Making the Cut

Effective treatment, as every doctor knows, begins with accurate diagnosis. Making the Cut is about what’s going on in the house of medicine. Medicine got sick. One in three people now distrust the healthcare system. Following the pandemic, two-thirds of Americans doubt medical scientists will act in the best interest of the public. We are grappling with an epidemic of chronic illness—heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and chronic lung and kidney disease—affecting six in ten Americans, which medicine seems powerless to fix. The overall life expectancy of Americans has declined for the first time since the Great Depression. Not only are trust levels tanking, the number of doctors is dropping dramatically. Physicians are quitting in droves. One in five doctors will leave medicine in the next two years. One in three will reduce their hours. A doctor, we assume, wounds in order to heal. “You’re going to