Keeping Medicine Human

American medicine is being transformed. Doctor-patient relationships have grown more distant and formulaic; social and cultural pressures are causing medical institutions to become politicized; and new information technologies foisted upon physicians have, in many cases, contributed to ghastly medical errors. For decades, doctors have faced growing political, economic, and regulatory pressures—and thousands have left the field as a result. Too often, it is not clear for whom doctors work: patients, the government, or large corporations. The purpose of medicine is confused.

In Side Effects, I hope to examine the origins and consequences of policy decisions that have led to these and related trends in “big medicine.” The newsletter includes both short posts and occasional, longer policy briefings and prescriptions in the “Longform Side Effects” section. I hope to build a community of concerned doctors, patients, and citizens committed to restoring physician autonomy in medicine.

About Me

I’m a former Capitol Hill staffer and longtime policy editor and writer, with bylines in The Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, The New Atlantis, Weekly Standard, Regulation, BloombergBNA, and other outlets. I’m a fellow in the Bioethics and American Democracy program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a contributing editor for Mosaic, Public Discourse and American Purpose magazines.

I became interested in medical culture partly as a result of witnessing the declining care of several chronically ill family members and friends. I grew up hearing about the punishing work experiences of the many doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, which inspired me to advocate for people who are losing their way in large medical systems.