Why It's a Mistake for Doctors to be Color Blind

Here is a short video introducing one of the themes of Critical Decisions: the challenge of making shared decisions when physicians unwittingly deluge their patients with too much jargon laden information. Feel free to forward the link to your friends.
I remember one time having a conversation with Daniel Kahneman, one of the founders of behavioral economics, about the topic of happiness and emotional adaptation, in the context of chronic disability. We were discussing emotional impact of experiencing a limb amputation. Kahneman pointed out that it is the loss of the limb that is really…
In September the United States Preventive Services Taskforce, a panel of medical experts, concluded that tests to screen for ovarian cancer do more harm than good. As a result, insurers will not be required by federal law to pay for such tests. And the announcement was met with near silence. Why was this recommendation greeted…
Here’s a link to a review of Critical Decisions published in a journal called Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. The reviewer had some nice things to say, but felt it wasn’t theoretical enough for his liking. Not surprising given that I wrote the book for a general audience, and not for an academic one. But this…
Obesity kills. It leads to diseases like diabetes that, in turn, increase the risk of fatal cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and heart attacks. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a treatment that forestalled all this misery and mortality? Unfortunately, many treatments don’t work well, either to combat obesity or to hold off its consequences….
This idea is so crazy it might just be the best one I’ve heard all week: a subway station in Moscow provides free tickets to commuters who stand in front of a monitor and squat or lunge 30 times. I love this idea. Have any of you heard of any other nudges like this? (Click…