2009-10-07

lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
2009-10-07 12:03 am

How Doctors Think

How Doctors Think How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Survey of errors in doctor decision-making, with no surprises for anyone who knows anything about cognition. Light on data, heavy on anecdotes and interviews. Doctors make mistakes, misread tests, prefer diagnoses peculiar to their specialties. Basically, duh.

I'm being slightly snide here because I'm annoyed by how completely Groopman fails to talk about the effect of actual medical bias. I mean, most of this book is about the psychological dynamics of doctor/patient relationships, but completely fails to talk about the way patient physical disability, race, and gender can effect care? Hint: it's a lot.

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