What If We Studied Success As Carefully As We Study Problems?
In medicine, we spend a great deal of time studying problems. We study complications. We study what went wrong. And rightly so. There is much to learn from those things. But I sometimes wonder: What if we studied success as carefully as we study problems? My son Alex survived injuries that many people do not survive. His spinal cord was nearly severed above C1. His brainstem was injured. He spent about 7 weeks in a coma. He depends on a ventilator and diaphragm pacer. Yet more than twenty-one years later, he is healthy, engaged, living in the community, and directing his own life. That reality raises a question. Not: “Why is he so complex?” But: “Why is he doing so well?” That is a different question. And different questions often lead to different discoveries. Perhaps we would learn more about: continuity of care, individualized support, community living, physiologic stability, caregiver knowledge, autonomy, and long-term outcomes. Perhaps we would disco...
