e-Patients Blog
The blog of the Society for Participatory Medicine. Want to be a contributor?
Cancer Blogger Gets Legal Threat
A British cancer patient who blogged about his unsatisfactory hospital treatment received a threat of legal action from the National Health Service.
Ellen Hoenig Carlson: Patients Beware – 1 Out of 3 Subject to Hospital Error
This guest post by SPM member Ellen Hoenig Carlson was inspired by a study on the prevalence of medical errors, published in the April issue of Health Affairs. Medical errors are one of the nation's leading causes of death and injury. The famed 1999 Institute of...
Justin’s Journey With Brain Cancer, Chronicled Through Facebook and His Blog
Through Facebook and a Caringbridge blog, twenty-six year old Justin Anderson drew friends, family, and now the public into his experience after being diagnosed with brain cancer. His last post in the article is an update from Mount Everest, his latest feat after cancer. CNN reports here.
Peter Schmidt: The virtue of participating in your care – it serves others, too
This guest post by SPM member Peter Schmidt is long overdue. I asked him to write it months ago after discussion on our post Tips for Understanding Studies (Health News Review). Apologies for the delay. If you'd like to submit a guest post, see our guidelines. I was...
Kids Talk About What It’s Like to Have Asthma
It is often difficult for adults to give their doctors full and accurate accounts of their illness. Doing so can be even more of a challenge for kids. Here is an interesting experiment in which adolescents were given video cameras to capture their experience with...
Chilmark: HealthVault continues to build, Google Health still useful
John Moore at Chilmark Research has published another of his characteristically useful and insightful updates on health IT as he sees it. It's here. A word about Chilmark: when I was considering how to make a new career, in healthcare, I noticed a gaping hole in this...
Regina paints Susannah’s jacket; Susannah replies
On the evening of June 7th, SPM member and extraordinary painter Regina Holliday is leading a "Walking Gallery" in Washington, in which dozens of us will wear jackets on which she's painted one of her visual allegories about healthcare today. She and, I think, seven...
“Dumb patients? No way. It’s only normal behavior and status-quo clinical care.”
SPM member Sue Woods, of Oregon Health and Science University and the Veterans' Administration, has posted a terrific response to  CNN.com's "Ten dumb things you do at the doctor's office" and to our discussion of it here. Titled Dumb patients? No way. It’s only...
The Evidence for and Experience of Engaging in Health Care: Jessie Gruman’s powerful speech at ICSI
Ten days ago a post here mentioned the 14th ICSI / IHI Colloquium. I said the Society for Participatory Medicine was well represented, including: Jessie Gruman, four time cancer patient and founding co-editor of our journal, gave an important breakout session, about...
CNN: “10 dumb things you do at the doc’s office”? Discuss.
Additions late 5/30/11: First, once again the comment discussion has colored some people's view, including mine, of this discussion. That's good. Second, in response to comments, I made a couple of edits, striking through the old text, and tonight I discovered the...
Peer-to-peer Healthcare: Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Obvious.
Here's my simple definition of peer-to-peer healthcare: Patients and caregivers know things -- about themselves, about each other, about treatments -- and they want to share what they know to help other people. Technology helps to surface and organize that knowledge...
Stifling Primary Care: Why does Medicare/Medicaid Still Support the “RUC” Rate Setting Cabal?
This isn't directly involved with participatory medicine, unless you believe that a responsible patient wants to know the best way to do participatory health, and thus avoid the need for health care. Lower costs and keep your family out of the hospital - good deal,...
