Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care

Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care explains the act of prognosis in its varying forms - doctors telling patients if their cancer is curable, when their pain will stop, if they will live to see their child graduate from college - from the perspective of doctors. Christakis examines why physicians are reluctant to predict the future, what uses doctors make of prognosis the symbolism it contains, and the practical and emotional difficulties it involves. Drawing on experiences both as a doctor and as a sociologist, he conducted interviews with scores of physicians; he searched medical textbooks and medical school curricula for discussions of prognosis; and he developed quantitative data showing that physicians are prone to specific types of errors in their predictions. He explores physicians' beliefs regarding the self-fulfilling prophecy and considers their use of optimism and pessimism in their care of patients. With its combination of approaches and methods, Death Foretold is the most rigorous study of a murky area of medical practice that, despite its importance, is only partially understood and rarely discussed.

Foreign editions (in print or forthcoming): Japanese