Writing lets you step back and think through a problem. Even the angriest rant forces the writer to achieve a degree of thoughtfulness.

We now have 30 percent, for example, of Medicare patients who are seeing doctors who are rewarded for doing this kind of work, like high blood pressure control. So, the Affordable Care Act has pushed this direction down the road.

In every industrialized nation, the movement to reform health care has begun with stories about cruelty.

In one study, old people assigned to a geriatrics team stayed independent for far longer, and were admitted to the hospital less.

Man is fallible, but maybe men are less so.

This is the reality of intensive care: at any point, we are as apt to harm as we are to heal.

Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.