum said.

Mr Barhoum also lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and their 5-year-old daughter, Alaa.

"This is a world devoid of all human values and morals," Mr Barhoum told The Associated Press on Saturday morning, crying as he held Alaa's body in his arms.

"They bombed a house full of displaced people, women and children. There were no martyrs but women and children."

No casualties have been reported from a second alleged overnight strike in the city.

Rafah, which lies on the border with Egypt, currently hosts more than half of Gaza's total population of about 2.3 million people, the vast majority of whom were displaced by fighting further north.

Despite calls for restraint, including from staunch ally the US, Israel has insisted for months it intends to push on into the city, where it says many Hamas militants are located.

We reported last night London's Met Police apologised twice after an officer was recorded preventing a Jewish man from crossing a road by a pro-Palestinian march because he is "openly Jewish".

Video showed the police officer telling him: "You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march, I'm not accusing you of anything but I'm worried about the reaction to your presence."

The officer also warned he could arrest Gideon Falter, who is the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism and was wearing a kippah skull cap.

The home secretary, James Cleverly, has now written to the Met and Mayor of London regarding the incident last Saturday.

While the contents of the letter remain private, a Home Office spokesperson said: "We welcome the Met Police's apology, and recognise the complexities of policing fast-moving public protests, but simply being Jewish - or of any other race or religion - should never be seen as provocative.

"Anyone of any religion should be free to go about their lives and feel safe doing so."

Hamas has condemned what it described as a strike on Kalsu military base in Iraq.

"We consider it an assault and violation of Iraq's sovereignty and security," the militants said in a statement.

"We also hold the administration of US President Biden responsible for the escalation in the region."

One member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces was killed in the blast, which the pro-Iran group says was the result of an attack.

Security sources had earlier told Reuters news agency an air strike caused the explosion.

Hamas said the incident is an "embodiment" of Israel's "barbarism".

"We renew our affirmation that the region will not witness stability or peace except by ending the Zionist occupation of our occupied Palestinian and Arab lands," the statement adds.

There is no confirmation of Israeli involvement.

Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces has said the explosion at its Kalsu base was the result of an attack.

It's not yet clear who the group may believe was behind the alleged attack, but the US has already denied any role in the incident.

In a statement, the PMF said its chief of staff Abdul Aziz al Mohammedawi had visited the location and "reviewed the details of the investigative committees present in the place that was attacked".

The Iraqi military said a technical committee is looking into the cause of the explosion, which it said happened at 1am on Saturday (10pm on Friday UK time).

The military said there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.

The PMF includes Iran-backed groups which, operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have attacked US troops in the region and targeted Israel since the eruption of the Gaza war.

Details remain unclear around the explosion at the Iraqi military base, which houses a group sponsored by Iran.

The blast at the Kalsu base, which killed one member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, is under investigation.

Speaking from Tel Aviv, Sky's international correspondent Alex Rossi noted it is "interesting" the US has already denied any responsibility.

The blast comes one day on from an attack on Iran - widely believed to be from Israel.

"I think what it really speaks to is the fact that although the direct confrontation that we've seen in this phase between Iran and Israel may be over, there are still significant tensions in the region," Rossi said.

"In terms of that direct confrontation, I think the indications we're getting from both sides is that they don't want this to escalate anymore and that's reflected in the language that they are using."

There are still "significant flashpoints", he added, with daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the ongoing offensive in Gaza.

But it is unclear if the incident in Iraq is related to a so-called shadow war between Iran and Israel.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reports 34,049 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since 7 October, with 76,901 wounded.

The new figures come as the health ministry claims 37 Palestinians have been killed and 68 injured in the past 24 hours.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its reports, but says most of those killed are women and children.

The Israel Defence Forces has said it "attacked targets" overnight in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza.

In a post on X, the IDF claims it initiated the attack after a "launch" crossed from Beit Hanoun towards the city of Sderot in southern Israel.

That attack, it says, was intercepted.

Over the past day, the IDF says its air force has attacked "dozens" of targets, including "armed terrorists, military infrastructures and military buildings".

One member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces has been killed and eight wounded during the overnight explosion at its Kalsu base, according to a military statement.

As we reported earlier (see 7.32am post), the cause of the blast at the facility is still unconfirmed, although sources have claimed it came from an unknown airstrike.

The military says there were no drones or fighter jets detected in the air space around the area before or during the blast.

A committee has been formed to investigate what happened.

In a world-first interview, a senior Hezbollah figure has told us violence will not stop until the war in Gaza ends.

Ibrahim Moussawi, a Hezbollah spokesperson, also warned Israel "will see results" if they continue provoking Iran.

And he said the responsibility for ending the war lies with the West.

"In order to reach an agreement, they have to stop the aggressor," he said.

"They have to stop Netanyahu and this bunch of idiots who are in the occupied Palestine to stop their genocidal war."

Hezbollah warns against provoking Iran

He added they do not want to see a "comprehensive confrontation" but "if it is imposed, they see and we will see the kind of results that will unfold".

He also played down the strikes against Iran yesterday, claiming he has "never heard of such a thing" and he had "heard it in the news".

"My understanding is that the Israelis, up till now, they want to save their face," he said.

For the full story, read the article below...

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At UN, Indigenous leaders fight for application of rights

"it does continuously feel like that you are trying to prove that you are worthy of life.".

A raised fist of a person wearing a blue and silver bracelet in front of a crowd in front of the white house

This story is published as part of the Global Indigenous Affairs Desk , an Indigenous-led collaboration between Grist, High Country News, ICT, Mongabay, Native News Online, and APTN.

Sometimes when a storm hits and the waves are high in the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Great Lakes Michigan and Huron, Whitney Gravelle wonders if she’ll get a call: Maybe there will be a breach, and oil from the Line 5 pipeline under the strait will spill into her homelands. Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, has been working to decommission Line 5, run by Enbridge, for years. The pipeline was built in the strait in 1953, without consultation with Bay Mills or other tribes. In 2010, a nearby pipeline also overseen by Enbridge spilled 1 million gallons of oil into Michigan waters.

“I have routine nightmares about Line 5,” Gravelle said. “I think it’s because we are so involved in the issue — we work on it every single day.”

In 2023, Gravelle brought the issue of Line 5 in front of the U.N. Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, the largest annual gathering of Indigenous peoples in the world . In response, the U.N. recommended that the U.S. and Canada decommission the pipeline because of its “real and credible threat” to Indigenous rights. That has not yet happened . This week Gravelle was at UNPFII again to bring attention to Line 5.

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Gravelle was also there to speak on a panel about how the United States has — or hasn’t — applied the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Also known as UNDRIP , the declaration is the international standard for Indigenous rights. While legally non-binding, UNDRIP encompasses the rights of Indigenous peoples to maintain lifeways, language, sovereignty, and political autonomy, free from assimilation and colonizing forces.

The discussion — put on by the Implementation Project , a partnership between the Native American Rights Fund and University of Colorado Law School — included U.S. officials like Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, also a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community, and others from the Department of Commerce and Agency for International Development. There, Newland highlighted the Biden administration’s recent policies to increase inclusion of tribal nations’ priorities and perspectives.

U.S. history with the declaration is rocky. When Indigenous leaders from across the globe first introduced it in 2007 the U.S. voted against it, saying that it “should have been written in terms that are transparent and capable of implementation.” Three years later, under the Obama administration, the U.S. became the last country to adopt UNDRIP, acknowledging it as a “ moral and political force .” But today, there is still a “vast implementation gap,” said former U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya at the forum Tuesday.

A man in a black shirt crosses his arms while talking to a group of other people. One person in a blue shirt gestures beyond the scene to the surrounding wilderness

The declaration is an articulation of basic human rights to things like life, religion and self determination in an Indigenous context, said Kristen Carpenter, a law professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and past appointee to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples , which helps governments implement UNDRIP. “United States law and policy often still fall short of those basic human rights. It’s easy to get lost sometimes in the nuts and bolts and the very difficult work of policy,” Carpenter said at the discussion Monday. “But this work could not be more important, in my perspective, because of the issues that are on the table.”

In the U.S., concerns range from land protection to cultural continuity to reckoning with America’s past policies of genocide. A critical part of the declaration is that governments should get Indigenous nations’ informed consent on projects and policies that could impact them. And while UNDRIP considers such consent to be the bare minimum, many countries, including the U.S., interpret it as the highest standard, and have failed to enact it.

Free, prior, and informed consent could give tribes and Indigenous communities more control over decisions that currently rest solely with the federal government, like Line 5 or the massive copper mine proposed at Oak Flat that is opposed by the San Carlos Apache Tribe .

Consultation with tribes has been federal policy — in name, if not in practice — since 2000, but has been widely interpreted by agencies and officials. Even though the U.S. hasn’t adopted consent as the basis for its relationships with Indigenous nations, it has begun to incorporate it into specific policies, Newland said at the forum discussion on Monday.

Last December, for example, the department revised its regulations implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, first passed in 1990, which determines how burial sites, sacred objects, and human remains are handled and returned to tribal nations. The revision uses consent language directly from the declaration, and includes the requirement that federally funded museums, agencies, and universities receive the free, prior, and informed consent of descendants or tribes before exhibition, research, or access to human remains or sacred objects. The change has already been impactful, if narrow, and some museums have taken action to avoid violating the law.

Newland also said the department has instituted a new model to find consensus with tribes when an activity impacts tribal health, jurisdiction, sacred sites and rights. The policy applies to everything from mining to green energy development.

In addition to improvements in consultation policies, Newland cited the Department of Interior’s report on the history of boarding schools in the U.S. as one way the department is upholding article 8 of the declaration, which deals with forced assimilation. The department is also in the process of consulting with tribal nations on a 10-year national plan for Indigenous language revitalization.

While acknowledging the Interior Department is the “shining star” of tribal consultation in the U.S., Gravelle said that’s just not the case with other agencies the tribe has to engage with, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The result is an uneven dynamic across the government. “We touch so many different federal agencies,” Gravelle said. “They all have to honor those obligations that were made with our tribal nations, and yet we continue to see that failure over and over again.”

There is also the shifting ground of policy changes from one administration to the next. The changes at the Department of Interior are positive, but can be undone — or go unused — by a new administration. “It does continuously feel like that you are trying to prove that you are worthy of life, and that you are worthy of having a home, and that you are worthy of being able to raise your children with your cultural values on the lands that your ancestors lived,” Gravelle said of the struggle to be heard by federal governments.

That domestic discord, Gravelle said, “has prevented the United States from emerging as a leader, especially in the international field, when it comes to international Indigenous rights.”

This story has been updated.

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Your guide to the 2024 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Global indigenous affairs desk, at un conference, indigenous peoples say little has changed after promises made a decade ago, un puts spotlight on attacks against indigenous land defenders, iplc: the acronym that is keeping indigenous advocates up at night, new report slams carbon offset project in cambodia for violating indigenous rights, the epa is cracking down on pfas — but not in fertilizer, taking big oil to court for ‘climate homicide’ isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds, pediatricians say climate conversations should be part of any doctor’s visit, staggering quantities of energy transition metals are winding up in the garbage bin, modal gallery.

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Parents of Michigan School Shooter Sentenced to 10 to 15 Years in Prison

Jennifer and James Crumbley, whose son killed four people, each faced up to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter convictions.

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Jennifer Crumbley in a striped shirt sits not far from her husband James, in orange prison gear.

By Jacey Fortin and Anna Betts

Jennifer and James Crumbley, who were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent their teenage son from killing four fellow students in the deadliest school shooting in Michigan’s history, were each sentenced on Tuesday to 10 to 15 years in prison.

Their separate jury trials ended in guilty verdicts in February and March , making them the first parents in the country to be convicted over the deaths caused by their child in a mass shooting.

Involuntary manslaughter charges carry a penalty in Michigan of up to 15 years in prison, and prosecutors asked in sentencing memos filed to the court last week that the Crumbleys each serve at least 10 years. Both have been in jail for more than two years while awaiting trial and will receive credit for time served.

“Parents are not expected to be psychic,” Judge Cheryl Matthews of the Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Mich., said before issuing the sentence. “But these convictions are not about poor parenting. These convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train — repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up.”

Before the hearing, prosecutors said that Ms. Crumbley, 46, was asking to be sentenced to house arrest on her defense lawyer’s property, rather than serving prison time. And Mr. Crumbley, 47, said that he had been wrongly convicted and his sentence should amount to the time he had already served in prison, adding that he felt “absolutely horrible” about what had happened.

On Tuesday, each of them spoke in the hearing before the judge pronounced sentence.

“I stand today not to ask for your forgiveness, as I know it may be beyond reach, but to express my sincerest apologies for the pain that has been caused,” Ms. Crumbley said in court, addressing the relatives of students who were killed.

Mr. Crumbley also apologized. “I cannot express how much I wish that I had known what was going on with him or what was going to happen, because I absolutely would have done a lot of things differently,” he said.

Relatives of some of the victims also spoke during the hearing, describing the overwhelming effects the shooting had on their lives.

“The ripple effects of both James’s and Jennifer’s failures to act have devastated us all,” said Jill Soave, the mother of Justin Shilling, 17, who was killed in the shooting at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. “This tragedy was completely preventable. If only they had done something, your honor, anything, to shift the course events on Nov. 30, then our four angels would be here today.”

Steve St. Juliana, whose daughter, Hana, 14, was killed, said that the Crumbleys continued to fail to take responsibility for what had happened.

“They chose to stay quiet,” he said. “They chose to ignore the warning signs. And now, as we’ve heard through all of the objections, they continue to choose to blame everyone but themselves.”

The Crumbleys’ son, Ethan, was 15 when he carried out the shooting that killed Justin and Hana, as well as Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Tate Myre, 16. Seven others were injured. Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder, and was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole . He is still eligible to appeal that decision. His parents may appeal, too.

In the trials of both parents, prosecutors focused in part on their failure to remove their son from school after he made a violent drawing on the morning of the shooting. It included a written plea for help.

They also emphasized Ethan’s access to a handgun that Mr. Crumbley had purchased. And they said that Ms. Crumbley had missed signs that her son was struggling with his mental health, adding that she took him to a gun range just days before the shooting.

Defense lawyers for both parents said they could not have foreseen the unspeakable violence their son would commit.

Ms. Crumbley grew up in Clarkston, a Detroit suburb about 20 minutes from Oxford, her lawyer said during a hearing after the couple’s arrest in 2021 . Before her arrest, she had worked as a marketing director, her lawyer said.

Mr. Crumbley’s job history included work at a handful of small software and technology companies.

The couple once lived in Florida but returned to Michigan several years ago, their lawyers said. They bought their home near downtown Oxford in 2015.

The trials of Jennifer and James Crumbley became a lightning rod for issues of parental responsibility at a time of high-profile gun violence by minors. In recent months, parents in other states have pleaded guilty to charges of reckless conduct or neglect after their children injured or killed others with guns.

But the manslaughter charges against the Crumbleys were unique, and legal experts said their trials could serve as a playbook for other prosecutors who seek to hold parents accountable in the future.

Ekow Yankah, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said the effect of the ruling on Tuesday might be felt beyond the state.

“This is going to be precedent, most obviously in Michigan and its home jurisdiction, but prosecutors all over the country will see this as a new and viable form of liability,” Mr. Yankah said. “I think we should not underestimate the precedential power of this case, even as we recognize that the facts were quite extraordinary.”

For Matthew Schneider, a former United States attorney in Michigan, what makes this case so different from many others is that most criminal sentences are related to the actions of a defendant, rather than being “about inactions, and how the inactions of a person result in a criminal sentence.”

The sentencing is “very much about making an example of the defendants,” Mr. Schneider said. “This is a shot across the bow to all parents, to all people who have firearms in their house, to keep them locked up, if they could be in the hands of the wrong people.”

Jacey Fortin covers a wide range of subjects for the National desk of The Times, including extreme weather, court cases and state politics all across the country. More about Jacey Fortin

Anna Betts reports on national events, including politics, education, and natural or man-made disasters, among other things. More about Anna Betts

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What the data says about abortion in the U.S.

Pew Research Center has conducted many surveys about abortion over the years, providing a lens into Americans’ views on whether the procedure should be legal, among a host of other questions.

In a Center survey conducted nearly a year after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion , 62% of U.S. adults said the practice should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Another survey conducted a few months before the decision showed that relatively few Americans take an absolutist view on the issue .

Find answers to common questions about abortion in America, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, which have tracked these patterns for several decades:

How many abortions are there in the U.S. each year?

How has the number of abortions in the u.s. changed over time, what is the abortion rate among women in the u.s. how has it changed over time, what are the most common types of abortion, how many abortion providers are there in the u.s., and how has that number changed, what percentage of abortions are for women who live in a different state from the abortion provider, what are the demographics of women who have had abortions, when during pregnancy do most abortions occur, how often are there medical complications from abortion.

This compilation of data on abortion in the United States draws mainly from two sources: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, both of which have regularly compiled national abortion data for approximately half a century, and which collect their data in different ways.

The CDC data that is highlighted in this post comes from the agency’s “abortion surveillance” reports, which have been published annually since 1974 (and which have included data from 1969). Its figures from 1973 through 1996 include data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and New York City – 52 “reporting areas” in all. Since 1997, the CDC’s totals have lacked data from some states (most notably California) for the years that those states did not report data to the agency. The four reporting areas that did not submit data to the CDC in 2021 – California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey – accounted for approximately 25% of all legal induced abortions in the U.S. in 2020, according to Guttmacher’s data. Most states, though, do have data in the reports, and the figures for the vast majority of them came from each state’s central health agency, while for some states, the figures came from hospitals and other medical facilities.

Discussion of CDC abortion data involving women’s state of residence, marital status, race, ethnicity, age, abortion history and the number of previous live births excludes the low share of abortions where that information was not supplied. Read the methodology for the CDC’s latest abortion surveillance report , which includes data from 2021, for more details. Previous reports can be found at stacks.cdc.gov by entering “abortion surveillance” into the search box.

For the numbers of deaths caused by induced abortions in 1963 and 1965, this analysis looks at reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. In computing those figures, we excluded abortions listed in the report under the categories “spontaneous or unspecified” or as “other.” (“Spontaneous abortion” is another way of referring to miscarriages.)

Guttmacher data in this post comes from national surveys of abortion providers that Guttmacher has conducted 19 times since 1973. Guttmacher compiles its figures after contacting every known provider of abortions – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, and it provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond to its inquiries. (In 2020, the last year for which it has released data on the number of abortions in the U.S., it used estimates for 12% of abortions.) For most of the 2000s, Guttmacher has conducted these national surveys every three years, each time getting abortion data for the prior two years. For each interim year, Guttmacher has calculated estimates based on trends from its own figures and from other data.

The latest full summary of Guttmacher data came in the institute’s report titled “Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States, 2020.” It includes figures for 2020 and 2019 and estimates for 2018. The report includes a methods section.

In addition, this post uses data from StatPearls, an online health care resource, on complications from abortion.

An exact answer is hard to come by. The CDC and the Guttmacher Institute have each tried to measure this for around half a century, but they use different methods and publish different figures.

The last year for which the CDC reported a yearly national total for abortions is 2021. It found there were 625,978 abortions in the District of Columbia and the 46 states with available data that year, up from 597,355 in those states and D.C. in 2020. The corresponding figure for 2019 was 607,720.

The last year for which Guttmacher reported a yearly national total was 2020. It said there were 930,160 abortions that year in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, compared with 916,460 in 2019.

How the CDC gets its data: It compiles figures that are voluntarily reported by states’ central health agencies, including separate figures for New York City and the District of Columbia. Its latest totals do not include figures from California, Maryland, New Hampshire or New Jersey, which did not report data to the CDC. ( Read the methodology from the latest CDC report .)
How Guttmacher gets its data: It compiles its figures after contacting every known abortion provider – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, then provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond. Guttmacher’s figures are higher than the CDC’s in part because they include data (and in some instances, estimates) from all 50 states. ( Read the institute’s latest full report and methodology .)

While the Guttmacher Institute supports abortion rights, its empirical data on abortions in the U.S. has been widely cited by groups and publications across the political spectrum, including by a number of those that disagree with its positions .

These estimates from Guttmacher and the CDC are results of multiyear efforts to collect data on abortion across the U.S. Last year, Guttmacher also began publishing less precise estimates every few months , based on a much smaller sample of providers.

The figures reported by these organizations include only legal induced abortions conducted by clinics, hospitals or physicians’ offices, or those that make use of abortion pills dispensed from certified facilities such as clinics or physicians’ offices. They do not account for the use of abortion pills that were obtained outside of clinical settings .

(Back to top)

A line chart showing the changing number of legal abortions in the U.S. since the 1970s.

The annual number of U.S. abortions rose for years after Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973, reaching its highest levels around the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. Since then, abortions have generally decreased at what a CDC analysis called “a slow yet steady pace.”

Guttmacher says the number of abortions occurring in the U.S. in 2020 was 40% lower than it was in 1991. According to the CDC, the number was 36% lower in 2021 than in 1991, looking just at the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported both of those years.

(The corresponding line graph shows the long-term trend in the number of legal abortions reported by both organizations. To allow for consistent comparisons over time, the CDC figures in the chart have been adjusted to ensure that the same states are counted from one year to the next. Using that approach, the CDC figure for 2021 is 622,108 legal abortions.)

There have been occasional breaks in this long-term pattern of decline – during the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, and then again in the late 2010s. The CDC reported modest 1% and 2% increases in abortions in 2018 and 2019, and then, after a 2% decrease in 2020, a 5% increase in 2021. Guttmacher reported an 8% increase over the three-year period from 2017 to 2020.

As noted above, these figures do not include abortions that use pills obtained outside of clinical settings.

Guttmacher says that in 2020 there were 14.4 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. Its data shows that the rate of abortions among women has generally been declining in the U.S. since 1981, when it reported there were 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in that age range.

The CDC says that in 2021, there were 11.6 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. (That figure excludes data from California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.) Like Guttmacher’s data, the CDC’s figures also suggest a general decline in the abortion rate over time. In 1980, when the CDC reported on all 50 states and D.C., it said there were 25 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.

That said, both Guttmacher and the CDC say there were slight increases in the rate of abortions during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Guttmacher says the abortion rate per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 rose from 13.5 in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020. The CDC says it rose from 11.2 per 1,000 in 2017 to 11.4 in 2019, before falling back to 11.1 in 2020 and then rising again to 11.6 in 2021. (The CDC’s figures for those years exclude data from California, D.C., Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.)

The CDC broadly divides abortions into two categories: surgical abortions and medication abortions, which involve pills. Since the Food and Drug Administration first approved abortion pills in 2000, their use has increased over time as a share of abortions nationally, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. now involve pills, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. The CDC says 56% of U.S. abortions in 2021 involved pills, up from 53% in 2020 and 44% in 2019. Its figures for 2021 include the District of Columbia and 44 states that provided this data; its figures for 2020 include D.C. and 44 states (though not all of the same states as in 2021), and its figures for 2019 include D.C. and 45 states.

Guttmacher, which measures this every three years, says 53% of U.S. abortions involved pills in 2020, up from 39% in 2017.

Two pills commonly used together for medication abortions are mifepristone, which, taken first, blocks hormones that support a pregnancy, and misoprostol, which then causes the uterus to empty. According to the FDA, medication abortions are safe until 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Surgical abortions conducted during the first trimester of pregnancy typically use a suction process, while the relatively few surgical abortions that occur during the second trimester of a pregnancy typically use a process called dilation and evacuation, according to the UCLA School of Medicine.

In 2020, there were 1,603 facilities in the U.S. that provided abortions, according to Guttmacher . This included 807 clinics, 530 hospitals and 266 physicians’ offices.

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing the total number of abortion providers down since 1982.

While clinics make up half of the facilities that provide abortions, they are the sites where the vast majority (96%) of abortions are administered, either through procedures or the distribution of pills, according to Guttmacher’s 2020 data. (This includes 54% of abortions that are administered at specialized abortion clinics and 43% at nonspecialized clinics.) Hospitals made up 33% of the facilities that provided abortions in 2020 but accounted for only 3% of abortions that year, while just 1% of abortions were conducted by physicians’ offices.

Looking just at clinics – that is, the total number of specialized abortion clinics and nonspecialized clinics in the U.S. – Guttmacher found the total virtually unchanged between 2017 (808 clinics) and 2020 (807 clinics). However, there were regional differences. In the Midwest, the number of clinics that provide abortions increased by 11% during those years, and in the West by 6%. The number of clinics decreased during those years by 9% in the Northeast and 3% in the South.

The total number of abortion providers has declined dramatically since the 1980s. In 1982, according to Guttmacher, there were 2,908 facilities providing abortions in the U.S., including 789 clinics, 1,405 hospitals and 714 physicians’ offices.

The CDC does not track the number of abortion providers.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that provided abortion and residency information to the CDC in 2021, 10.9% of all abortions were performed on women known to live outside the state where the abortion occurred – slightly higher than the percentage in 2020 (9.7%). That year, D.C. and 46 states (though not the same ones as in 2021) reported abortion and residency data. (The total number of abortions used in these calculations included figures for women with both known and unknown residential status.)

The share of reported abortions performed on women outside their state of residence was much higher before the 1973 Roe decision that stopped states from banning abortion. In 1972, 41% of all abortions in D.C. and the 20 states that provided this information to the CDC that year were performed on women outside their state of residence. In 1973, the corresponding figure was 21% in the District of Columbia and the 41 states that provided this information, and in 1974 it was 11% in D.C. and the 43 states that provided data.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported age data to the CDC in 2021, the majority of women who had abortions (57%) were in their 20s, while about three-in-ten (31%) were in their 30s. Teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for 8% of those who had abortions, while women ages 40 to 44 accounted for about 4%.

The vast majority of women who had abortions in 2021 were unmarried (87%), while married women accounted for 13%, according to the CDC , which had data on this from 37 states.

A pie chart showing that, in 2021, majority of abortions were for women who had never had one before.

In the District of Columbia, New York City (but not the rest of New York) and the 31 states that reported racial and ethnic data on abortion to the CDC , 42% of all women who had abortions in 2021 were non-Hispanic Black, while 30% were non-Hispanic White, 22% were Hispanic and 6% were of other races.

Looking at abortion rates among those ages 15 to 44, there were 28.6 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic Black women in 2021; 12.3 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women; 6.4 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic White women; and 9.2 abortions per 1,000 women of other races, the CDC reported from those same 31 states, D.C. and New York City.

For 57% of U.S. women who had induced abortions in 2021, it was the first time they had ever had one, according to the CDC. For nearly a quarter (24%), it was their second abortion. For 11% of women who had an abortion that year, it was their third, and for 8% it was their fourth or more. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

A bar chart showing that most U.S. abortions in 2021 were for women who had previously given birth.

Nearly four-in-ten women who had abortions in 2021 (39%) had no previous live births at the time they had an abortion, according to the CDC . Almost a quarter (24%) of women who had abortions in 2021 had one previous live birth, 20% had two previous live births, 10% had three, and 7% had four or more previous live births. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

The vast majority of abortions occur during the first trimester of a pregnancy. In 2021, 93% of abortions occurred during the first trimester – that is, at or before 13 weeks of gestation, according to the CDC . An additional 6% occurred between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy, and about 1% were performed at 21 weeks or more of gestation. These CDC figures include data from 40 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

About 2% of all abortions in the U.S. involve some type of complication for the woman , according to an article in StatPearls, an online health care resource. “Most complications are considered minor such as pain, bleeding, infection and post-anesthesia complications,” according to the article.

The CDC calculates case-fatality rates for women from induced abortions – that is, how many women die from abortion-related complications, for every 100,000 legal abortions that occur in the U.S . The rate was lowest during the most recent period examined by the agency (2013 to 2020), when there were 0.45 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. The case-fatality rate reported by the CDC was highest during the first period examined by the agency (1973 to 1977), when it was 2.09 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. During the five-year periods in between, the figure ranged from 0.52 (from 1993 to 1997) to 0.78 (from 1978 to 1982).

The CDC calculates death rates by five-year and seven-year periods because of year-to-year fluctuation in the numbers and due to the relatively low number of women who die from legal induced abortions.

In 2020, the last year for which the CDC has information , six women in the U.S. died due to complications from induced abortions. Four women died in this way in 2019, two in 2018, and three in 2017. (These deaths all followed legal abortions.) Since 1990, the annual number of deaths among women due to legal induced abortion has ranged from two to 12.

The annual number of reported deaths from induced abortions (legal and illegal) tended to be higher in the 1980s, when it ranged from nine to 16, and from 1972 to 1979, when it ranged from 13 to 63. One driver of the decline was the drop in deaths from illegal abortions. There were 39 deaths from illegal abortions in 1972, the last full year before Roe v. Wade. The total fell to 19 in 1973 and to single digits or zero every year after that. (The number of deaths from legal abortions has also declined since then, though with some slight variation over time.)

The number of deaths from induced abortions was considerably higher in the 1960s than afterward. For instance, there were 119 deaths from induced abortions in 1963 and 99 in 1965 , according to reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC is a division of Health and Human Services.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published May 27, 2022, and first updated June 24, 2022.

Support for legal abortion is widespread in many countries, especially in Europe

Nearly a year after roe’s demise, americans’ views of abortion access increasingly vary by where they live, by more than two-to-one, americans say medication abortion should be legal in their state, most latinos say democrats care about them and work hard for their vote, far fewer say so of gop, positive views of supreme court decline sharply following abortion ruling, most popular.

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Potential First-Round Edge-Setter Will Visit Packers

Western Michigan star Marshawn Kneeland is one of the more physical edge defenders in the 2024 NFL Draft class. It is a short- and long-term need for the Packers.

Author: Bill Huber

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have short- and long-term needs at defensive end. Some of the edge-rusher prospects fit better than others.

One of the best fits in the 2024 NFL Draft class is Western Michigan’s Marshawn Kneeland, a potential first-round pick who is scheduled to have a predraft visit with the team.

Who Is Marshawn Kneeland?

Kneeland was a two-star recruit who slowly earned a role. After redshirting in 2019, he started three games during the COVID-impacted 2020 season, four games in 2021, seven of nine appearances in 2022 and, after briefly joining Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes via the transfer portal, nine of 10 games in 2023.

The production has never been great. He had 4.5 sacks and eight tackles for losses in 2021, 1.5 sacks and 10 tackles for losses in 2022 and 4.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for losses and career highs of 57 tackles and two forced fumbles in 2023, when he was second-team all-MAC.

However, Kneeland is a dirty-work player. With length, power and effort, he is one of the top edge-setters in the draft class.

“I would definitely say that I play with a high motor,” he told The Draft Network before the Senior Bowl . “I’m always trying to find my way to the ball. I’m very heavy-handed. I love hitting other players (laughs). I’m explosive with a good get-off.”

Not that he can’t rush the passer. Of the 120 FBS edge defenders in this draft class with at least 200 pass-rushing opportunities, Kneeland ranked 19th in PFF’s pass-rush win rate.

To be sure, Kneeland beat up on lesser competition. That’s why the Senior Bowl and Scouting Combine were big deals.

“The Senior Bowl allowed me to show people that I can hang with the best in the country,” he said after pro day . “But at the Combine, people got to see how athletic, how good I am in individual drills and how much bend I have, as well.”

Injuries could be a bit of a concern; he missed time with a calf injury in 2022 and elbow injury in 2023.

How Would Marshawn Kneeland Fit With Packers?

Edge defenders come in all shapes and sizes. With Rashan Gary, Preston Smith and Lukas Van Ness atop the depth chart, the Packers have an obvious “type.” At 6-foot-3 and 267 pounds with 34 1/2-inch arms, Kneeland fits.

He’s not exceedingly fast – a rather ho-hum 4.75 in the 40 – but he put up big-time numbers in the other tests. Highlighted by a linebacker-like 4.19 in the 20-yard shuttle and a cornerback-like 35 1/2-inch vertical, his Relative Athletic Score was 9.08 .

With Kingsley Enagbare sustaining a torn ACL in the playoff win at Dallas, the Packers will start the season short-handed on the edge. Smith, meanwhile, is the oldest player on the roster and it’d be smart to plan ahead.

Beyond those short- and long-term needs, there is this need: Under coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers are last in the NFL in yards allowed per carry. Kneeland would help solve that longtime weakness.

What Is Marshawn Kneeland’s Round Projection?

Kneeland hasn’t generated a lot of buzz – no doubt his school and stats were the reason – but he is considered a fringe first-round pick. For The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, he’s on the first- and second-round dividing line. For NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, he’s No. 46 overall.

“Kneeland isn’t a special athlete, but he reminds me of a Baltimore Ravens-type player. He’s tough, physical and plays with max effort,” Jeremiah said at the end of his scouting report .

If he’s on the board at No. 25, the Packers might be tempted. He could also be available in a small trade-back in which the team acquires additional draft capital.

“I made money today, that’s what they (coaches) like to say,” Kneeland said following Western’s pro day. “They all told me I looked really great out there and that I did an excellent job. It was just fun to be able to go out there and see my guys all work. Everything that I was hearing was that it went great.”

Marshawn Kneeland at Pittsburgh

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

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Why Did My Period Come Early? 8 Potential Causes, According To Doctors

Plus, when to see a physician.

preview for Everything to Know About Your Menstrual Cycle

Everyone’s cycle looks different, so there could be a number of reasons behind why your period came early. A typical menstrual cycle is thought to last exactly 28 days—however, it can actually land anywhere between 21 and 35 days, says to Rachel High, DO, a urogynecologist at the Center for Restorative Pelvic Medicine at Houston Methodist. “This means a normal cycle can vary by up to a few weeks and still be within standard variance," she says. "All menstruating people will experience occasional early periods during their lifetime." Whew!

Although early periods are common, you probably still have questions. Here are the most common reasons behind the unusual (and unwelcome) timing, according to experts.

Meet the expert: Rachel High, DO , is a urogynecologist at the Center for Restorative Pelvic Medicine at Houston Methodist. Keri Peterson, MD , is a physician and Women's Health advisory board member based in New York.

1. You might be pregnant.

This may come as a surprise, but it’s common to experience bleeding or spotting during pregnancy , particularly during the first trimester, according to Cleveland Clinic. You may see a few drops of blood in your underwear that are actually not menstrual blood at all.

Take a pregnancy test and make an appointment to see your provider and confirm the result if you think there's a possibility of pregnancy.

2. You have an abnormal endometrium.

Early bleeding could be indicative of polyps, or growths, on the uterus or cervix, according to Dr. High. While they can often be benign, they can also be cancerous, so definitely talk to your provider if you regularly experience irregular menstrual bleeding or bleeding between periods. It can also be a sign of inflammation or infection, which your doctor can help to treat or rule out as well.

3. You have cervical abnormalities.

You typically hear about Pap tests being used to rule out cervical abnormalities, but abnormal bleeding can also be a sign of dysplasia (the growth of abnormal and potentially cancerous cells on the cervix), cancerous cysts, or infection. Many providers don’t perform Pap tests yearly for every patient due to current guidelines that recommend doing them every three to five years. However, don't be afraid to speak up about abnormal bleeding when you see your doctor.

4. You could have uterine fibroids.

Uterine fibroids are noncancerous tumors that can grow inside the uterus, per Cleveland Clinic . While the word “noncancerous” may help you breathe more easily, uterine fibroids can actually cause pretty uncomfortable and heavy periods . They can also cause back pain, painful periods , the need to pee all the time, and pain during sex , so definitely talk to your doctor if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms.

Treatment can include pain medications, birth control , or iron supplements to help control bleeding and/or shrink the fibroids. Surgery to remove them may be recommended depending on the severity.

5. You’re experiencing hormonal fluctuations.

Vaginal bleeding can be a sign of various underlying conditions, including hormonal imbalances, per the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although hormone imbalances can be tricky to diagnose, seeing your healthcare provider for a full examination and lab tests can help you figure out the root cause. You may also notice early bleeding due to hormonal fluctuations as you start transitioning into menopause (which typically happens between ages 45 and 55).

6. Stress is impacting your cycle.

“ Stress can increase cortisol levels, which are thought to impact reproductive hormones that may disrupt your normal cycle,” says Keri Peterson, MD, a physician and Women’s Health advisory board member based in New York.

To return to somewhat of a regular schedule, Dr. Peterson suggests trying to identify if your stress is stemming from fatigue , insomnia, and/or anxiety. “Making lifestyle changes such as exercising regularly, getting more sleep, and meditating can get your cycle back on track.” Even keeping a menstrual diary or journal can help regulate your period.

7. You’re taking certain medications, supplements, or vitamins.

Certain medications, such as aspirin, vitamins, or supplements can cause anticoagulation, or thin your blood, according to Dr. High. You should always talk to your doctor before adding any medications, vitamins, or supplements to your daily regimen. And a special note for people on the birth control pill : Dr. Peterson acknowledged that missing just one pill is enough to disrupt your cycle. So, if you skipped a pill in your pack, don’t be surprised if your period takes a month or so to continue as expected.

8. You have thyroid or pituitary gland issues.

Irregular periods can be a sign of hypothyroidism and other endocrine disorders that affect the pituitary gland, such as Cushing's syndrome , which occurs when your body produces too much cortisol. If you’re experiencing other symptoms of hypothyroidism in addition to an early period, such as tiredness, weight gain and muscle weakness, definitely talk to your doctor and get a blood test to find out whether this could be the culprit.

When To See A Doctor

While period pain has sadly become societally normalized, Dr. Peterson says if the discomfort is accompanied by an early period, you don’t want to take it lightly. “If you are experiencing severe abdominal cramps or you are bleeding heavier or longer than usual, this may be a sign of something more serious and you should consult with your doctor,” Dr. Peterson says.

On another note, because a true early period is the onset of menstrual bleeding less than 21 days following the first day of your previous period, you should see your gyno if you’ve been diagnosed with either metrorrhagia (long periods) or polymenorrhea (frequent periods), says Dr. High. “Treatment varies based on the problem, but it most likely will require evaluation by exam and possibly an ultrasound,” she adds.

If your period comes early just a few times per year, you might not have anything to worry about, Dr. Peterson says. “Track your period for three to four months to see if it persists. If over time, you notice your period is constantly early, this could be a sign of an underlying health problem. In this case, you should schedule an urgent visit with your doctor,” Dr. Peterson says.

Emilia Benton is a Houston-based freelance writer and editor. In addition to Runner's World, she has contributed health, fitness and wellness content to Women's Health, SELF, Prevention, Healthline, and the Houston Chronicle, among other publications. She is also an 11-time marathoner, a USATF Level 1-certified running coach, and an avid traveler.

Meguire Hennes is a freelance lifestyle journalist specializing in fashion news, celebrity style, dating, and wellness (her Libra moon won’t let her settle on one beat). She received a B.A. in fashion studies from Montclair State University, and her words can be found in Bustle, The Zoe Report, Elite Daily, Byrdie, and more. When she’s not debunking a new TikTok wellness trend or praising Zendaya’s latest red carpet look, you can find her in yoga class, reading a cutesy romance novel, or playing Scrabble with her puppy in her lap.

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PDF Intermediate Short Stories
Intermediate Short Stories - "A Visit to the Doctor". Directions: First read the basic version of the story below. Next, read the advanced version of the same story. Then, try to answer the questions about the story. Basic Version. Samantha was coughing and feeling very tired. She was sick. She wanted her mother to take her to the doctor ...
Story 3: "A Visit To The Doctor" by Alyssa Liang
This is one of the 4 stories about children being sick in Unit 11 of TigerCub English. This story is called "A Visit To The Doctor," written by Alyssa Liang....
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by T.S. Arthur. A Visit with the Doctor is just plain good medicine: "Let your mind become interested in some good work, and your hands obey your thoughts, and you will be a healthy woman, in body and soul. Your disease is mental inaction." Herbert Mulford, Sketch of the family doctor, 1956.
PDF Dahl Visit to Doctor
Dahl_Visit_to_Doctor. A Visit to the Doctor. From Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl. I have only one unpleasant memory of the summer holidays in Norway. We were in the grandparents' house in Oslo and my mother said to me, "We are going to the doctor this afternoon. He wants to look at your nose and mouth.". I think I was eight at the ...
A Visit To The Doctor, short story by Sal
Number 1. Yesterday, I went to the doctor because I felt a sharp pain. "Park" exclaimed the doctor as she looked at my stomach. She said my eye ball had become expired and she'd never seen anything like it.Slowly, she took me to the nearest operating room where a fast nurse waited. "This won't hurt," she said harshly, holding a large india in ...
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by Anton Chekhov. THE Professor received a telegram from the Lyalikovs' factory; he was asked to come as quickly as possible. The daughter of some Madame Lyalikov, apparently the owner of the factory, was ill, and that was all that one could make out of the long, incoherent telegram. And the Professor did not go himself, but sent instead his ...
"A Visit with the Doctor" by T.S. Arthur
Mrs. Carleton left the carriage, and crossing the pavement, entered one of the houses, and passed up with the doctor to the second story. To his light tap at a chamber door a woman's voice said,- "Come in." The door was pushed open, and the doctor and Mrs. Carleton went in.
Lesson 02: A visit to the Doctor
Readings - Level 2. Lesson 01: Dogs and Parks. Lesson 02: A visit to the Doctor. Lesson 03: Saint Patrick's Day. Lesson 04: Women and Shoes. Lesson 05: Spring. Lesson 06: Books are Source of Knowledge. Lesson 07: Sally's Children. Lesson 08: A visit to the Dentist.
Intermediate short story with questions-A Visit to the Doctor ...
Directions: First read the basic version of the story below. Next, read the advanced version of the same story. Then, try to answer the questions about the story. Also the passage included the vocabulary questions. Vocabulary: To find word definitions: First, find the word in the advanced version of the story.
Intermediate short story with questions-A Visit to the Doctor ...
Directions: First read the basic version of the story below. Next, read the advanced version of the same story. Then, try to answer the questions about the story. Also the passage included the vocabulary questions. Vocabulary: To find word definitions: First, find the word in the advanced version of the story.
A Summary and Analysis of Franz Kafka's 'A Country Doctor'
This short story, which Kafka wrote during the winter of 1916-17, tells of a country doctor who makes a visit to a nearby village to tend to a sick boy, but the doctor's account of his experiences is full of bizarre and unlikely details - details which make us question the doctor's sanity. You can read 'A Country Doctor' here before ...
Learning Empathy through Chekhov
As a part of the Medical Humanities conference held at the Cleveland Clinic on April 9 th, 2016, we were asked to perform a dramatic reading of an adapted short story by Anton Chekhov entitled, "A Doctor's Visit.". The piece, thoughtfully developed by Guy Glass, MD, MFA, takes place in a factory town outside of Moscow in the 1890s.
Short Story : A Visit to the Doctor
A Visit to the Doctor. By Meera Nair. The doctor sighed as he passed the nurse his prescription through a little window that was built for that purpose. It was five in the evening. He had lost count of the number of patients he had seen that day - it was the flu season and he had spent the day copying out the same prescription over and over ...
The Doctor
The doctor got up and walked several times up and down the drawing-room, then went to the weeping woman, and lightly touched her arm. Judging from his uncertain movements, from the expression of his gloomy face, which looked dark in the dusk of the evening, he wanted to say something. "Listen, Olga," he began.
A Visit To The Doctor, Short Story
A Visit To The Doctor Michelle Fragomeni, Grade 7 Short Story 2008 Bring! Bring! I herd the phone ring on that bright Sunday morning. I was 4 and it was the summer 1999. When my mum picked up the phone, I left the room.
29 Good Kids' Books About Doctor Visits
Lots of tabs to pull and flaps to lift as little ones explore all of the interesting things that happen at a doctor visit. This is a reassuring story packed with useful tips for parents and caregivers preparing a child for an impending appointment. Leo Gets a Checkup. A short, sweet read for toddlers getting ready for their yearly check up ...
A Country Doctor Summary
Plot Summary. "A Country Doctor" is a short story by Franz Kafka written in 1917. It was first published in the German writer's collection of short stories by the same name. In the story, a country doctor makes an emergency visit to a sick patient on a winter night. The doctor endures a series of absurd, surreal predicaments that ...
Medical Classics: The Doctor Stories
In addition, he was a prolific prose writer, and The Doctor Stories, a compilation of short stories and autobiographical essays written between 1932 and 1962, is a compelling testament to his originality and skill, both as writer and doctor. His subject is his patients and, to a lesser extent, his colleagues and domestic life.
People Share Their Most Embarrassing Doctor visits To Prepare ...
Please Don't Ever Treat Yo' Self. 15 People Share Their Most Embarrassing Doctor Visits To Prepare You For the Worst. Estefania. February 17, 2022. Voting Rules. Vote up the doctor stories you don't want to repeat. Doctor's appointments can end up being pretty awkward.
A Visit to the Cinema (short story)
A Visit to the Cinema was a Brief Encounter short story published in Doctor Who Magazine 190. It depicted Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. as fictional elements within the Doctor Who universe. The Third Doctor has a bit of free time on his hands, which is rare for him, and so goes to the cinema to watch a double-bill of a particular couple of movies starring Peter ...
A Visit to the Doctor (Short Class)
A Visit to the Doctor (Short Class) Found a mistake? This is a dialogue presentation that focuses on fun and versatile expressions and language that students can use both at the doctor and in life. Role plays based on the dialogues can be silly and fun, and practicing making appointments is part of the lesson.
Going To The Doctor Social Story
Blog · Social Stories. This free "Going To The Doctor" social story will help you prepare your child for a visit to the doctor. A doctor visit is sometimes scary and increases anxiety for children with autism. This is because it is unfamiliar. Autistic children thrive on routine and consistency. Going to a new place, or somewhere they don ...
The Dentist
The Dentist. Michael hated it. He hated sitting in the chair and feeling helpless. The bright light above his head and the clean, hygienic walls that surrounded him. It all made him feel incredibly uneasy. "Michael, I can assure you, there is nothing to worry about," said Mr Crane.
All Things Considered for April 17, 2024 : NPR
Hall of Fame college coach Dawn Staley Reflects on the state of women's basketball. by Jason Fuller, Sarah Handel, Mary Louise Kelly. less than 1 min. Audio will be available later today.
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This story is published as part of the Global ... during a 2013 visit to Indigenous communities affected by industrial contamination. ... "United States law and policy often still fall short of ...
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April 9, 2024. Jennifer and James Crumbley, who were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent their teenage son from killing four fellow students in the deadliest school ...
What the data says about abortion in the U.S.
The CDC says that in 2021, there were 11.6 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. (That figure excludes data from California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.) Like Guttmacher's data, the CDC's figures also suggest a general decline in the abortion rate over time.
Potential First-Round Edge-Setter Will Visit Packers
Edge defenders come in all shapes and sizes. With Rashan Gary, Preston Smith and Lukas Van Ness atop the depth chart, the Packers have an obvious "type.". At 6-foot-3 and 267 pounds with 34 1/ ...
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2. You have an abnormal endometrium. Early bleeding could be indicative of polyps, or growths, on the uterus or cervix, according to Dr. High. While they can often be benign, they can also be ...

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Medical Classics

15 People Share Their Most Embarrassing Doctor Visits To Prepare You For the Worst

They Didn't Realize Their Swimsuit Was Causing Their Symptoms

They Wore The Wrong Underwear To Their Pelvic Exam

They Had The Worst Valentine's Day Ever With Their Doctor

They Thought Air Freshener Was Ear Freshener

Their Gynecologist Asked A Very Awkward Question

Their ENT Doctor Made An Embarrassing Comment About Their Ear Infection

They Had To Explain That They Broke Their Wrist Playing Video games

Their New Perfume Made The Doctor Laugh

They Used Equipment That Definitely Wasn't Meant For Them

They Wanted To Look Like A Pirate And Ended Up In Urgent Care

They Burped In The Doctor's Face

Their Extreme Pain Was Just Constipation

They Chewed A Tylenol And Threw Up Everywhere

They Were Worried About Sores But Just Needed A New Toothbrush

They Thought Something Was Seriously Wrong But It Was Just Allergies

A Visit to the Cinema (short story)

Summary [ ]

Characters [ ]

Worldbuilding [ ]

Parody or straight? [ ]

Continuity [ ]

External links [ ]

Going To The Doctor Social Story

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The Dentist — a short story for English reading

Introduction

The Dentist

Reading Comprehension Questions

True or False

Essential Vocabulary

Discussion Questions

Quiz — Are You a Psychopath?

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