The Day I Zipped My Lips and Let My Patients Talk
“We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak,” said Epictetus. It’s clear that the Greek philosopher wasn’t a physician in 21st century America. How long, I’ve sometimes wondered, would my patients actually talk if I didn’t say anything at all? More
Globe & Mail review of “What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear”
Ofri argues in her new book “What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear” that the conversations doctors have with their patients are the most important part of a medical visit, far surpassing blood tests, X-rays or various scans. And she believes it’s time both doctors and patients give these conversations their due. More
Washington Post Review of “What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear.”
“If you’ve switched physicians in search of someone more caring, or left an exam feeling unseen and unheard, you will find much to appreciate in Danielle Ofri’s perceptive book. ” More
A Bellevue Doctor on Trump, Exam Room Conversations and Her New Book
Ofri draws on anecdotes and evidence in her new book, “What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear,” to argue that, even as technology advances, conversation between patients and doctors remains the “most potent diagnostic—and therapeutic—tool in medicine.” More
Are We Missing the Most Important Aspect of Health Care?
As the medical industry strives for a virtual world in which diagnoses are made and prescriptions rendered on a smartphone app, Ofri argues that successful conversation is the primary driver of healing. Sadly dialectics remain a longstanding elephant in the office: doctors enter with opinions, patients their own, the ticking clock on the wall in plain view of both parties. More
Book Launch!
You are cordially invited to the book launch for What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear. The launch will take place at two of my favorite bookstores: the Strand and the Upper West Side Barnes & Nobles. I hope you can join me for one of them. Strand Bookstore Broadway and 12th St, Monday, Feb 6, at … More
Poetry in Medicine
When I make rounds with medical students and interns, I’ve often tried to sneak in a poem at the end. It’s not always the most well-received bit of medical teaching, More
“Literature about medicine may be all that can save us”
“Language, that most human invention,” wrote Oliver Sacks, “can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.” In the last decade or two, a new generation of doctor writers – including Atul Gawande, Abraham Verghese, Henry Marsh,Danielle Ofri, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Paul Kalanithi and Gavin Francis – have undertaken the mission of seeing in this fashion. More
Adding Spice to the Slog: Humanities in Medical Training
As soon as we’d finish rounds on the medical wards I’d race to pass out an Anatole Broyard essay in the nanoseconds before dispersal entropy overtook our team. More
Storytelling in Medicine: the Passion and the Peril
So much of medicine is about stories—the ones we hear, the ones we tell, the ones we participate in—that it is no accident that doctors and nurses are attracted to stories. More
Access to Care
“Doctor, it’s taken so long to get this appointment with you.” This is the opening line of so many medical visits these days, and I find myself constantly apologizing to my patients for the delay. Even though both the patients and I know that it’s a systemic issue, it’s still front and center in our personal interaction. More
Ethics of Money in Medicine
Just because money is a reality in medicine, doesn’t mean that we have to blindly accept all the consequences. There is a code of ethics in medicine. More
Incidental Illness
How, in the quiet world of outpatient medicine, does one know when a life is saved? More
Acne
A young Navajo woman files silently into my office, making no eye contact. As she slips into the chair errant strands of black hair spill across her face. Through the breaches I catch glimpses of her rich dark skin riddled with the pockmarks of severe acne. More
Ethical Implications of Incidental Findings
Imagine that you volunteer for memory study and the fMRI also happens to find a life-threatening aneurysm. Your life is saved by the “incidental finding.” But what if tumor that may not be serious is incidentally found? The tumor may not be risky, but the surgery to remove it is. You spend the rest of your life haunted by the decision of whether to operate or whether to wait. What are the ethical implications of incidental findings? A Presidential Commission weighs in. More
