My Own Son Has A Congenital Heart Condition, Where His Life Was Saved By A Cardiac Surgeon Stepping In At 11 Days Of Life To Save His Life. But He Is Now 21 Years Old Because Of Constant Monitoring And Working With Him With A Primary Care Physician. That's The Only Reason Now That He's Getting To Live A Long And Healthy Life. That's What We're Not Rewarding. They Don't Have The Kind Of Resources And Commitment That We Are Giving To People Like Me. I Have Millions Of Dollars Of Equipment Available To Me When I Go To Work Every Day In An Operating Room.

-Atul Gawande

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My Own Son Has A Congenital Heart

Atul Gawande

My Own Son Has A Congenital Heart Condition, Where His Life Was Saved By A Cardiac Surgeon Stepping In At 11 Days Of Life To Save His Life. But He Is Now 21 Years Old Because Of Constant Monitoring And Working With Him With A Primary Care Physician. That's The Only Reason Now That He's Getting To Live A Long And Healthy Life. That's What We're Not Rewarding. They Don't Have The Kind Of Resources And Commitment That We Are Giving To People Like Me. I Have Millions Of Dollars Of Equipment Available To Me When I Go To Work Every Day In An Operating Room.

Topic

Commitment

Heart

Son

Once You Start To Ask Patients About Their Priorities, You Discover What They're Living For. Once You Uncover That, It Helps You, As A Doctor, Decide What To Fight For. And When We Do That, We Often End Up Identifying Limits To The Kind Of Care That People Want. One's Assumption Is That These People Are Going To Live Shorter Lives, But What We're Doing Is Protecting Quality Of Life. In Doing So, You Sometimes End Up Helping People Live Longer. Certainly, You Help People Live Better Days And With More Purpose In Their Lives.

Fighting

People

Priorities