I’ve Rediscovered Why I Became a Doctor
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I can remember, every time someone sits across from me, that the most important person in the room is not the physician. I did not abandon medicine during Covid.... Read more.
When Did Obesity Become a Drug Deficiency?
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The tragedy of the GLP-1 era will not be that these drugs failed. The tragedy will be if they succeed so spectacularly that an entire generation of physicians stops... Read more.
The Treatment Was Worse Than the Disease
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Washington’s doctors truly wanted to save him. They were trained, experienced, and sure that doing something was better than doing nothing. Now, more than 200... Read more.
Medicine Has Forgotten How to Touch the Patient
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If someday a patient can pass through an entire medical encounter without being truly examined, we should ask ourselves: have we created the most technologically... Read more.
Saving Lives Should Not Require Permission
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Will we repeat actions simply because the correct institution has ordered them? The Humane Societies asked whether the apparently dead could be resuscitated. Our... Read more.
America’s Drug Shortage Is a National Security Crisis
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A nation that cannot supply its hospitals with essential medicines is not merely experiencing an inconvenient drug shortage. It has discovered a strategic vulnerability,... Read more.
The Vanishing Art of Presence
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When historians look back at this era of medicine, I hope they will be able to say that physicians had the wisdom to preserve the one innovation that never needed... Read more.
The Reflex to Prescribe
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Perhaps the greatest measure of clinical maturity is not the confidence to prescribe, but the confidence to refrain. The highest expression of medical judgment is... Read more.
The Day the Hospital Disappeared
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Forty years ago I watched a hospital disappear. What emerged from its ruins was not simply the physician I would become. It was the understanding that fear is inevitable... Read more.
From Healing to Harm
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Arguably, the most critical question for medicine is, “How certain are we that our actions are justified?” The response to this question may determine whether... Read more.
The Courage to Remain Uncertain
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Every important discovery starts with uncertainty. Uncertainty is not always comfortable, but it is often where truth begins. Maybe the best gift we can give future... Read more.
Reflections on Brain Death, Hope, and the Limits of Certainty
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Physicians can define brain death. Legislatures can codify brain death. Courts can adjudicate brain death. None of them can fully explain life. The greatest physicians... Read more.