Fine line black tattoo of a stethoscope whose tubing forms a heart, on the inner upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Stethoscope with heart tubing on an upper arm

Fine line · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A single continuous line drawing of a stethoscope, with its tubing looping into a heart shape at one end and the chest piece at the other. The linework is thin and even, in solid black ink with no shading, set against pale skin. The design runs diagonally across the inner upper arm and sits against a plain white background.

Fine line Upper arm Heart

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Maeve,

Keep reading

Mrs Okonedo on Bay Four asked me last night whether the heartbeat in my ear was mine or hers. I told her it was both, that we were sharing the tube for the length of her shift. She laughed until the monitor chirped and I had to take the earpieces out to listen to her properly. Her chest sounded like a kettle thinking about boiling, but steady, and steady is the word I write on the chart when I want the consultant to stop fretting.

The stethoscope Dad bought me when I passed my exams is still the good one. The tubing has gone stiff near the bell, and I keep meaning to replace it, but every time I loop it round my neck I think of him at the kitchen table with the catalogue open, insisting the expensive one would outlast my shoes. He was right. It has listened to two hundred and some hearts now, most of them asleep, a few of them not, and it has never once let me down.

I'm writing because the ward is sending me to the community team in March and I don't know how to say goodbye to the night corridor, with its squeaking trolleys and the radiator that knocks like a visitor. Silly, I know. Tell Tom the stew recipe is in the blue tin, not the green one, and send me a photo of the kids' new kitten if he'll stay still long enough.

I'll ring on Sunday after my break. Keep the porch light on.

Love, Jo