Highly Accessible Essays on Medical Care Today

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	• Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance Atul Gawande Picador, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 80 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Another readable book

I read his first book, "Complications", and loved it. "Better" is great follow-up. It's an easy read for even the most non-scientific among us. I work in business, and understand little about science or medicine, but I found this to be a supreme read.

Highly Accessible Essays on Medical Care Today

Atul Gawande's talent for bringing complex issues before the general public lies in his excellent writing ability, apparent in his earlier work, "Complications." He explores the issues of current medicine in penetrating essays that can be grouped into three categories: Diligence, Doing Right, and Ingenuity. Doctors in the United States today are facing a litigious public that demands perfection from mere mortals. Gawande presents a balanced picture from the view of patients and their families as well as from doctors' perspectives. The economy of his writing permits the reader to zero in on the issues quickly. I must say, right from the outset of this collection, that the essay on hand washing has made me leery about any doctor's touch. Today's headlines about incurable bacterial infections now reaching into our school systems bear out the relevance of Gawande's concerns.

I see no sense in rehashing all the essays here. As a reader, you should know that these essays are highly relevant to all of us and underscore what we don't know about our healthcare. When we enter a facility for treatment, for instance, do we know where that facility stands in relation to positive outcomes for the condition we need treated? If not, why not? I did especially like the essay about medicine in India, as I frequently visit there on business. I think Gawande's thoughts about achieving better results through diligent adherence to what we already know works is good advice for many areas in life, not just medicine.

This collection is well worth anyone's time. It's thoughtful, well written, and relevant to all of us.

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A fun, thought-provoking read

A fascinating book, with great stories on a timely subject. I especially liked the chapters on Diligence. I tend to agree with Gawande that if the U.S. health system concentrated less on new drugs and fancy treatments, and more on good patient management and careful followup, we'd all be better off.

Gawande suggests that we scrap the present malpractice system entirely. He points out that under the present system a tiny number of patients harmed by doctors receive huge amounts of money, while the vast majority of victims get nothing. Gawande suggests a system in which people who are harmed by doctor error receive a set, limited compensation, without regard to who is at fault, negligence, and the like. This system is already in use in New Zealand. I think Gawande's is the best approach I have seen to the present malpractice mess.

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better...should have been Better

Disappointing outing for this usually wonderful author.Granted he does not try to hide from the blemishes of the surgical world but the book at times went on and on and became boring.

I do believe that he is a brave man to write the types of books and articles
that he does write, as the medical profession is a closed society.I understand his need to try to make medicine better but is this the way to do it? we'll never really know.

Dr. Gawande

I really enjoy Dr. Gawande's pieces in the New York Times and think his book is even better. He writes about specific cases that have relevance to me and my practice, and does so in an entertaining and captivating fashion. It makes me want to go back and read his New Yorker pieces.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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