Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-365) and index.

Diagnosing physician culture -- The physician's pain -- Helping or harming patients? -- The social ladder -- The evolution of physician culture.

"The spread of COVID-19 has brought the lives of doctors into sharper focus than ever before. We now see how the daily work of making important, even life-and-death decisions is frequently made harder. Hospitals and medical offices face budget problems, the influence of big pharmaceutical and insurance companies, as well as stress and long hours and massive amounts of bureaucracy and paperwork. And that was before the pandemic. As we engage in a public debate about the appropriate role of government, technology, big pharma and insurance companies in our health care, we've paid little attention to what it actually feels like to be a doctor. This simple ingredient -- medical culture -- argues for a simpler and more humane health care policy. And it also signals that necessary change must be made with care and attention. Saying thank you and applauding out the window for their life-saving work during the pandemic won't be enough. If we don't take care of our doctors, they can't take care of us. In this important book, Robert Pearl -- the former CEO of the Permanente Medical Group and a Stanford professor -- argues for the importance of culture to the future of medicine. No matter who is president, or how our laws change, his book makes it obvious that we can no longer afford to ignore it"--