Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare is a discussion-based program that brings hospital staff together monthly to reflect on the larger mission of medicine through facilitated conversations about literature.

Discussion of 'Welcome to Cancerland,' by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Back in the old days, your employer would pick up your pension tab. From auto industry assembly line plants to corporate offices filled with row-upon-row of white-collar workers, most anyone earning a paycheck was part of what was called a defined benefit pension plan.  That meant the employer, not the worker, paid for and managed the funds that would one day show up in a monthly pension check.

That changed in the late ‘70s and early '80s when the 401(k) came onto the employee benefits scene. The responsibility--and the risk--of saving for retirement were shifted to the worker. On the surface, it was not a terrible idea to give the individual a hand in preparing for retirement. But while fund managers and employers pushed 401(k) plans as a sure way to build million-dollar retirements nest eggs, they didn't always offer much information about the risks of investing. And today, millions of 401(k) plan participants are seeing a creeping erosion of their account balances as the stock market plunges.

In a recent column, commentator Marie Cocco points out the over-the-top gushing that was used to sell 40l(k)s as get-rich-quick schemes: