Genes are not really our genes. It is we who belong to them for a few decades

From OHCM and Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 1642: "We all labor against our own cure; for death is the cure of all diseases."

Most patients are told less than they want. Yet nothing you can say to your patient can ever be relied upon to tame death's mystery.

Death is nature's master stroke, albeit a cruel one, because it allows genotypes space to try on new phenotypes. Our bodies and minds are these perishable phenotypes.

The genes are not really our genes. It is we who belong to them for a few decades.

These are excerpts from the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine. Read more on page 6-7:



The OHCM mentions JS Bach's cantata in contemplation of death Ich habe genug (I've had enough):