Actual Reader Mail

We get letters. We get phone calls. We get e-mail. It is a rare week, indeed, when a reader doesn’t spontaneously pick up a phone, keyboard, tablet, cellular device, pen (ballpoint, roller ball, felt tip, fountain, etc), pencil (usually a No. 2), pad and paper, envelope and stamp and give us a written or verbal high five – and sometimes some kind (or scathing) criticism. It’s all good. In fact, one of our guiding principles here at Medical Examiner World Headquarters is this: praise is nice, but criticism is a lot more useful. Alas, we get more praise than criticism, but we’re not complaining. Thanks to everyone who writes or calls, especially those who offer a little constructive criticism – and even more so those who tell their tales of medical adventures for our Medicine in the First Person feature. Keep ’em coming! Among all the many kinds of letters we get, this might be closest to a typical letter:

Dear Medical Examiner:
I love your paper! It has changed my life! Since I began reading the Medical Examiner, my marriage has improved, I’ve received three raises and a promotion at work, my high blood pressure is a thing of the past, and the dangerous surgery my doctors said I needed to save my life has been cancelled. The doctors say it’s a miracle! I also have 487 new Facebook friends, my hair loss has stopped, a mole simply dropped off my face, and a complete stranger gave me a Porsche. I am a new person! Sounds crazy? I know, right? Well, as proof I’ve enclosed a picture of me the day before I saw my first Medical Examiner (on the left). That’s me on the right today.
THANK YOU MEDICAL EXAMINER! I OWE IT ALL TO YOU!

Me before the Medical Examiner (left), and today (right).