Monday, March 02, 2009

A Classic Case of Denial

Mark Taylor, a veteran health reporter for Post-Tribune, tells the story of his heart attack rather humorously. Gratefully, all turned out just fine.

But his story demonstrates the most common reaction to new chest tightness: rationalization and denial.

And how many times have I heard similar stories?

More often than not. I would even go so far to say his story is typical.

Unfortunately for many others, not all of these stories had such happy endings.

-Wes

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may find this interesting...http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_fischell_on_medical_inventing.html

Anonymous said...

Gee an Interesting Link

Question: What was described would cost what? My Guess is $250,000.00 at the very least. That to me means 25 to 30 years of disposable income. Not to be cynical but frankly I'll take my chances with denial, that way I will not leave my family destitute.

What is the point of living longer just for the purpose of paying medical bills?

Marco said...

It must be all the harder for women, where the symptoms may be atypical and/or diffuse. Further, for younger women, there's that self-deluding notion that "I can't *possibly* be having a heart attack, I'm not menopausal!"

Marco