Medical Care

In an era defined by rapid technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a groundbreaking force with the potential to reshape every facet of human existence. Among its most promising applications, the integration of AI in the medical field stands out as a transformative and revolutionary endeavor. AI's ability to process vast amounts of data, learn from patterns, and make intelligent decisions has opened up unprecedented possibilities in the domain of healthcare.

Carte Blanche is the alarming tale of how the right of Americans to say "no" to risky medical research is eroding at a time when we are racing to produce a vaccine and treatments for COVID-19. This medical right that we have long taken for granted was first sacrificed on the altar of military expediency in 1990 when the Department of Defense asked for and received from the FDA a waiver that permitted it to force an experimental anthrax vaccine on the ranks of ground troops headed for the Persian Gulf.

How can America's healthcare system be transformed to provide consistently higher-quality and lower-cost care? Nothing else in healthcare matters more. Prescription for the Future identifies some standout medical organizations that have achieved higher-quality, more patient-focused, and lower-cost care, and from their examples distills 12 transformational practices that could transform the entire healthcare sector.

"You're Not a Doctor: Why Physicians Are Needed" is a compelling exploration of the contentious issue of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) seeking greater autonomy in healthcare. As I near the end of my medical school journey, I share firsthand experiences and insights into the risks and rewards of granting midlevel providers more independence.

They didn't start out as environmental warriors. Clair Patterson was a geochemist focused on determining the age of the Earth. Herbert Needleman was a pediatrician treating inner-city children. But in the chemistry lab and the hospital ward, they met a common enemy: lead. It was literally everywhere. Though few people worried about it at the time, lead was also toxic. In Toxic Truth, journalist Lydia Denworth tells the little-known stories of these two men who were among the first to question the wisdom of filling the world with such a harmful metal.

Richard Cohen struggles with failing limbs and is legally blind. He has survived two bouts of colon cancer and a life-threatening blood clot in his lungs. After enduring decades of harsh treatments and invasive therapies, Cohen decided to trade in his life as a patient. In 2012, Cohen and his wife, Meredith Vieira, were invited to host and chair an adult stem cell conference at the Vatican. Scientists would be gathering in Rome to discuss stem cell therapy for autoimmune diseases, including MS. A believer in the power of denial and determination over faith and hope, Cohen was caught off guard by what he learned.

Already technology enables parents to select some genetic traits for their children, and soon it will be possible to begin to shape ourselves as a species. Countering loud cries of alarm, bioethics expert Ronald Green explains why our fears about genetic engineering are overblown and how we can move forward responsibly to create a better future.

Dr. Kathy Magliato is one of fewer than a dozen female heart surgeons practicing in the world today. She is also a member of an even more exclusive group - those surgeons who perform heart transplants. Healing Hearts is the story of the making of a surgeon who also calls herself a wife and mother.

A History of the Present Illness takes listeners into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in American today....In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese, Aronson's writing is based on personal experience and addresses topics of current social relevance. Masterfully told, A History of the Present Illness explores the role of stories in medicine and creates a world pulsating with life, speaking truths about what makes us human.

The unforgettable inspiring memoir of one extraordinary doctor who is saving lives in a most unconventional way, Ask Me Why I Hurt is the touching and revealing first-person account of the remarkable work of Dr. Randy Christensen. Trained as a pediatrician, he works not in a typical hospital setting but, rather, in a 38-foot Winnebago that has been refitted as a doctor's office on wheels. His patients are the city's homeless adolescents and children.

Franziska Böhler, Krankenschwester aus Überzeugung, schildert in bewegenden Fallgeschichten den Stationsalltag im Krankenhaus und macht deutlich, wie sehr Patienten und Personal unter profitorientierten Strukturen leiden. Sie hat sich für Nachtdienste und Wochenendschichten entschieden, für viel Arbeit und noch mehr Verantwortung, für einen Job, der sie fordert - ihr Herz und ihren Verstand. Nicht entschieden hat sie sich für Dienste in ständiger Unterbesetzung, für Bedingungen, die Pflege und Medizin gefährlich und unmenschlich machen.

As a teenager, Molly Case underwent an operation that saved her life. Nearly a decade later, she finds herself in the operating room again - this time as a trainee nurse. She learns to care for her patients, sharing not only their pain, but also life-affirming moments of hope. In doing so, she offers a compelling account of the processes that keep them alive, from respiratory examinations to surgical prep, and of the extraordinary moments of human connection that sustain both nurse and patient.

Bioethics and the Human Goods offers students and general listeners a brief introduction to bioethics from a "natural law" philosophical perspective. This perspective, which traces its origins to classical antiquity, has profoundly shaped Western ethics and law and is enjoying an exciting renaissance. While compatible with much in the ethical thought of the great religions, it is grounded in reason, not religion.

New technologies and medical treatments have complicated questions such as how to determine the moment when someone has died. The result is a failure to establish consensus on the definition of death and the criteria by which the moment of death is determined. This creates confusion and disagreement not only among medical, legal, and insurance professionals but also within families faced with difficult decisions concerning their loved ones.

There are disorders that defy treatment with prescribed pharmaceuticals: a man's hands shake so hard that he cannot hold anything; a woman is mired in severe inescapable depression. For these patients and others, an alternative is emerging: deep brain stimulation. In this fascinating and timely investigation, well-known science writer Jamie Talan explains a cutting-edge medical development that is surprising and impressing researchers around the world.

Your work life is boring, and your marriage has grown stale. The diets you’ve tried for the last 10 years have gotten you nowhere, and you feel tired, worn out, and unproductive. It’s time for a change, but not one prescribed by another self-help podcast or Instagram influencer. You need a real solution—one that will help you rediscover the real you.

These are poems about conversations that we'd like to have with ourselves and with others when our bodies and minds are fraying.

Medical student Seth Levine faces escalating stress and gallows humor as he struggles with the collapse of his romantic relationships and all preconceived notions of what it means to be a doctor. It doesn’t take long before he realizes not getting frazzled is the least of his problems. Didn’t Get Frazzled captures with distressing accuracy the gauntlet idealistic college grads must face to secure an MD and, against the odds, come out of it a better human being.

10万人に１人の稀少がん・ジストを患いながらも、”心の免疫力が上がる言葉”を支えに生きる緩和ケア医・大橋洋平先生。

ＮＨＫ、朝日新聞等メディアの注目を集める「がんを生きる緩和ケア医」大橋洋平先生の著書第三弾。長引くコロナ禍、免疫系統に打撃を受けるがん患者にとっては厳しい日々が続く。