Author

Dr. Katrina Green

Dr. Katrina Green

Dr. Katrina Green is a board certified emergency physician who practices in Nashville and Lawrenceburg. Her degree in medicine is from Wayne State University and she completed a residency in emergency medicine at Indiana University. She lives in East Nashville with her husband and two cats.

COMMENTARY
The Covenant School, where seven people, including the shooter, died in a mass shooting in Nashville, Tenn. on Monday March 27, 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Another morning, another mass shooting: America needs firearm safety laws

By: - October 30, 2023

I woke Thursday  morning to headlines that have become all too familiar: another mass shooting in America, this one in Lewiston, Maine, as residents enjoyed a night bowling and playing cornhole. It’s become so common that many of us are jaded, desensitized, or numb. When many of us hear this news, we think “oh no, […]

COMMENTARY
Photo of a man tucking a handgun into his hip holster. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)

One doctor’s wish list for Tennessee’s special legislative session

By: - May 17, 2023

Mass shootings have become such a frequent occurrence in the U.S. that many of us have become numb to seeing news about them almost daily. But when one occurs in your town and affects people you know, it hits you differently.  The shooting  at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27 has affected both […]

COMMENTARY
COVID-19 deaths in Tennessee have surpassed 29,000 since the pandemic began. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

The state of healthcare in Tennessee: not good

By: - February 20, 2023

It is becoming increasingly hard to be a healthcare provider in Tennessee.  From the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence, the opioid epidemic, dismal maternal mortality rates, a mental health crisis, rural hospital closures and the failure to accept Medicaid expansion, there are so many ways Tennessee leaders have failed — and continue to fail — their […]

COMMENTARY
Room in the inn: Afghan-American residents of Nashville, photographed in 2021 during a rally to support the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the area. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The Christmas story as it would be in Tennessee

By: - December 19, 2022

Like many of you, I was brought up in a Christian household and so I know the story of Christmas well — a story of a Middle Eastern Jewish couple who had to travel before the times of AirBnB and, arriving at their destination, finding all the inns were full. It’s a good thing that […]

COMMENTARY
The Tennessee State Capitol with locked gates. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Neither Tennessee, nor 10-year-olds, are equipped for childhood pregnancies

By: - July 21, 2022

A case that made headlines across the U.S. recently has stuck with me.  By now, most people in America have heard about the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who had to travel across state lines to receive necessary healthcare in Indiana, the closest state where a legal abortion was available.  This case has affected me deeply. […]

COMMENTARY
Three women hold signs at a May 3 protest in Nashville over a leaked U.S. Supreme Court document indicating the court may roll back Roe v. Wade. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A post-Roe Tennessee threatens patients and hamstrings physicians

By: - June 23, 2022

The days of safe and legal abortion are limited in Tennessee.   Our state has a “trigger ban” on abortion, scheduled to go into effect when the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson becomes final and Roe v. Wade is overturned. When this happens, it means that emgergency physicians like me will no longer be […]

COMMENTARY
UVALDE, TEXAS - MAY 24: Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. According to reports, 19 students and 2 adults were killed, with the gunman fatally shot by law enforcement. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Commentary: Another week, another mass shooting in America

By: - June 1, 2022

Here we are yet again. Another week and another horrible mass shooting in America, this time at a Texas elementary school. I have always been a worrier. And because of school shootings, I worry about my friends who are teachers. I worry about my nieces and nephews. I worry about my friends who have school […]

COMMENTARY
Supporters of Planned Parenthood in the gallery of the Tennessee House of Representatives. (Photo: Ray Di Pietro))

Commentary: “Life Protection Act” will hurt Tennessee’s most vulnerable women

By: - March 17, 2022

This week, I attended the Tennessee House Health Subcommittee meeting and watched as legislators discussed and debated HB 2779 or “The Life Protection Act.” Many other women attending the meeting, worried about the ramifications of this bill, which seeks to outlaw all abortion in this state.  As an emergency physician, my job is to care […]

COMMENTARY
A group of doctors attempt to get Gov. Bill Lee's attention after an October 2022 press conference. The Tennessee Medical Association is urging physicians to attend hearings to support legislation to change the state's abortion laws.(Photo:John Partipilo)

Commentary: Lee’s ‘hope’ lacks leadership

By: - January 26, 2022

Almost two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic came to Tennessee, changing our lives forever. Time stood still when we locked down but since then it seems that time has flown. These past two years have been a roller coaster of emotions for us healthcare workers.  First, there was the fear that we would succumb to […]

COMMENTARY
Dr. Katrina Green of Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Commentary: Overcome by pandemic fatigue, a physician begs for masks

By: - September 21, 2021

As an emergency physician, I understand pandemic fatigue as much as anybody. I have worked hard since the beginning of the pandemic to treat sick patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov2), otherwise known as COVID-19. It has been a very long year and a half, the most emotionally draining time of my […]

COMMENTARY
Dr. Katrina Green of Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Commentary: I invited Gov. Lee to visit my hospital. He didn’t come.

By: - August 19, 2021

Hospitals in Tennessee are filling up to capacity.  We are seeing the effects of the erosion of our nursing workforce combined with the consequences of letting the Delta variant run rampant in our largely unvaccinated state.   Last weekend, I was working in a rural hospital, treating sick COVID-19 patients that needed to be in the […]

COMMENTARY
Dr. Katrina Green of Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Commentary: State leaders own responsibility for low vaccination rates

By: - July 26, 2021

Working in the hospital on the front lines of the pandemic caused by the SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) virus last winter was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do as a physician. We were experiencing a massive surge of sick COVID-19 positive patients in the emergency department, many of whom were so ill they required high […]