You don't need to know me very well to know I consider getting my wife to marry me my greatest achievement, (it's in my bio at the bottom of this page, afterall).
So I didn't fall out of my chair when I heard about a new study that found married people were 14 percent more likely to survive a heart attack than single people.
That study, conducted by researchers from institutions including Aston Medical School and the
University of East Anglia, complements a similar study undertaken in California
that showed cancer survival rates were 27 percent higher for married men and 19 percent higher for married women.
I think these kinds of studies reveal a truth that happily married couples might sometimes take for granted:
Finding the right person — who not only pushes you to do better but also accepts you when you are not at your best — is a timeless form of personalized medicine.
Today personalized medicine is a bit of a buzz word for describing advanced scientific capabilities — so it's nice to find ways to apply it in a way that everyone can understand.
Of course, getting married is not good medicine for everyone, and I suspect if these studies looked a little deeper they would probably show that settling down with the wrong partner could be worse for someone's health than just staying single.
It takes all types — and isn't that what personalized medicine is all about?
Phil is a member of AHRA, HFMA, AAMI and the Cryogenic Society of America. He has contributed to a number of magazines and journals and has addressed trade groups.
Phil's proudest achievement is that he has been happily married to his wife Barbara since 1989, who helped him found DOTmed in 1998.
