The Peripatetic Physician

choi

Corey Kilgannon, The Peripatetic Physician. New York Times, May 4, 2014.

Quote:

“Dr Bernt Nesje, 67, says he has two guidelines for taking on patients: They must live in or around Greenwich Village, ‘and they have to be older than me.’  Dr Nesje is a geriatrics doctor who still makes house calls, walking to his patients’ apartments year-round, in all types of weather.

“Dr Nesje (pronounced NEH-sha), who lives on the East Side, starts his day by seeing some patients in his West 14th Street office. Then he grabs his medical bag: a backpack containing his stethoscope, blood pressure machine, prescription pad and blood test kit, as well as a book to read when farther-flung patients require bus or subway rides. e heads out to visit up to 10 patients a day, in sessions consisting mostly of “a checkup and some reassurance.” Many of his patients are aging artists, performers or writers, with even a retired circus elephant trainer among them.

flashback: “After medical school, Dr Nesje worked for several years tending residents of fishing villages by boat on coastal islands off northern Norway. After moving to New York in 1983 * * * He left that job [as medical director of Village Nursing Home in Manhattan] seven years ago. ‘I went back to my roots, so I could finish my career the way I started it,’ he said.

My comment:
(a) NY Times just selects this physician to profile. He is no celebrity.
(b) There is no need to read the rest.