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Me, the Writer’s Manual?
Here is a link to my guest spot on You, The Owner’s Manual radio show, hosted by New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Roizen. It is a lively interview, worth listening to if for no other...
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The Way Physicians Break Bad News is Broken
Imagine picking up a telephone and hearing your doctor tell you there is a “999 out of 1,000 chance that you’ll be dead within a decade.” That’s what Leonard Mlodinow experienced in 1989, when his...
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New Review of Critical Decisions
The book Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together by Peter A. Ubel, MD effectively makes the case that good medical decisions require empowered patients,...
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What Homer Simpson Can Teach Oncologists About Math
Let’s warm up with a quick arithmetic problem, which I want you to do in your head. What is one thousand plus forty? Now add another thousand And thirty more Plus twenty Plus another thousand And...
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Deciding About Breast Cancer Chemotherapy
As if being diagnosed with breast cancer wasn’t bad enough, many women with this diagnosis face complicated decisions about what kind of medicine or chemotherapy to take, if any, to reduce their chance...
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The True Immoral Acts Behind The First “Test Tube Baby”
The first test tube baby was born July 25th, 1978 in the north of England. Louise Brown was called the “baby of the century” by some and a “moral abomination” by others. It wasn’t Brown who critics...
View ArticleBreast Cancer Hotline Reveals Widespread Communication Problem with Doctors
I got an email recently from someone who read Critical Decisions, and who said it resonated with her in part because of work she does with a breast cancer hot line. “I’ve been volunteering as a...
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Hear My Discussion with Joe and Terry Graedon on People’s Pharmacy
Here is a link to a podcast of my recent appearance on People’s Pharmacy, an NPR show that hopefully reaches you where you live. (If it doesn’t, you should ask your radio station to pick it up. It is...
View ArticleIs It Hazardous to Guess Your Risk of Cancer?
In this two-minute video, I explained why it can be hazardous to take a guess at what your lifetime risk is of experiencing cancer. I describe a study I conducted with, among others, Angie Fagerlin....
View ArticleAnother Review of Critical Decisions
Here’s a link to a review of Critical Decisions published in a journal called Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. The reviewer had some nice things to say, but felt it wasn’t theoretical enough for his...
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Review of Critical Decisions
“Revolutions are often fought over dichotomies—the king versus the people, the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat, and, of course, the autonomous patient versus the paternalistic doctor.” So observes...
View ArticleThe Limits of Patient Empowerment
The video below is not super high quality, but it captures a talk I gave in Lima Peru recently, a very personal talk that also reveals some of the dangers of assuming that medical decision making will...
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Does Larry Summers Have the Social Intelligence to Be Federal Reserve Chair?
I know, I know: I usually write about health and healthcare; why should anyone care about my opinion on whether Larry Summers should be Federal Reserve Chair? As it turns out, my work on doctor/patient...
View ArticleThe Critical Side Effect Doctors Aren’t Discussing: Out-of-Pocket Costs
In this video, I talk about why doctors should talk to patients about out-of-pocket costs when evaluating treatment options.
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Full Disclosure: Out-of-Pocket Costs As Treatment Side Effects
Here is a link to an article I co-authored in the New England Journal this week, with Yousuf Zafar and Amy Abernethy. In the article, we urge physicians to talk about out-of-pocket costs with...
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Doctors Urged to Talk About Costs of Treatment
Physicians need to broach discussions about out-of-pocket costs with patients the same way they discuss a treatment’s side effects, public policy professors wrote. “Admittedly, out-of-pocket costs are...
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Toxic Side Effect: High Out-of-Pocket Health Care Costs
When is the treatment worse than the disease? When the high costs associated with care become a financial burden for patients and in many cases prevent them from protecting their health, contends Peter...
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Can Comics Improve Medical Care?
Take a look at this wonderful video where a physician and a nurse explain how comic books, what they called “graphic medicine”, can improve medical care. You might also want to check out the website of...
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Doctor, First Tell Me What It Costs
If an antibiotic would cure your infection, your doctor would probably still warn you about the chance of sun sensitivity before prescribing the pill. But even when the costs of a medical intervention...
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Newsweek Tackles the Challenge of Money Talk
In response to the New England Journal article I published with Yousuf Zafar and Amy Abernethy, Newsweek chimed in this week with a report on the topic, including some thoughtful commentary from other...
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