The below post is a response to my article Death With Dignity Should Not Be Equated With Physician Assisted Suicide by Kathryn L. Tucker, JD. My own thoughts on her response are here. In a Forbes.com oped, “Death With Dignity Should Not Be Equated With Physician Assisted Suicide, Duke University physician Peter Ubel writes: “I think it is wrong-headed to…
In 2008, the state legislature of Washington passed what was called the Death with Dignity Act, a law that legalized physician assisted suicide. Under the law, terminally ill patients (predicted to have less than six months to live) can request prescriptions for lethal medications from their physicians, under a series of safeguards: multiple requests for example,…
Here is a link to a New Yorker website article, exploring the challenges of helping patients understand their medical decisions. The author, a physician, makes mention of some of my research. But that’s not the only reason I’m pointing towards the article. 🙂 (Click here to view comments)
The video below is not super high quality, but it captures a talk I gave in Lima Peru recently, a very personal talk that also reveals some of the dangers of assuming that medical decision making will go swimmingly well as long as patients are informed and empowered. Check it out. (Click here to view…
On May 8th, the makers of the oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Test presented results of a large study demonstrating that their test can help men decide whether their prostate cancer carries a low enough risk of progression to forgo surgical or radiation therapy, two treatments that typically eradicate prostate cancers but also cause most men to…
Is it the white coat? That’s what I wondered in medical school when I would find patients asking me for advice on topics they simply had to know more about than me. Mothers would ask me how to get their newborn babies to sleep through the night, asking me even though the one time I babysat…
In this two-minute video, I explained why it can be hazardous to take a guess at what your lifetime risk is of experiencing cancer. I describe a study I conducted with, among others, Angie Fagerlin. This is one of my favorite studies, because it is really counterintuitive and raises important questions about health communication and medical decision-making….
In a recent Atlantic post, James Hamblin reports on the increasing frequency with which surgeons perform hysterectomies with the assistance of robots. Here is a picture from that post: To be clear: robotic surgery doesn’t mean a robot performs the operation. Instead, the surgeon uses a laparoscope, usually, and the surgeon controls the tools at…
You may have heard this week about a new study, led by my friend and colleague Pete Cram, which revealed astonishing variation in prices for hip replacement surgery. Staggering, actually—ranging from a bit over $10,000 to over $125,000. I have blogged a bit about hospital prices, and doctor fees, even a recent post on orthopedic…
“Revolutions are often fought over dichotomies—the king versus the people, the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat, and, of course, the autonomous patient versus the paternalistic doctor.” So observes Peter Ubel in the conclusion of Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together. Who decides? Doctor or patient? For decades, too…