Through stories and solutions, leading physicians tackle the conundrum
of how best to care for patients while being thwarted by the business
side of healthcare
Moves "away from calling doctors' difficulties 'burnout' -- thus blaming
doctors -- to 'moral injury' -- like soldiers floundering under unjust
orders. A brilliant expansive book." -- Samuel Shem, Professor in
Medicine at NYU Medical School, author of The House of God and Man's
4th Best Hospital
"Wendy Dean diagnoses the dangerous state of our healthcare system,
illustrating the thumbscrews applied to medical professionals by their
corporate overlords... Required reading for all stakeholders in
healthcare." -- Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of When We Do Harm; A
Doctor Confronts Medical Error
Offering examples of how to make medicine better for the healers and
those they serve, If I Betray These Words profiles clinicians across
the country who are tough, resourceful, and resilient, but feel trapped
between the patient-first values of their Hippocratic oath and the
business imperatives of a broken healthcare system.
Doctors face real risks when they stand up for their patients and their
oath; they may lose their license, their livelihood, and for some, even
their lives.
There's a growing sense, referred to as moral injury, that doctors have
their hands tied - they know what patients need but can't get it for
them because of constraints imposed by healthcare systems run like big
businesses.
Workforce distress in healthcare--moral injury--was a crisis long before
the COVID-19 pandemic, but COVID highlighted the vulnerabilities in our
healthcare systems and made it impossible to ignore the distress, with 1
in 5 American healthcare workers leaving the profession since 2020, and
up to 47% of U.S. healthcare workers now planning to leave their
positions by 2025.
If I Betray These Words confronts the threat and broken promises of
moral injury - what it is; where it comes from; how it manifests; and
who's fighting back against it. We need better healthcare--for patients
and for the workforce. It's time to act.
