J.L. Lycette's Blog

For over twenty years, I’ve had a recurring nightmare: I’m back in medical training, and my patient is crashing. To save them, I must enter my medical orders into the Electronic Health Record (EHR). The only problem is, there are no open computers. I could give a verbal order in a real-life emergency, but those aren’t the rules in this nightmare world. I go from computer to computer, begging for someone to let me use theirs, but...

(Spoiler alert: contains spoilers for the movie Barbie)

In Barbie, a singular scene resonated powerfully with Women in Medicine across the land.

You know the one. Shortly after Ken and Barbie leave Barbie Land and arrive in the Real World, Ken ventures off, discovers The Patriarchy, waltzes into a hospital emergency room, and demands the first woman he sees to perform an appendectomy.

What are his qualifications? He doesn’t need any. He’...

It is literally impossible to be a woman in medicine. You can be at the top of your class in medical school and residency, and yet you will never think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be infallible, but somehow, we’re made to feel it’s never enough. Even when we become attendings.

As a woman in medicine, you have to be assertive but not too aggressive. And you c...

I had three main inspirations for my latest medical historical fiction book, THE COMMITTEE WILL KILL YOU NOW:

The committee consisted primarily of laypeople who secretly decided which people would receive the first kidney hemodialysis in the U.S.

Rationing of healthcare.

It’s one of those situations where the more you learn, the more you can’t believe it happened. That’s why we can never forget.

News...

I had three main inspirations for my latest book, THE COMMITTEE WILL KILL YOU NOW:

The committee consisted primarily of laypeople who secretly decided which people would receive the first kidney hemodialysis in the U.S.

Rationing of healthcare.

It’s one of those situations where the more you learn, the more you can’t believe it happened. That’s why we can never forget.

News of the committee broke to ...

I’m so excited to collaborate once again with Partners in Crime Tours to promote my latest book, THE COMMITTEE WILL KILL YOU NOW, via a virtual book tour!

Follow along for reviews, showcases, and the chance to win prizes, including a copy of my book, THE COMMITTEE WILL KILL YOU NOW!

Find out more on my book page

Learn more about THE COMMITTEE WILL KILL YOU NOW in this November 2023 feature in International Thriller Writers THE BIG THRILL

Thank you to CLOSLER for allowing me to contribute my essay of a “day in the life” reflection on rural oncology practice.

“With the broken healthcare system crumbling, rural outpatient pharmacies shutting down, and labs and urgent cares intermittently closed due to staffing shortages, it’s easy to feel that the dwindling resources mean even our best is too little up against too much.  

The reality is that sometimes we can’t move the boulder due to factors outside our control, but we can sit wi...

Oh wow! The International Thriller Writers’ publication, The Big Thrill, selected The Committee Will Kill You now as a recommended read of November 2023!

Recommended by Jonathan Davidson

“‘The hospital had a saying—you came to work unless you were dead.’

“Noah Meier is a first-year family-medicine intern in a Seattle hospital. It’s a cutthroat program where he quickly learns that there’s a second, unofficial ...

It’s here!!!

The newest book by JL Lycette; the prequel to The Algorithm Will See You Now:

The gripping new book from the author of  The Algorithm Will See You Now . Based on the true-life rationing of kidney dialysis in 1960s America, a medical intern in 1992 Seattle tries to leave his painful past behind, only to uncover a shocking truth of thirty years prior and the lasting, generational harm of hidden secrets…

After...

My alarm goes off at 3:30 AM for some early charting. I love these pre-work hours on my own unpaid time. I went into debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars to have the human physical need for sleep trained out of me. A neat side effect of this is that it also wiped the will to resist inane admin tasks from my brain.

While I’m pre-charting, my family wakes up. At least, I think they do. But I cannot look away from my screen. I love the Electronic Health Record (EHR) so much. I do not want t...