Physician Adam Cifu keeps a binder of every patient of his who has passed away. Every once in a while, he opens it and remembers the lives of his past patients. Morbid? Maybe a little. But it's just one of the ways Cifu tries to make his practice of medicine more mindful. In this conversation with EconTalk's Russ Roberts, Cifu explores the human side of medicine and the challenges of being a good doctor.
Welcome to Econ talk conversations for the curious part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
Go to econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
Our email address is melcontalk.org dot.
We'd love to hear from you.
Today is July 29, 2024.
My guest is physician Adam Sifu, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.
His blog on Substack is sensible medicine.
This is his third appearance on the program.
He was last here in July of 2019, talking about the case for being a medical conservative.
Adam, welcome back to Econ Talk.
Thank you so much, Russ.
It's great to be here.
Our topic for today is the day to day life of being a doctor.
We're going to use some of the essays you've written at your blog, sensible medicine, that are really quite wonderful, that reveal the challenges and rewards of the career you've chosen.
Let's start with the declaration of Geneva, something I had never heard of.
You don't mention how old it is.
What is it?
Right?