The reform of medical education is a usually boring conversation that needs its own reform.  The discussion we have on this episode does just that.  It goes far beyond the usual proposals to tweak the curriculum and directly addresses the question of what it means to be a physician. Our guest is Dr. Adam Cifu,…

We revisit the question of brain death, this time with a more practical focus.  What should doctors tell families of patients who fulfill neurological criteria for brain death?  Joining us on this program is Fred Rincon, MD, who is a Assistant Professor of Neurology at Jefferson University Medical Center in Philadelphia.  Dr. Rincon is a…

Economic knowledge should not be the sole province of technical experts, but it is—and we seem to accept the way it is.  The price we pay for this ignorance is that most people—including doctors—can easily fall prey to the political class and to the technocrats whose economic theory is generally far from sound. Our guest…

Should doctors have something to say about guns?  If so, what should they say?  A position paper by the American College of Physicians, followed by a blog post and a tweet from the National Rifle Association, have set off a storm of controversy on the issue of medical professionals speaking publicly about guns and gun…

Bureaucratic appeal to measurement as a check on personal judgment rules the medical field but also permeates our entire culture.  Our guest is the author of a new book that comprehensively treats this unique phenomenon of modern life and brings a valuable historical perspective to the subject. Jerry Z. Muller is Professor of History at…

The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program is a recent policy designed to save the government money by imposing large financial penalties on hospitals whose readmission rates for certain medical conditions are found to be higher than the national average.  Could pushing policy levers on such a grand scale conceivably have negative unintended consequences?… Our guest is…

What’s the professional life of Canadian doctors really like?  Does the safety and stability of a single-payer system free them from business concerns and allow them to concentrate on patient care?  Or do the realities of central planning produce unexpected uncertainty and stress for patients and doctors alike? To help us gain a realistic understanding…

A recent US Supreme Court decision has struck down the “professional speech doctrine” which was elaborated by lower courts to justify restricting or regulating the activities of anyone offering advice or counsel to another individual.  This decision may have far reaching implications across a number of human activities, including health care. To help us understand…

Support for a single-payer healthcare system in the United States seems to be growing inexorably.  Before we resign ourselves to the inevitable fate of “Medicare-4-All,” it may be prudent to remind ourselves or understand better the arguments against a single-payer system Our guest on this episode is Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research…

Peer review by colleagues is an important process by which doctors who misbehave or malpractice can be held accountable and, if necessary, prevented from harming patients.  Unfortunately, the process can also be used in bad faith, and many physicians are completely unaware of how career-destroying traps can be set up under the guise of peer…