HEALTHY LIVING


Impact Your Health Seemingly insignificant events could be the difference between life and death. ::


Hidden Forces BY VERA TWEED D T


espite our best-laid plans, things don’t always turn out the way we hope. And in medicine, random


acts can influence your health in unexpected ways. If you’re rushed to the hospital with


chest pains when the top cardiologists are out of town at a medical conference, are your odds of survival worse?


Surprisingly, no. In fact, your odds


are better. These are some of the research


findings by Anupam Jena, M.D., Ph.D., professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School and co-author of Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health.


Choose Right Doctor


he doctor-patient relationship has changed in the last few decades,


says Harvard’s Dr. Anupam Jena. Whereas the doctor used to be an


authority figure who wasn’t questioned, communication is now more of a two- way street. The research shows that good


86 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | JUNE 2024 His work looks at how random


factors affect the results of medical treatment and ways to harness that knowledge for better outcomes. In one study, Jena and his team


analyzed data on 200,000 Medicare patients who were hospitalized for heart attacks or heart failure during a 10-year period. It found that when fewer cardiologists were on the job, patients received fewer invasive procedures and lived up to eight years longer than those who were treated at other times.


MARATHONS CAN KILL YOU Someone with chest pains may face worse odds of survival if a local marathon happens to be underway. Research shows that deaths


from heart attacks increase during marathons, because road closures and traffic jams slow down ambulances. The takeaway, says Jena, is not that


we should stop all marathons or other traffic-disrupting events. Rather, we can use the data to be better prepared. “There are a lot of things that we


Everything that we do in medicine entails a potential risk and potential benefit. Sometimes, less is more.” — Anupam Jena, M.D., Ph.D.


doctors don’t have to go to highly rated medical schools, or even medical schools in this country. These, says Jena, are the important questions you can ask: How often do you perform


this type of procedure? Are many of your patients in a similar situation to mine? If the doctor is older, how do you stay up to date


on the latest treatments for this type of condition? “If the doctor is offended by you asking when it’s a very reasonable question, to me, that’s a little bit of a red flag,” says Jena. “Maybe that’s not the type of person that you want to see.” After all, he adds, “Your life and your well-being are at stake.”


Other research found that patients


with metastatic lung cancer fared better and lived longer when they received palliative care rather than aggressive treatment. “Everything that we do in medicine


entails a potential risk and potential benefit,” Jena tells Newsmax. “Sometimes, less is more.”


DOCTOR/VADYM PASTUKH/SHUTTERSTOCK / MARATHON/PAVEL1964/SHUTTERSTOCK / PHONE/STUDIO ROMANTIC/SHUTTERSTOCK SENIOR DOCTOR/D’ACTION IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK / ONLINE RECORDS/RAWPIXEL.COM/SHUTTERSTOCK


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