Michael Halpin and Response

Hello, my name is Michael Halpin. I am 18 years old. I graduated from Highland High School last spring. I decided to attend the Ohio State University because of the academic opportunity that the university provides. I also wanted to feel the pride of being a Buckeye that you hear everybody talk about at Ohio State. After definitely deciding on Ohio State, I was still unsure weather to attend main campus in Columbus or the Marion Campus. I ended up choosing the Marion Campus, because I thought I would be too overwhelmed at the huge Columbus Campus. So far, I am glad that I made that decision.

"Semmelweis was a genius, but he was also a lunatic, and that made him a failed genius." This is my favorite passage from "On Washing Hands" by Atul Gawande  because I thought it was funny how the author first describes Semmelweis as a genius, and then calls him a failed genius since he is a lunatic. After reading this essay, what struck me the most was the fact that most doctors do not even wash their hands when they go from patient to patient. This definitely needs to change, because the doctors are spreading disease if they do not wash their hands. Also after reading this, I learned that there are many different ways to wash your hands other than just using soap. For example you can use some types of alcohols and it will kill the germs on your hands just as good as plain soap would. Also this way of washing your hands is a lot faster than using hand soap.