Why We Revolt (A Patient Revolution for Careful and Kind Care)

Winner of the 2018 PenCraft Award for Literary Excellence, Why We Revolt peels back the curtain to expose the corruption and negligence present in the modern American healthcare system—and how, with focused collaboration, we can revolutionize the way our country approaches patient care.

Told through a series of essays and short stories, Dr. Victor M. Montori’s Why We Revolt uncovers how, over the past few decades, the American healthcare system has become increasingly exploited and industrialized. The costs of health insurance and standard medical procedures continue to soar, physicians are pressured to push through cases without regards for patient satisfaction, and the system pursues standardization, which causes individualized healthcare to become generic and impersonal. Still, the United States falls behind other countries on patient outcomes, and physicians continue to be overloaded with tedious administrative work as the emphasis is placed on profits instead of patient care.

Dr. Montori’s first-hand account is a must-read for both physicians and patients who want to understand how—and why—the American healthcare system fails the very people it was meant to serve, and what direct actions we can take to transform it. The book’s content serves as a warning that, without radical change, the system will continue to help economically-driven corporations profit, harming doctors and patients in the process.

Why We Revolt is an inspiring call-to-action for physicians, policymakers, and patients alike to rethink the way we approach healthcare. By sharing moving, personal anecdotes from decades on the front line, Dr. Montori proves that with education, optimism, and compassion, we can work together to change the face of the current healthcare system and transform it into one that offers tailored healthcare in a kind and careful way.

All proceeds from Why We Revolt go directly to Patient Revolution, a non-profit organization founded by Dr. Montori that empowers patients, caregivers, community advocates, and clinicians to rebuild our healthcare system one bit at a time.

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“In this brave book, Dr. Montori channels George Orwell to expose the corruption — and absurdity — of health care. Filled with compassionate and clear-eyed observations, Why We Revolt will leave you fired up, no matter what side of the gurney you are on.” – Julia Belluz, senior health correspondent at Vox.com.

“We revolt because our health – our very lives – matter. Why We Revolt does not serve as a blueprint but as an inspiration for patients and clinicians who are ready to pry open the idea of “healthcare” and make it about actual health and care. This book is a necessary catalyst for conversations that will revolutionize patient care." – Kerri Sparling, diabetes patient advocate and creator of SixUntilMe.com.

"This marvelously optimistic book is an urgent and cogent call to action that is firmly rooted in direct experience of the harms inflicted, not only on patients but also on those who try to care for them, by the industrialization of contemporary healthcare." – Iona Heath, medical doctor and writer, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

"A thoroughly convincing, mobilizing, and supremely optimistic call to action for medical industry reform." -- Kirkus

"Beautifully written, with an elegantly simple and though-provoking message, I recommend it wholeheartedly, and, once you have read it, pass it on to someone else. We need a change in health care, and this may be the answer." – Samuel Finnikin, British Journal of General Practice