The Patient’s Playbook:

The Patient’s Playbook: How to Save Your Life and the Lives of Those You Love by Leslie D. Michelson        Audio Book: 11 hours     Hardback book:  336 pages         

This book is a real eye-opener for the uniniated dealing first-hand with medical care in this country.     Having dealt with many hospital situations with family members over the years this book was like preaching to the choir in my case.    I have seen many of the situations described here and learned to be the advocate in many cases for the patient.     I was brought up in the age when people believed doctors knew everything and you never disputed anything they said because they were like demi-gods.    I quickly learned that was not so even at an early age.    Listening to some of the things doctors did or said that frankly seemed questionable brought me to the realization that doctors are people.   Doctors are not dem-gods.    Doctors are not all knowing.   I reiterate, doctors are people and we all have opinions and we are all fallible.    Having experienced emergency rooms where the patients were treated second class while the staff discussed what they were going to get for lunch/dinner,  having witnessed doctors tell patients what they had and what they were or were not going to do to them (the patient) without any discussion nor allowing for questions to be asked.   I have witnessed and been one of the family members trying to speak to a doctor that would not return calls nor would the nurses contact them because they were told never to do that.    I have gotten up at 3:30a.m. in order to be at the hospital when a doctor was doing his rounds at 5:00a.m. just so I could talk to him/her.     This book gives the reader clarity into a very secretive and mysterious profession.    It is an excellent guide for both the patient and the family through all steps of medical care and offers counsel on how best to approach diagnosis and how to get second and third opinions when serious problems are present or serious operations are rushed through and scheduled before the patient and the patient’s family have time to process such a serious procedure.    This book is a MUST READ.    Doctors don’t always have all the answers and the answers they do have are not always right.    The author’s best advice is don’t let anyone doctor, specialist, etc. rush you or the patient into anything without giving you/the patient time to process.    His second best piece of advice:  NEVER FORGET THAT MEDICINE IS A BUSINESS.    The author gives you the statistics on how many operations are done that don’t need to be,  he also gives you the statistics on how much the hospitals and doctors receive in payment for various medical procedures.     He gives the pros and cons on going to teaching hospitals as opposed to local or regional medical centers/hospitals and also the low down on urgent care centers.     This book was recommended to me and I am paying it forward by recommending it to everyone else.    Do read it, you will be glad you did.