Must Read Books

There are two book that are must reads for all of us that are involved the medical community.

"How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman, MD

"The Treatment Trap" by Rosemary Gibson
(How the Overuse of Medical Care is Wrecking Your Health)

If you ignore the messages in these books you get what you deserve. They will open your mind to what is going on behind the scenes when you visit "Your Doctor", even the nice understanding ones.

frank

9 Comments

Some examples?

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-16 11:09:25

First I echo grey eagle's suggestion of looking at book reviews. Amazon is one of the better sources. You will get a wide range of how various readers see the books.

In the meantime I am trying to put together my feelings about them. They are the sort of thing that stimulates my thinking leading to some of my approaches to dealing with organized medicine. For me they are not a cookie cutter approach on how to handle situations.

So stay tuned,

frank

Follow up

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-17 02:09:55

First there is the different nature of each book.

"How Doctors Think" is just that. It talks about the doctor-patient interaction and how it can affect the doctors diagnosis. It is from the perspective of a doctor who cares about his patients. Here are a couple of things that stand out.

A trap many doctors fall into is to jump on the first thing the patient says as a starting point for the visit. I remember one of those myself. When asked if I was having any chest pain I made the mistake of saying "yes, but I worked in the yard with a jack hammer yesterday". The doc never heard the last part and started writing an order for an ECG. Actually, I had come to see him about a persistent knee pain. I actually had to yell STOP at him to get back to what I wanted to discuss. Even after all that I later found the Chest Pain notation in my medical records.

Another disturbing bit of of information is that the typical radiologist report is the result of a 5-10 minute glance at the computer screen. In one study 5 radiologists read a CT scan from 160 patients. 100 were healthy and 60 had a tumor. None got them all correct. When they were asked to read them again 4 months later they didn't even agree with themself.

"The Treatment Trap" discloses the financial and ego motivation for much of the diagnosis and treatment in corporate medicine. A couple of examples:

A study was conducted by a major medical school and the Rand Corporation, where a expert panel of doctors reviewed angiograms from patients that had undergone heart bypass surgery. They found that one third of the patients did not need the surgery.

Another study showed that 9 percent of the patients receiving carotid artery surgery to remove fattty deposits did not benefit from it and the risk of stroke from the surgery exceeded any possible benefit.

It's not a matter of all doctors or facilities being dishonest or incompetent. They are under tremendous pressure from decreasing payments, heavy schedules, and competition. My feeling is that it is up to us to become well informed and keep a questioning mind.

Just keep in mind that Bernie Madoff was very nice old gentleman who seemed to have his clients best interests at heart.

frank

lol i hear you frank

by jessie - 2010-09-17 03:09:59

it is all about money is it not? i have noticed that for a long time. we must be in charge of our own healthcare. in saying that i really now believe that if we eat right and exercise some even twenty minutes a day unless we feel sick stay away from the drs. it is important to have your tests done regularly as preventitive care . it is important to drink some water every day. if i don't i feel dehydrated. i try to keep it simple. i love your last line frank.lol jessie

I could

by walkerd - 2010-09-17 06:09:15

have done without the review of the cartiod artery piece. These books sound like the show busted and disgusted. What a bummer to read this. Im not sure Id have the guts to read those books. But thanks for shareing Frank Ill take a look at Amazon book review tho.

dave

here

by jessie - 2010-09-18 11:09:33

in canada right now where i live it takes 3 weeks to see my family dr. by then i am exasperated and usually go to the clinic here or e.r. emergency room
i feel good and so don't really plan on spending too much time in dr. offices. i had blood work done and it was fine. so based on that the only other test i would have right now is a mammogram. just had a p.m. check and it seems i have seven years left before replacement.
my cardiologist is great and doesn't want to see me all the time. once a year now. so still working on the problem of weight. i will fight that battle forever or until i die .ciao jessie

Sounds like you have it under control

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-18 12:09:23

Jessie,
I had forgotten that you are in Canada and have a whole different set of issues. I doubt "The Treatment Trap" would be much value to you since it is oriented to our marketed medicine system here in the the states. The other book "How Doctors Think" could be helpful in getting the most out of those infrequent visits to docs with a heavy patient load.

keep up the good work,

frank

Missing the message

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-18 12:09:39

I sometimes feel like giving up on the whole thing! One of the chapters in The Treatment Trap is titled Marinated Minds. An early paragraph really lays out the problem.
"The media marinade disconnects us from the reality of what we allow others to do to our bodies. We suspend our critical thinking. We are advised to Ask your doctor".

I'm not trying to put down anyone here, but try to think independently about the following:

Jessie, you put it well when you say that we must be in charge of our own health care, but then say it is important to have your preventative tests done regularly. Yet these preventative tests are routinely used as a way of leading patients to have unnecessary treatments done. A prime example is prescribing BP meds based on one office measurement. Can you face a doctor who has a worried look on his/her face while describing the terrible things that may happen if the treatment isn't pursued? If not they maybe it is time to consider the implications of starting down that path.

walkerd, Why is it such a bummer to read the carotid artery piece? If you have had this procedure done and come through it OK then fine. In any case it could be a life saving piece of information in the future.

Reminds me of an accident that happened on one our 4wd roads near here. The narrow road skirts a steep ledge with a 200' dropoff over the side. The driver was so scared of the dropoff that she avoided looking at the edge of the road and stayed very near the inside wall. In the process she snagged her right front wheel on the wall, and rolled the Jeep down the cliff. Fortunately she and her kids were wearing restraints and survived the fall, but had to be airlifted out. This is what can happen when we chose to avoid paying attention to scary, but important information.

We have folks here who ask us to pray for them as they go through serious procedures. Maybe it would be better to understand whether they are being preyed upon by the medical system.

that's my soap box for the night,
cheers,

frank

House of God

by Skyking - 2010-10-20 02:10:21

Lets not forget that book.... the most revealing book EVER written on the medical industry and profession.

House Of God, get it, read it

Thanks

by ElectricFrank - 2010-10-20 05:10:23

Found a used one on Amazon and ordered it.

frank

You know you're wired when...

Your kids call you Cyborg.

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