Hed-pov Perspectives from Doctors, Patients, Policymakers
interview
jeffrey segal

Q: How do you know anonymous posts can harm physicians’ reputations?

A: We know that physician review sites are as likely to misinform as they are to inform. If a patient complains his wound opened two days after an operation, how do we know the patient followed instructions not to lift heavy objects?

“Before the 1970s, doctors made diagnoses by actually interacting with patients, rather than just ordering tests.”

Message from the MGH

Peter L. Slavin and David F. Torchiana, the MGH’s president and CEO, mull the merits of evidence-based medicine.

Second Opinion

Proto readers opine on Biopolis’s downside, the value of medical homes, and making CPR count.

radioactive thyroid treatment

Radioactive Me

For one mother, getting her thyroid under control could also mean forgoing a second child.

rita charon

The Literary Physician

Columbia University’s Rita Charon discusses how narrative skills can create better physicians.

doctors bag

Message from the MGH

Peter L. Slavin and David F. Torchiana sound off on the potential of health care reform.

Second Opinion

Readers share their take on criticizing physicians, genetic testing and cancer’s deadly spread.

milestone

In 1849, a student who “could not bear the sight of a medical book” and who complained that “the very thought of dwelling on the physical structure of the body and its various ailments filled me with disgust” graduated from medical school to become the world’s first female physician.

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excerpt

“Since the guts were the first parts to putrefy, the students would begin by slitting open the abdomen, folding back the flaps of skin and fat, and examining the organs of digestion: the stomach, the more than 30 feet of intestines and the smaller organs, such as the spleen, gallbladder and pancreas, packed tightly into the abdominal cavity. Next, they would open the chest, sawing apart the rib cage to expose and remove the lungs, the lobes of which were blackened by London’s ubiquitous winter smogs...”