Book

Hatch, Steven, 1969- author.

Snowball in a blizzard : a physician's notes on uncertainty in medicine / Steven Hatch, MD.

New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2016]

xv, 293 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

"Diagnoses are often just educated guesses, and prognoses less certain still. There is a significant amount of uncertainty in the daily practice of medicine, resulting in confusion and potentially deadly complications. Dr. Steven Hatch argues that instead of ignoring this uncertainty, we should embrace it. By digging deeply into a number of rancorous controversies, from breast cancer screening to blood pressure management, Hatch shows us how medicine can fail ... when patients and doctors alike place too much faith in modern medical technology"--Dust jacket flap.

Diagnosis.

Prognosis.

Therapeutics.

Uncertainty.

Medical policy.

Diagnosis.

Uncertainty.

Health Policy.

Snow-ball in a blizzard : a physician's notes on uncertainty in medicine

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Primum non nocere : the motivations and hazards of overdiagnosis -- Vignette : the perils of predictive value -- Snowball in a blizzard -- The pressures of managing pressure -- Lyme's false prophets : chronic fatigue, tick-borne illness, and the overselling of certainty -- The origins of knowledge and the seeds of uncertainty -- The correlation/causation problem, or Why dark chocolate may not lower your risk of heart failure -- "Health watch" : hype, hysteria, and the media's overconfident march of progress -- The conversation.

2015041457

9780465050642 (hbk.)

0465050646 (hbk.)

920018257

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616.075 Hatch