M.D.: Where Is the Art of Medicine in Health-Care Debate?

By Jacob Goldstein

Everybody’s got something to say about health reform, but nobody’s speaking up for the art of medicine, Abraham Verghese argues today in a Wsj.com column.

Many doctors’ groups and academic medical centers are too deeply entrenched in the business of medicine to speak up for the field’s noblest intentions, writes Verghese, a novelist, Stanford prof and practicing physician.

And he makes a case that a payment system that encourages doctors to practice the kind of medicine that leads to real relationships with patients could be more efficient in the long run:

A physician who gets to know the patient can discuss difficult subjects such as end-of-life care while the patient is still relatively healthy — often sparing them the pain and huge expense of spending their last days of life in an intensive-care unit. Physicians with good relationships with their patients can guide them away from futile therapies whose only proven efficacy is making money for drug companies, hospitals and doctors.

Health Blog Question of the Day: What arguments or ideas are being overlooked in the national debate over health care?