Suzi Wizowaty

Vermont's vigorous populist movement for health care reform has rallied behind the slogan, "Health care is a human right." The unspoken follow-up is "and we demand our rights!" Demands generate a lot of energy.

But the language of demand doesn't speak to me as much as the language of civic responsibility. The language of demand (more…)

This is not the first time an expert panel has generated recommendations that contradict earlier recommendations. Medicine is as much an art as a science--if not more--and new information should spark a re-evaluation of current practice.

NYT health writer Gina Kolata wrote a useful, brief history (Nov. 21) of medicine's conflicted relationship with mammograms. (more…)

A few days ago I had a post put into my jawbone as the latest step in getting a new tooth. It’s an unpleasant procedure, with drilling and crunching, though I couldn’t feel the pain consciously because of the novocaine. In the middle of it, I thought, "I’m not doing this again." But you need your teeth, and mine are lousy, so who knows. But then I learned (more…)

Talking with a colleague the other day, I realized that something I’ve learned about health care isn’t widely known, or universally accepted. After all, it’s counterintuitive. It’s the idea—I would go so far as to say the fact—that more health care doesn’t equal better health (more…)