Pauline W. Chen: A Surgeon's Reflections

Taking Time for Empathy

The "Doctor and Patient" column for this week is up. I write about an article that appears in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine by Dr. Diane Morse and colleagues.

Dr. Morse's article is an excellent one and very thought-provoking. I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

I hope you will take a moment to post a comment on this week's "Doctor and Patient" column, either here or on the New York Times website.

The Tyranny of Diagnosis

This week's Doctor and Patient column is up. It's titled, "The Tyranny of Diagnosis."

Doctors and patients look for diagnoses for illness and experience relief when they find them.

But do diagnoses help us, hurt us, or both?

Please join in on the discussion on Tara Parker-Pope's New York Times blog, Well.

Doctor and Patient

I'm thrilled to announce that my weekly online column for the New York Times, "Doctor and Patient," will debut tomorrow. The interactive column, in the Health section of the New York Times online, will cover a range of topics and will include essays, interviews and reports, as well as reader comments.

My goal? To illuminate the growing rift between doctors and patients and to help begin the kind of conversations -- online or in homes, offices, and hospitals -- that might ultimately bring us all closer together.

I hope you'll look for "Doctor and Patient" and join in on the discussion.