“We have met the enemy, and he is us…” Musing on Robert’s Pearl’s New Book:

“Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients”

 

by Caroline Fife, M.D.

 

I’ve been venting about my experiences with a broken healthcare system – both as a doctor and a caregiver. My friend, colleague, plastic surgeon and Renaissance man, Dr. Aron D. Wahrman alerted me to Robert Pearl’s book, Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients (a follow up to his book, Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care — and Why We’re Usually Wrong. I’ve recently talked about the experience of my friend and patient Dr. Richard Maddy, who lost both of his legs to cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa– in part because my pleas to start high dose steroids based on his clinical presentation were ignored, and my husband who died (albeit indirectly) from an adverse drug reaction that I diagnosed but for whom I could not the proper intervention from his inpatient team … read more