My stethoscope is broken.

The author provides information on the situations when he wore and used his stethoscope which has broken. Situations include his listening to the lungs of an eight-year-old boy who had wheezing cough, his picking up a bruit in a grandfather's neck and during withdrawal of care on a 29-year old mother with metastatic breast cancer. Other situations including learning of belly fluid sound and listening to a ninety-year-old patient's heart are highlighted.