On Health,
Bioethics, and
Behavioral Science
As a physician and behavioral scientist at Duke University, my research and writing explore the quirks in human nature that influence our lives — the mixture of rational and irrational forces that affect our health, our happiness, and the way our society functions.
Latest Publications
Integrating Out-of-Pocket Costs Into Shared Decision-Making for Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction
Led by the amazing Neal Dickert, cardiologist at Emory, we conducted an RCT of an intervention designed to promote…
Physician Gender and Patient Perceptions of Interpersonal and Technical Skills in Online Reviews
Do patients’ on-line physician reviews reveal gender bias? In a study led by the marvelous Dr. Farrah Madanay, we…
Out of Pocket Getting Out of Hand
In this NEJM Perspective, my (awesome) co-authors and I argue that we need to reduce costs, to patients and…
Are Students Ready to Run Student-Run Clinics?
With an outstanding student from Baylor College of Medicine, I co-authored an essay on some of the clinical, administrative,…
Talking About Suffering in the Intensive Care Unit
We were worried: that when ICU clinicians discuss patient “suffering” with patients’ family, they are using the emotionally powerful…
What Do Psychiatrists Think About Caring for Patients Who Have Extremely Treatment-Refractory Illness?
Questions about when to limit unhelpful treatments are often raised in general medicine but are less commonly considered in…
Latest Blog Posts
$10 Short? No Health Insurance For You
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, millions of people receive generous subsidies to cover the cost of…
Complaining Of Chronic Pain Doesn’t Make You A Complainer
We all know what “a complainer” is: it’s a person who finds the dark side of everything, who turns…
Work Requirements For Safety Net Programs – They’re Not Working
Anyone who has raised kids knows what happens when you give them a monthly allowance without requiring any work…
People With Chronic Pain Deserve Better Than To Be Told There’s Nothing Wrong
I am going to be writing about chronic pain: diagnosis, treatment, mistreatment, etc, in upcoming posts. In my first…
Medicare Drug Coverage Is Often Inadequate—Here’s Why
Your father’s rheumatoid arthritis medicine was working well, fighting off that otherwise debilitating illness. Then he found out that…
Paying Too Much For Healthcare? Your Boss Might Be To Blame
Many companies are large enough they self-insure—they take on the financial risk of paying for their employees’ health expenses…
Books
