I’m always dismayed when people try to exaggerate the health risks of certain substances by calling them “chemicals”. “We have to worry about chemicals in apple juice” they’ll warn, or “chemicals in plastic bottles”. As anyone who’s taken a chemistry class can tell you, “chemicals” is just an intimidating word for “stuff”. Calling it a chemical doesn’t tell you anything about what it is or how it affects people. Roses and clouds and rocket fuel and spaghetti are all made of chemicals, because ...
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Are You Afraid to Talk to Me?
A couple of generations ago medical culture was aloof and authoritarian. Doctors did not give advice to patients, they gave orders. Patients were expected to follow those orders. Questions might have been tolerated, but patient requests for explanations or suggestions for a different approach were considered very unusual.
I thought this paternalistic model of doctoring ended long before I was trained. I was trained to think of the patient’s autonomy as the core of the patient-doctor relationshi...
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