Let's get physical.

I just started reading Dr. Abraham Verghese’s book Cutting for Stone and loved this article about him so much I had to share: “Physician Revives a Dying art: The Physical” (thank you Kate and Kezya!)

Dr. V preaches the art of the physical as a simple and effective way of diagnosing some of the most obvious afflictions the human body may suffer. “It would be a shame to have someone with a gait that’s diagnostic, and yet we can’t recognize it.”

My favorite part of the piece? He has the (my) ideal situation for working 2-days a week: Two days a week he hides out to write, in a secret office that was part of the deal he made when Stanford recruited him. His name is not even on the door; he left the names of the previous occupants. There is no land line.

Love it. More here: nytimes.com/health

Selling the music room.

“Once a branded disease has achieved a degree of cultural legitimacy, there is no need to convince anyone that a drug to treat it is necessary. It will come to him as his own idea.”

Does that sum up the American addiction to prescription drugs, or am I crazy? Check out this piece by Dr. Carl Elliott, author of White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine: “How to brand a disease — and sell a cure”

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This is old, but I just saw it today (thanks Liz!). Love this ad from TBWA\Vancouver and, in fact, all of the ads here: Top 40+ Creative Ads Made to Stop You [From] Smoking