Talking With Your Physician: Surviving Obamacare

by Lawrence W. Gold

As the healthcare system becomes more complicated, expensive, and stressful for both patients and their physicians—especially under Obamacare—the patient-physician relationship is more vital than ever in guiding us through the system. The book makes important observations and specific suggestions about how to improve patient care, reduce malpractice claims, insure patient rights, and allow physicians to practice in a more rewarding manner. The solutions aren’t easy or quick, but improving the patient-physician relationship is a good start under any healthcare system, including Obamacare.
Talking with Your Physician is a lighthearted attempt to deal with a potentially serious problem in medical care—the deteriorating relationship between patients and their physicians—and empowering patients with the necessary knowledge to put their health first.

118 pages, Paperback

Published February 22, 2016

About the author

Lawrence W. Gold, MD is a retired physician. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War where he served in an evacuation hospital, ran an emergency room and was a Battalion Surgeon. He completed his training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney in 1968.

He retired in 1995 after 23 years in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses and served as Chief of Medicine. After retirement he and his wife, Doris, spent time sailing at sea. He has written three screenplays based on his novels. His screenplay for Rage won honorable mention at the 80th annual Writer's Digest contest. He lives in Grass Valley, CA with his wife.

Reviews

[Shawn Remfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a comprehensive study guide to improve the patient/ healthcare provider relationship.

Going to the doctor is scary. Obamacare changes are scary. Knowing your rights, your obligations, and your coverage is pretty difficult. Add to this a difficult relationship with your healthcare provider, and it makes for horrible healthcare.

I remember years ago, I attempted to switch doctors. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the doctor I had, except that he wasn't the right doctor for me. I had trust issues. We couldn't communicate. He was brusque and quick and did nothing to set me at ease. Now, the rest of my family adored his no-nonsense 'do what I tell you to do' attitude, but it didn't work with my personality. When I called the doctor's office and requested to be switched to another doctor in the facility, I was met with hostility and blacklisted from the facility altogether. The thing is, it wasn't an attack on the doctor in any way. I wanted a doctor I could trust and have a relationship with. I wanted a caregiver that I could feel confident understood my health needs and could communicate with me how to meet them. That wasn't happening. Still, to this day, I do not regret my decision. I never returned to the health care facility where my doctor was located.

Considering that health care is such a necessity, every person should take it seriously. Every person becomes ill or injured at some point and having someone you can trust for your care is important. Keeping that in mind, there are a x amount of doctors in the world and y amount of patients. The numbers simply don't match up. In a single day, a doctor can see so many patients that it becomes a whirlwind of activity. Add to that the possibility of an emergency, which could set the doctor several hours behind on his already hectic schedule, and it's no wonder that most doctors don't take the initiative to dig deep into your medical history and remember every scar that you have. It simply isn't possible.

This book is an incredible tool, and sadly, I haven't even really begun to study it. I've read it, but that isn't the same thing. There's so much information in here that I'll be pulling it out as it becomes relevant. I remember in high school I had a B.E.R. and that was my English tool book. It had everything that I needed to know and I could look it up and access it as needed. This book is my medical B.E.R.

In this book, you'll find some great cartoons that are extremely relevant to being a patient. They're light-hearted and humorous, but at the crux of them you'll find some pretty difficult truths. There's an entire page of medical quotes (Mark Twain's is my favorite!) There are several first-person accounts of doctor/patient relationships. I particularly enjoyed these because it just makes everything more personal. Not only does this book emphasize the importance of building strong communication, but also issues, statistics, red flags and when to fire your physician. Coming from a doctor, this is awesome! I feel validated in firing my doctor!

This isn't a book where Joe Bob Polyfreeze down the street starts on a rampage about what doctors should be like. This is a comprehensive look at some of the most difficult parts in the doctor/patient relationship with an end goal of healing and strengthening it. There is practical advice for any situation that you may be in. I do believe that if all doctors held the beliefs and practices of Dr. Gold, I wouldn't be so terrified of seeking medical attention.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading the subtitle, I thought the book would be yet another diatribe against Obamacare. The political rhetoric against it has been loud, repetitive and occasionally nonsensical. Witness the chatter about “death panels.”
Yet, the content is generally supportive of the concept of Obamacare, almost totally through omission rather than commission. It is very rarely mentioned so the subtitle comes across as more cover hype than a description of the content.
The focus, which is the art of developing a two-way channel of communication between the physician and patient, would have been valid one hundred years ago. The only real difference is that the patients now have access to an enormous amount of online information, some more valuable and accurate than others . Gold uses facts, humor and cartoons to explain how the relationship between a physician and patient should function.
My favorite joke is attributed to Jadelr and Cristina Cordova, “If you trust Google more than your doctor, maybe it’s time to switch doctors.” The second best is by the master Mark Twain, “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” Other jokes deal with medical malpractice and a patient misunderstanding the meaning of a word.
The relationship between a patient and their physician is one that functions best when it is open and honest, for it can truly be a matter of life and death. Or at least a shorter life and a more painful and lingering death. This is a good book on how to improve that relationship and should be read by principals on both sides of the equation.

This book was made available for free for review purposes.