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Doctoring ICD/Pacemaker

New post up at theHeart.org — The ethics of ICD decision-making

I’ve got a good one for you. Who is the better doctor? Is it the caregiver who–by whatever means–gets her patient on the best treatment, or, is it the doc who communicates the options most clearly? I ask because the Institute of Medicine has made shared-decision making (or patient-centered care) a major focus of quality […]

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Doctoring Health Care Reform Hospice/Palliative Care

Let’s stop being ashamed of (discussing) death

I recently wrote a post about what happens when the elderly get sick. It was meant to accelerate the conversation about how modern medicine can’t make us immortal. I meant to say that doctors need to learn to be less ashamed of death. And that patients should at least hear about the risks of life-prolonging […]