Last week’s ABIM Foundation Summer Forum focused on patient-centered care… and who could be against that? But is patient-centered care just a healthcare MacGuffin? What’s a MacGuffin, you ask? In a spectacular talk at the Forum, Michael Richardson of Chicago’s Hines VA reminded us that the MacGuffin was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite ...

Should doctors and nurses be subject to different penalties for precisely the same infraction? Of course not. Are they? Sure. Just ask Britney Spears.Britney was hospitalized at UCLA at least twice in the past few years – once when she gave birth to her first son in 2005, and again in early 2008 for psychiatric care. Both times, dozens of UCLA ...

Last month on the wards, I unilaterally told two patients’ families that we were not going to resuscitate their loved ones. My residents were horrified – this violated the DNR playbook – but the alternative seemed both immoral and absurd.What do you think?In deference to HIPAA, I’ve altered a few clinically irrelevant factoids, but here’s the ...