We Recruit For Attitude And Train For

Just Using A Checklist Requires [doctors] To Embrace Different Values From Ones We've Had, Like Humility, Discipline, Teamwork.

Outsiders Tend To Be The First To Recognize The Inadequacies Of Our Social Institutions. But, Precisely Because They Are Outsiders, They Are Usually In A Poor Position To Fix Them.

In Many Ways, The Effort To Study Philosophy Was My Rebellion Away From Medicine. I'm The Son Of Two Indian Immigrant Physicians, So The Natural Path For Me Would Have Been To Become A Doctor. I Ended Up Doing The Master's Degree At Oxford In Politics, Philosophy, And Economics While Already Having A Seat In Medical School. I Was Keeping That As My Escape Hatch. But My Hope Was That I Might Become A Philosopher Or Something Else Entirely.

In The End, People Don't View Their Life As Merely The Average Of All Its Moments-which, After All, Is Mostly Nothing Much Plus Some Sleep. For Human Beings, Life Is Meaningful Because It Is A Story. A Story Has A Sense Of A Whole, And Its Arc Is Determined By The Significant Moments, The Ones Where Something Happens. Measurements Of People's Minute-by-minute Levels Of Pleasure And Pain Miss This Fundamental Aspect Of Human Existence. A Seemingly Happy Life Maybe Empty. A Seemingly Difficult Life May Be Devoted To A Great Cause. We Have Purposes Larger Than Ourselves.

Our Reluctance To Honestly Examine The Experience Of Aging And Dying Has Increased The Harm We Inflict On People And Denied Them The Basic Comforts They Most Need.