Leana Wen was called a traitor to medicine, she was told she should be fired and have her medical lisence taken away. If you want to find out what she did to upset thousands of doctors, keep reading.
When Leana was growing up, her dream job was to become a doctor. She suffered with asthma so she was constantly at the hospital. Every time she was rushed to the hospital, her favorite doctor ,Dr.Sam was there to make her feel better.
Up until the age of 8, Leana and her parents lived in china. When they moved to the United States Leana's parents worked hard to be able to affored for Leana to go to university and medical school.
One day during her medical training, she was taking care of a young man who had been riding his bike when he was hit and run over by an SUV. The boys mother and father flew from Seattle to find their son in a coma. The parents asked reasonable questions like how they were going to proceed with his treatment. Leana referred to the chief doctor and he said no. "They may get in the nurses way" he said. "They may even see mistakes and sue us ". She found that a doctor was afraid of patients finding out who he really was and was holding information from them.
Wen has persional experience with doctors hiding who they really are. Wen's mother called her one day saying she was tired, had shortness of breath and was coughing nonstop. She was never one to complain so it must have been something important. Leana's mother ended up having stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her lungs, bones and brain. It was Leana's mother's 3 rd round of kemo therapy when she had lost her adress book. When the mom searched up the name of her doctor, she didn't just find his number, she found that he was a spokes person for a certain drug company and often spoke on befalf of the kemo regiment she was on.
In medicine, having trust in your doctor is essential because without trust, all there is left is fear.
Knowing this knowledge of her mother's doctor, Leana conducted a reaserch on what people want to know about their healthcare. There were 3 answers, Is my doctor certified to practice medicine?, Is my doctor unbiased and making desisions based on science and not how much they get paid?, and finally Do I have the same values and beliefs about medicine as my doctor? People want to know about their doctors so they make the right choice when picking one.
To solve this problem she created a website called " Who's My Doctor?" Incentives matter so participating doctors on the website list who pays them and their beliefs on things like womens rights and end of life decisions. These doctors have pledged to be transperant.
Even though this website was hated by thousands of doctors, many patients and doctors have gotten a closer bond because patients can trust that their doctors are unbiased and understand their beliefs on important decisions.
When Leana was growing up, her dream job was to become a doctor. She suffered with asthma so she was constantly at the hospital. Every time she was rushed to the hospital, her favorite doctor ,Dr.Sam was there to make her feel better.
Up until the age of 8, Leana and her parents lived in china. When they moved to the United States Leana's parents worked hard to be able to affored for Leana to go to university and medical school.
One day during her medical training, she was taking care of a young man who had been riding his bike when he was hit and run over by an SUV. The boys mother and father flew from Seattle to find their son in a coma. The parents asked reasonable questions like how they were going to proceed with his treatment. Leana referred to the chief doctor and he said no. "They may get in the nurses way" he said. "They may even see mistakes and sue us ". She found that a doctor was afraid of patients finding out who he really was and was holding information from them.
Wen has persional experience with doctors hiding who they really are. Wen's mother called her one day saying she was tired, had shortness of breath and was coughing nonstop. She was never one to complain so it must have been something important. Leana's mother ended up having stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her lungs, bones and brain. It was Leana's mother's 3 rd round of kemo therapy when she had lost her adress book. When the mom searched up the name of her doctor, she didn't just find his number, she found that he was a spokes person for a certain drug company and often spoke on befalf of the kemo regiment she was on.
In medicine, having trust in your doctor is essential because without trust, all there is left is fear.
Knowing this knowledge of her mother's doctor, Leana conducted a reaserch on what people want to know about their healthcare. There were 3 answers, Is my doctor certified to practice medicine?, Is my doctor unbiased and making desisions based on science and not how much they get paid?, and finally Do I have the same values and beliefs about medicine as my doctor? People want to know about their doctors so they make the right choice when picking one.
To solve this problem she created a website called " Who's My Doctor?" Incentives matter so participating doctors on the website list who pays them and their beliefs on things like womens rights and end of life decisions. These doctors have pledged to be transperant.
Even though this website was hated by thousands of doctors, many patients and doctors have gotten a closer bond because patients can trust that their doctors are unbiased and understand their beliefs on important decisions.