“units of care,” Hadler said, he had to make
a choice, to “carry on the best I could in
the face of changes I thought were wrong
for the sake of UNC students … focus
more on my research on workplace health
and safety, or take a stand. I chose the latter.”
It wasn’t an easy stand for him to take,
said his wife, Carol Hadler. Even though he
had a lot of support from the faculty and
staff at UNC, his ideas also met with a great
deal of resistance. Hadler, she said, has
always wanted to be the
best teacher and the best
clinician he could be.
He’s not by nature an
outspoken person, she
said, but “he has what I
call moral courage.”
Over the years, Hadler
has written more than
200 papers and 13
books. Most are scholar-
ly pieces with names
largely incomprehensible
to laymen and aimed at
other doctors —
“Treatment of calcinosis
universalis with low dose
warfarin,” for example.
Some, particularly the
more recent ones, show signs of his transi-
tion from medical professor to maverick —
“The socioeconomics of back pain,” and
“ ‘Fibromyalgia’ and the medicalization of
misery.”
challenge the most powerful groups in
America, and all he’s trying to do is tell the
truth to help people.”
Telling the truth has always been an integral part of Hadler’s approach to medicine.
Throughout his career he’s been an advocate of bedside teaching —
thoroughly explaining to
patients the ins and outs of an
illness and the impact that
treatment is likely to have on
their lives, good and bad, in
the short term and the long.
By the early 1990s, however,
the American institution of
medicine had altered its
approach to patient care,
Hadler said. It “had moved
away from what I believed was
the ethical care of the patient.”
Books such as Worried Sick: A Prescription
for Health in an Overtreated America are one
way Hadler tries to get his message out to
the public about effective health care.
Hospitals, he said, adopted a
business model that turned
patients into “units of care,”
who frequently were subjected
to unnecessary and expensive
procedures and then quickly ushered out
the door. Most of these “high-ticket items
have been studied and don’t work,” he said.
“We are swimming in data that say they
don’t save lives and don’t improve symptoms.”
Efficiency, not effectiveness, had become
the norm, and his response was one of
“moral outrage.”
“I had many options for my career at
that juncture,” he said, a career that in many
ways began when he was 11 years old and
started working weekends and summers in
proprietary hospitals in Brooklyn. He had
myriad jobs that included drawing blood,
working as a lab technician and assisting
nurses in the operating room. “This was in
the 1950s,” he said, “when medicine was
unregulated and scientifically and technologically primitive compared to today —
and all too often reprehensible.”
Three of his most recent books, however, have a noticeably different spin, one that
boldly reflects his desire to reach a mainstream audience and to effect change on a
broad scale. The first is The Last Well Person:
How to stay well despite the health-care system.
The second is Worried Sick and the third, to
come out this fall, is called Stabbed in the
Back: Confronting Back Pain in an Overtreated
Society.
All of them are a plea for his brand of
health care reform, one that will not take
place, he said, until the nation’s consumers
— its patients — speak up.
By age 25, Hadler had a medical degree
from Harvard University. By 30, he was an
assistant professor at UNC. He became an
associate professor in 1978 and a full professor in 1985. He’s also an attending rheuma-tologist at UNC Hospitals.
“That’s why I’m talking to you,” he said.
That’s why he writes books with catchy
titles; that’s why he gives talks, testifies in
court and makes radio and television
appearances. “I want us as a country to say,
‘Wait a minute. Is this money well spent
and does it advantage me?’ ” ;
— Lucy Hood ’ 83
In the early ’90s when patients became
ONLINE: Hadler was featured in the Review’s
Campus Profile department in March/April 2006
in an article titled “Nortin Hadler: What You Know
Is Wrong.” It is available online to GAA members
at alumni.unc.edu/cararchive.
GAA
Board of Directors
2009
2010
Officers
Eleanor Saunders Morris ’ 55, Chapel Hill . . . . . . .Chair
Randy K. Jones ’ 79, Chula Vista, Calif. . . .Immed. Past Chair
D. Jordan Whichard III ’ 79, Greenville. . . . . . .Chair-Elect
Donald W. Curtis ’ 63, Raleigh . . . . . . . . . . . .1st Vice Chair
Thomas N. Chewning ’ 67, Richmond,Va. . . 2nd Vice Chair
Anthony Eden Rand ’ 61, Fayetteville . . . . . . . Treasurer
William P. Aycock II ’ 65, Greensboro . . . . . . . .Counsel
Douglas S. Dibbert ’ 70, Chapel Hill . . . . . . . .President
Tar Heel Network Chairman
Thomas W. Lambeth ’ 57 . . . . . . . . . . Winston-Salem
Directors
APPOINTED AT LARGE
William L. Chambers ’ 72 (2012) . . . . . . . . . .Asheville
Andrew R. Pflaum ’ 91 (2012) . . . .Portola Valley, Calif.
Teresa Artis ’ 83 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh
William A. Current Jr. ’ 56 (2011) . . . . . . . . . .Gastonia
Kraig J. Holt ’ 82 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlotte
James R. Zook Jr. ’ 87 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Atlanta
ELECTED TO REPRESENT NORTH CAROLINA ALUMNI
Elbert Lee Avery ’ 82 (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Durham
Eloise McCain Hassell ’ 80 (2012) . . . . . . .Greensboro
Margaret Ferguson Raynor ’ 67 (2012) . . . . . . .Garner
Alan L. “A.C.” Caldwell ’ 78 (2011) . . . Winston-Salem
Harriet Morrison Loweth ’ 82 (2011) . . . . Wilmington
Sally Price Ormand ’ 58 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . .Monroe
W. Hampton Lefler Jr. ’ 59 (2010) . . . . . . . . . .Hickory
Sarah Hester Mayo ’ 85 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . .Greenville
Dan Allen Myers ’ 71 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kinston
Judy Allen Vinroot ’ 65 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlotte
ELECTED TO REPRESEN T OU T-OF-S TATE ALUMNI
F. Daniel Batten III ’ 64 (2012) . . . . . . .Charleston, S.C.
L. Allan Parrott ’ 88 (2012) . . . . . . . . . . .Virginia Beach,Va.
Cathy Harper Watts ’ 88 (2012) . . . . . . . . . .Los Angeles
Draggan P. Mihailovich ’ 83 (2011) . . . .Stamford, Conn.
Elizabeth Fell “Betsy” Oliphant ’ 96 (2011) . . .Philadelphia
Larry L. Poe ’ 65 (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Issue, Md.
Michael J. Egan ’ 78 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Atlanta
Marjorie Julian Spruill ’ 73 (2010) . . . . .Columbia, S.C.
S. Thompson Tygart ’ 62 (2010) . . . . . . .Jacksonville, Fla.
EX OFFICIO, REPRESENTING THE STUDENT BODY
Jasmin Mariel Jones ’ 10 . . . . .Student Body President
Andrew Dunn ’ 10 . . . . . . . .Editor, The Daily Tar Heel
Meghan “Meggie” Staffiera ’ 10 . .President, Senior Class
John Jacob Byrne Jr.’ 10 . . President, Order of the Bell Tower
EX OFFICIO, REPRESENTING THE FACULT Y
Joseph L. Templeton (2010) . . . . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill
PRESIDENTS OF SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS (EX OFFICIO)
Barbara Beechwood ’06(MRP),City&Reg’l Plan. . .Durham
C. Scott Davenport ’ 84 (DDS), Dentistry . . . . .Charlotte
Elizabeth M. Colbert’ 86, Education . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh
Emily M. King ’01, Info. & Library Sci. . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill
Daniel W. Teachey ’ 95, Journalism & Mass Comm. . .Cary
John S. Willardson ’ 68, Law . . . . . . . . . . . . Wilkesboro
Dr. Hugh A. McAllister Jr. ’ 66 (MD), Medicine . .Houston
Gregory A. Simpson ’01 (MSN), Nursing . . . . .Durham
Lori Tutterow Setzer ’ 83, Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . .Lewisville
Sean R. Brandon’ 99 (MPA), Public Admin. . .Savannah, Ga.
Jacky A. Rosati ’02 (PhD), Public Health . . .Hillsborough
Michelle R. Turner ’01, Social Work . . . . . . . . .Chapel Hill
ALUMNI ON THE ATHLETIC COUNCIL (ELECTED AT LARGE)
Samuel B. Perkins ’ 84 (2012) . . . . . . . . . .Indianapolis.
Vaughn D. Bryson ’ 60 (2011) . . . . . . .Vero Beach, Fla.
Jason F. Stanicek ’ 95 (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Raleigh
