If I Betray These Words
In If I Betray These Words, Wendy Dean profiles clinicians across the country who are tough, resourceful, and resilient, but feel trapped between the patient-first values of their Hippocratic oath and the business imperatives of a broken healthcare system. This is the essence of moral injury in healthcare.
Awards
2024 Webby/Anthem Award for Health - Book, Story or Feature
Using stories of physicians from across America, "If I Betray These Words" confronts the threat and broken promises of moral injury – what it is; where it comes from; how it manifests; and who’s fighting back against it.
Reviews
“A fierce denunciation of American medicine in which physicians are the heroes—mostly… An expert bottoms-up examination of our diseased health care system.”
-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
If I Betray These Words” ably humanizes modern, troubled physicians and rightly recognizes an important cause of their suffering.
--The Wall Street Journal
This is an important call to action.”
--Booklist
This book is great for anyone working with patients, from nurses and doctors to health care and hospital administrators. It puts a spotlight on the problem of moral injury and how to rectify it.
--Library Journal
Founder
Moral Injury of Healthcare, a 501(c)3, was founded with Simon Talbot, MD, to address the distress that occurs when clinicians are repeatedly expected to make choices that transgress their deeply held commitment to healing. Moral injury locates the source of distress not in individual frailty, but in a conflict ridden healthcare system.
We intend to realign the goals and incentives of healthcare stakeholders to create a better, sustainable environment of care.
