MIKE BOLAND
from their family and their loved ones. I started
asking the question, "Why is this happening?" It
turns out there are many reasons.
Physicians have a hard time seeing the bigger
picture. We're very good at looking at blood
pressure and heart rate. We get obsessed on
particular metrics and stop thinking about the
person in the context of their illness and their lives.
I think that that's unfortunate. No matter what
you do in medicine, you need to keep the bigger
picture in mind to best serve your patients-- asking
the question, "Is this treatment, or this route, in
line with this patient's goals and values?" To get
at that question, you have to talk to patients and
their families, which is something that's been lost
in medicine. I absolutely think that the lay public,
meaning anyone who is at some point a potential
patient or caregiver, needs to understand that
the default mode of the Western medical system,
meaning America's healthcare system, is to do
everything for everyone for as long as we can.
If you are to say nothing and you come into the
hospital, and you're quite ill, you'll get everything
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