Jerome Groopman’s “What’s The Trouble?”

From The New Yorker's archive: Groopman is known for his finely detailed medical journalism, and since 1997, he has contributed seventy pieces on a variety of subjects.

From The New Yorker's archive: Groopman is known for his finely detailed medical journalism, and since 1997, he has contributed seventy pieces on a variety of subjects.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   View in browser | Update your preferences     Medical Dispatches What's the Trouble? The same diagnostic shortcuts that help physicians save lives can also lead to grave errors. By Jerome Groopman The writer Jerome Groopman is known for his finely detailed medical journalism. Since 1997, Groopman has contributed seventy pieces to The New Yorker on a variety of subjects, including the complexities of bone-marrow transplants, the best treatments for chronic back pain, new revelations about the minds of vegetative patients, and innovative research therapies for AIDS. He has also published five books, including "The Measure of Our Days" and "The Anatomy of Hope." In much of his work, Groopman lays bare the doctor-patient relationship with nuance and rigor. In 2007, he published "What's the Trouble?", about the errors that doctors can make when attempting to diagnose patients. Many of us have an idea of medical professionals as infallible, he notes, yet many doctors are, at times, making assumptions and assessments based on inadequate knowledge. "Research shows that most physicians already have in mind two or three possible diagnoses within minutes of meeting a patient, and that they tend to develop their hunches from very incomplete information. To make diagnoses, most doctors rely on shortcuts and rules of thumb—known in psychology as 'heuristics,' " he writes. Groopman sifts through the maladies of the patients he encounters and interrogates them with a surgeon's precision. As he chronicles various cases, he uncovers the flaws inherent in a health system that depends on swift diagnoses and expeditious treatment. In doing so, Groopman crafts absorbing narratives about the physicians, making them human and, ultimately, offering the reader canny insights into the imperfections of the medical world.    —Erin Overbey, archive editor More from the Archive     Medical Dispatch Silent Minds What scanning techniques are revealing about vegetative patients. By Jerome Groopman     Annals of Medicine The Itch What if you started itching—and couldn't stop? By Atul Gawande This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To ensure delivery, we recommend adding newyorker@newsletters.newyorker.com to your contacts, while noting that it is a no-reply address. Please send all newsletter feedback to tnyinbox@newyorker.com.    For more from The New Yorker, sign up for our newsletters, shop the store, and sign in to newyorker.com, where subscribers always have unlimited access. Contact us with questions.   View our Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe.   Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.