Narrative Matters: The Power of the Personal Essay in Health Policy

This anthology brings together the personal stories of patients, physicians, policy makers, and others whose writings humanize discussions and deliberations about health policy.

Drawn from the popular "Narrative Matters" column in the journal Health Affairs, the essays epitomize the policy narrative, a new genre of writing that explores health policy through the expression of personal experiences. Forty-six articles focus on such topics as the hard financial realities of medical insurance, AIDS, assisted suicide, marketing drugs, genetic engineering, organ transplants, and ethnic and racial disparities in the health care system. The narratives raise ethical and moral issues that are being studied in many of our nation's medical schools.

This compelling collection provides important insight into the human dimensions of health care and health policy.

Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D., is Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy and professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University and editor of the "Narrative Matters" section in Health Affairs. Ellen Ficklen is a senior editor at Health Affairs and co-editor of "Narrative Matters." Kyna Rubin is an independent writer and the former co-editor of "Narrative Matters."