Welcome! I’m Karen, a medical sociologist for the past thirty years.
I have built a career doing academic studies of doctor-patient interaction, missed diagnoses, inequality in healthcare, and basically how healthcare can make things worse despite every medical promise out there.
In everyday language, I’m talking medical gaslighting, why it happens, and how we can resist it.
But also, (surprise!) I’m a real live person, with a body that doesn’t always cooperate and is aging to boot. I’ve been gaslit, misdiagnosed, had delayed diagnoses, and had my pain dismissed, just like most of people I hear from in the course of doing this research. Like everyone, I’ve come home upset with doctors and the systems that house them.
Fed up with healthcare struggles? Please hang around.
Exhausted from trying to balance healthcare with the rest of life? Worried that today’s healthcare system favors profits over patients? Sinking under the weight of caregiving in a policy context that relies on unpaid labor from women and women of color—the same people who are already most underserved by healthcare?
Then I hope you stay.
We have a lot of great research about healthcare, but we need to do a better job of getting actionable information into the hands of people who need it the most—patients, families, caregivers, laypeople, and providers trying to navigate a difficult system. This is my goal in this substack.
A new book on end-of-life healthcare!
Right now, I am excited to be releasing a book about end-of-life healthcare, which has been my research focus for the last decade. Unlike my years of writing academic articles about research results, this book is for laypeople trying to get what you need out of healthcare.
It comes out 9.1.2026 and you can read more and pre-order it here (please consider pre-ordering, it makes a huge difference in distribution decisions!). Here’s the cover:
In it, I bring you real stories of everyday people navigating death, dying, and caregiving. Not people with perfect lives, or inordinate wealth, or insider knowledge of how to wrangle healthcare. I also share my personal experiences with caring for my mother as she was dying of brain cancer.
Using my social science perspective, I explain why some of the problems we see happen, but also identify tips and strategies we can all use to get more of what we want (and less of what we don’t!) when it comes to end-of-life.
Why should I subscribe?
I write essays here twice a month. You will see a mix of topics related to health, illness, and healthcare. Some of it will be explainers of research and some of it will be more about lived experiences outside of healthcare—mine and other people’s. Sometimes there are windows into my writing process and peeks into the book topics too.
For example, here’s one where I wrote about a story from my research:
I strive to:
translate evidence-based research to real-life strategies and explanations you can use
share stories of real-life people navigating healthcare to elevate the experiences of lay people
share my own perspectives and experiences.
If that sounds like your jam, please stick around. You’ll start receiving new posts right here in your inbox.
What irks YOU about our healthcare? Where are you looking for help? Leave a comment and let me know what kinds of topics I should be writing about or who I should be following.
Yours in solidarity ✌️,
Karen
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I am excited to be in this space for multiple reasons: 1) I knew you when…2) At 75, I can use all the tips of the trade and 3) to share with my daughters, that you knew when, who might need this information for their futures. Seriously, wishing you nothing but good things and much success on Substack!
I am so excited for you to get your wisdom and insights out into THE WORLD! People with real bodies and real concerns need this support, and most of them do not subscribe to academic journals. I love everything you are doing, and I talk about it to all of my various mom circles. YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!