Silence Kills: Speaking Out and Saving Lives

Written by physicians, caregivers, patients, and family members, the twelve essays collected in Silence Kills present a compelling, and often frightening, insider look at the lack of communication and understanding currently plaguing the American health care system.These stories explore a wide and complicated range of experiences—a doctor is pressured into sending a patien

Written by physicians, caregivers, patients, and family members, the twelve essays collected in Silence Kills present a compelling, and often frightening, insider look at the lack of communication and understanding currently plaguing the American health care system.These stories explore a wide and complicated range of experiences—a doctor is pressured into sending a patient home from the emergency room but later must face his decision when the patient suddenly dies; a physician must deal with her self-doubt as she faces a malpractice lawsuit and must come to terms with the fact that even doctors are fallible and human; a woman fights for her mother's mental health and well-being against a system eager to over-medicate the elderly; and more—but all share one thing: a frustration with a system that hinders communication and often leads to unnecessary suffering.

Inspired by groundbreaking research by VitalSmarts, a global leader in organizational performance and leadership, and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), and supported by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Lee Gutkind, editor and founder of Creative Nonfiction, has collected the essays in this volume—in the hope that these voices, speaking out, taking action and risks, will inspire others to make changes that will improve communication within our troubled health care system.