A Book Based On Experiences And Life Of Dr. Otis Brawley

How we do harm is a book based on experiences and life of Dr. Otis Brawley’s life as a practicing oncologist at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and researcher for the National Cancer Institute. This book is based on many issues and facts that our medical system is facing now. He pulls back the curtain on how medicine is really practiced in America. This book shows us every aspect of the complicated triangle relationship between patients, disease and doctors. This book starts with a patient Edna Riggs who was carrying her detached breast in a bag waiting for doctors to get operated on; she was suffering from advanced stage of breast cancer which in turn resulted in infection and eventual auto mastectomy. This sheds light on the†¦show more content†¦Brawley calls for rational healthcare, healthcare drawn from results-based, scientifically justifiable treatments, and not just the peddling of hot new drugs. He also expressed his thoughts on racism in medicine . He explains reasoned analysis of racially driven information, why black people are afraid of taking medical aid and about his experience as a black doctor practicing, and his interactions with black and white patients, where black people are afraid of doctors where as white not trusting a black doctor. He explains about project LEAD a breast cancer advocacy group founded by Dr. Susan where all the members in this group are trained with a special curriculum using science, statistics and epidemiology. They teach about latest treatments of breast cancer and all about it. Author repeatedly refers to audience in many occasions to fight for the cause of right information and better health care. This book refers a single point that all cancer patients die because of poor medical care. According to author neither rich nor poor are getting close to optimum care considered by him. He says rich suffer from over medicating and unnecessary treatment while poor suffer from inability to access health care. Brawley’s efforts to address the workings of the â€Å"cancer industry† and the ways in which it fails patients. This, to me, is the real