Philosophy and ethics

I recently finished reading Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together by Peter Ubel, MD.  It should be required reading for all the following...

After reading this excellent study in the BMJ showing no benefit and some risk of harm from annual mammographic screening for breast cancer (see also this discussion in the NY Times) I suggested to a local institution that they should reconsider their Pay for Performance (P4P) initiative which penalizes their clinicians (by lowering their pay) if their female patien

All day long I work with patients who want answers and certainty. My awareness of how few questions have proven answers, and how unpredictable human health and disease can be, is a heavy burden.  This discordance may be why I enjoyed Stuart Firestein’s excellent book, Ignorance,  so much. He makes an excellent case for the value of ignorance.