When I do an operation, it's half a dozen people. When it goes beautifully, it's like a symphony, with everybody playing their part.
From Atul Gawande
People say that the most expensive piece of medical equipment is the doctor's pen. It's not that we make all the money. It's that we order all the money.
My vantage point on the world is the operating room where I see my patients.
The vast majority of doctors really do try to take the money out of their minds. But to provide the best possible care requires using resources in a way that keeps you viable but improves the quality of care.
Our great struggle in medicine these days is not just with ignorance and uncertainty. It's also with complexity: how much you have to make sure you have in your head and think about. There are a thousand ways things can go wrong.
You know, 97 percent of the time, if you come into a hospital, everything goes well. But three percent of the time, we have major complications.
I'm floating between multiple media. I really wish you could buy the hardcover book and it would come with the digital download and audible version. I spend stupid amounts of money because I'm usually buying my books in at least two formats.
Oliver Sacks remains my hero to this day. He was one of the first medical writers I read. The other was Lewis Thomas, who is no longer alive but is just heroic to me.
George Orwell is a pinnacle writer, for his combination of moral insight and literary writing.
The writing I love has something memorable in it - an image, a smell. It's the connection between the moment and the whole concept, weaving the micro together with the macro so that it has a hold on people - that's writing.
3 perspectives
2 perspectives
1 perspectives