Two gifts and a consolation prize

President Obama has a few good ideas. He wants Americans to discuss healthcare this holiday season. That’s actually a really good idea. This blog aims to do some good in the area of medicine and health. What follows are two incredibly important essays. The consolation prize is an excerpt from my recent Top Ten post. I chose this particular excerpt because in my view the most impactful cardiology study of 2013 involved two prominent themes of this blog–arrhythmia and the power of lifestyle choices. On over-treatment and the collective inability to give peace a chance: Dr. Rob Lamberts is a primary care doctor, accomplished writer and full-fledged master of the obvious. His November 20th essay, Gaia and Snake Oil, is an absolute gem. He hits upon the very essence of what’s wrong with the American culture of medicine. He calls it Medicine 101. I call it Medicine 101-through-404. (Staci first discovered this post on KevinMD.) On the risks of denying death as a natural part of life: I don’t know Dr. Craig Bowron, but that doesn’t diminish my admiration for his 2012 Washington Post essay, Our unrealistic attitudes about death, through a doctor’s eyes. I’ve tweeted that if I could change one thing about US healthcare, it would be to improve the care of the elderly and dying. End-of-life care is a great American tragedy. Neither the medical profession nor the general public has come to grips with death and dying. Now for the consolation prize. I ...
Source: Dr John M - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: blogs