doctor-patient relationship
Doctor Visit Guide
Going to the doctor isn’t most people’s favorite activity. I often get asked by friends and family how to make the most of a medical visit. Here’s my advice, and it’s basically the same whether you are the patient, or a family member or a caregiver of the patient. More
Patients vs Paperwork
Like some virulent bacteria doubling on the agar plate, the EMR grows more gargantuan with each passing month, requiring ever more (and ever more arduous) documentation to feed the beast. It’s time to take action. More
The Most Powerful Tool in Medicine
Danielle Ofri speaks at the Mayo Clinic about conversation as the single most powerful tool in medicine. More
One Last Visit to See My Patient
My 91-year-old patient and I had been together for some 20 years — honestly I’d lost count — so visiting her at home, even in the torrential rain, was the least I could do. More
Healthcare’s Biggest Conflict of Interest
The doctor-patient relationship is a one-on-one interaction, and so conflicts of interest are concrete and directly personal. Medical decisions can be swayed by money, even unconsciously, regardless of whether it’s from insurance companies or from industry. But the most basic conflict of interest is that health care access is tied to health insurance. Presence or absence or extent of health insurance is the most powerful influence on how doctors care for patients. More
A Singular Intimacy
Despite enormous advances in healthcare, patients and caregivers alike are dissatisfied with their experience. So much of medicine has been boiled down to rote algorithms and assembly-line care. Seeking inspiration from the gripping narratives of urban medicine to the unlikely poetry of the ICU, Danielle Ofri probes the most fundamental aspect of medical care—how caregivers and patients connect. More
POTUS 2017 TV Interview
Is there a difference between calling an insurance company about a prior authorization and calling a Senator about legislation? Danielle talks about why doctors and nurses need to stand up politically for their patients. More
Interview on WKPCC radio
Should doctors and nurses be politically active? Is there a conflict of interest? Is it okay for medical professionals to discuss politics with their patients? Listen to a discussion of the ethical issues of medical activism. More
Interview on WBYU Radio about Healthcare Reform
Are doctors and nurses ethically obligated to stand up against a law if they think it will harm their patients? Danielle talks to Julie Rose about the formation of HouseCallsCampaign, a grassroots effort to encourage medical professionals to call Congress and give their medical opinions. More
#HouseCallsCampaign
Asking all nurses, doctors, and medical professionals to call their senators and let them know how the proposed healthcare legislation will affect their patients. #HouseCallsCampaign More
Time for the Medical Profession to Stand Up
Advocating for patients is as much a part of medical care as the medical care itself. Should that advocacy, however, extend beyond the doctor’s office, when politics has palpable effects on patients’ health? Most doctors see an intrinsic distinction between calling an insurance company and calling a senator. But in terms of our patients’ health, there is a moral argument that they are equivalent More
Losing a Patient
He made his way into my exam room supported by two metal crutches that braced at the elbow, lurching his withered legs forward, step by excruciating step. He was a wisp of a man, barely clocking in at 100 lbs—wasted away, it looked like, from untreated polio and a lifetime of subsistence living. Yet somehow here he was in bustling Manhattan, having managed to navigate our bureaucratic hospital system just a few months after arriving from East Africa. More
“Healing Words” interview
Danielle Ofri interviewed at the Mayo Clinic about writing, healing, and medicine. More
The Doctor-Patient Relationship is Alive and Well
Medicine is unquestionably harder than it was 10 years ago. Many more doctors I know talk about quitting (an option that is not equally available to patients). However, there’s been no mass exodus of doctors. We doctors grumble loudly — often with good cause — but we aren’t quitting in droves, mainly because of patients like Ms. M. More
“What Doctors Feel” in Japanese
こんにちは “What Doctors Feel” is now available in Japanese! The perfect complement to your sushi-and-sake lunch. More
