A lung transplant—taking some or all of one person's lungs and putting them into someone else, giving the recipient years of additional life—sounds nothing short of miraculous. Today, over 2500 lung transplants are performed every year in the US. Still, it's among the most medically and ethically complex areas of medicine. Joining us in this episode is David Weill, MD, former director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Center at Stanford Health Care. He is also the author of Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant. Over the course of our conversation, we discuss the challenges of transplantation, including how we find suitable organs, transport them, and decide who gets them. Dr. Weill also shares the high-stakes human drama that accompanies each triumph and failure, why he eventually decided to leave the practice, and the importance of staying connected in the midst of suffering. 

In this episode, you will hear about:

• How Dr. Weill’s early experienced inspired him to pursue a career as a transplant pulmonologist - 2:14
• What a lung transplant entails - 5:51
• The risks of lung transplantation - 8:31
• Stories of successful and unsuccessful transplantations - 11:50
• Challenges of navigating difficult conversations with patients awaiting transplant - 15:53
• A discussion of the organ transplant selection process - 25:24
• Dr. Weill’s reflections on his transition out of medical practice and what it was like to face burnout - 38:46
• Advice on staying balanced and connected with patients, colleagues, and loved whens when dealing with suffering - 45:20

Dr. Weill is the author of Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant (2021).

You can follow Dr. David Weill on Twitter @DavidWeillMD.

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected].

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2023