Why Did the American Cancer Society Ignore Evidence About Early Detection Until Now?
For a century, the American Cancer Society has held up “early detection” of breast and other cancers as its mantra. Once, that made sense. But over the past few decades, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly apparent to researchers, physicians and other advocacy groups: Early detection may not save lives, and it can […]
Teaching Medical Students About Culture and Consent
If a medical researcher had the chance to make a crucial discovery in the fight against a serious disease, is it acceptable to mislead the subjects of her experiment? Seventeen new medical students from the New York University School of Medicine grappled with this question recently as they attended a showing of Informed Consent, an […]
Jimmy Carter: Our Latest Famous Patient
Former President Jimmy Carter’s recent announcement that he has metastatic melanoma is the most recent example of the complex relationship that exists between famous people and illness disclosure. Over the past 25 to 50 years, celebrities have increasingly come forward with news of their diagnoses and prognoses. Although providing information can represent an additional burden […]
Euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands: On a Slippery Slope?
The slippery slope is an argument frequently invoked in the world of bioethics. It connotes the notion that a particular course of action will lead inevitably to undesirable and unintended consequences. Saying no to the original action, even if that act is moral in itself, may, in light of the slope that looms, be the […]
The Robot Will See You Now: Robert Wachter’s “The Digital Doctor”
Consider Robert Wachter’s vision of the hospital in the not-so-distant future. There will be no more dedicated intensive-care units, because only seriously ill patients will be hospitalized. Rooms will be equipped with wall-size video screens and cameras that allow doctors to expeditiously perform remote examinations. There will be no more nurse call buttons; patients in pain […]
Fighting Mental Illness on the Ballfield
Mental illness remains highly stigmatized, even after celebrities like Brooke Shields, Mel Gibson and Robin Williams went public with their stories. So it was really a big deal 60 years ago when the Boston Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall wrote two articles in the Saturday Evening Post entitled “They Called Me Crazy—And I Was.” Mr. […]
Overruling My Father
When it came to offering medical interventions to severely ill patients with no hope of recovery, my father had a fiercely strong opinion: They were inappropriate. For decades as an infectious diseases specialist, he had been asked to treat infections in dying patients. Whenever possible, he said no. But when I approached my dad, who […]
I Am A Talking Head On The New Ken Burns Cancer Documentary — Not
I received the e-mail in May 2012. Would I be willing to be interviewed for an upcoming Ken Burns Public Broadcasting System (PBS) documentary based on the book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer”? Um, yes. Like all other historians, I have always dreamed of being a talking head on a Ken […]
Science, Activism and Truth: “Galileo’s Middle Finger, by Alice Dreger
It is fitting that as I was reading Alice Dreger’s new book “Galileo’s Middle Finger,” news reports were full of “Deflategate,” in which the New England Patriots were accused of doctoring footballs, and the travails of NBC anchorman Brian Williams, accused of fabricating past exploits. Lying and deceit have been around for a long time—forever, […]
Please Stop Making That Noise
I can’t stand it when someone behind me at a movie chews popcorn with his or her mouth open. I mean, I really can’t stand it. I have misophonia, a condition with which certain sounds can drive someone into a burst of rage or disgust. Although only identified and named in the last 20 years, […]