Surviving Your Doctors: Why the Medical System is Dangerous to Your Health and How to Get Through it Alive

by Richard S. Klein

Surviving Your Doctors, with its in-depth explanations, guidance, and direction will be the basic training manual patients need to work their way through the health care maze. It serves as a map of the medical minefield, told from the perspective of a doctor yet designed to reveal the faults in the system and the things that can and do go wrong during the course of both routine and special procedures and office visits. Filled with real stories of medical mishaps, anecdotes, and checklists, this book will walk readers through major areas of the medical world - from the doctor's office to the pharmacy, from the laboratory to the ER - giving them a clearer picture of how things really work, what health care workers really think, and how to take back control of their health and the care they receive.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2009

Reviews

[Arminzerella · Rating 2 out of 5]

The takeaway message here is to be an advocate for your health – don’t be silent or submissive, learn as much as you can about your diagnoses and medications (research, get second opinions, etc.), and communicate with your doctors. Richard S. Klein, M.D. will scare you with the statistics he presents on the errors committed by medical professionals. You’ll never want to visit the emergency room again (or at all) if you can help it. Malpractice is common, even rampant in certain medical centers and there are many repeat offenders. Several chapters offer advice tailored to specific conditions or situations, and readers may feel bogged down by the details. “I am NEVER going to remember all of that.” There are a lot of horror stories, too – misdiagnosis, unnecessary surgery, complications arising from untreated infections (the list goes on and on). Some information is repeated ad nauseum. Skimming is recommended, and for those who want the quickest read, Klein offers bulleted lists of the highlights at the end of each chapter. A little more enthusiastic than helpful in some sections, but still drives the message home – YOU are responsible for your health and well-being and you need to take an active role. If your physician isn’t open to that, find a new doctor.

This would have been more readable/useful if Dr. Klein had stuck to his more general advice to all patients, especially since much of the information he offers is repeated from chapter to chapter. Toward the end there are a few paragraphs that seemed tacked on (without any relation to the text that precedes). And I cringed every time Dr. Klein said “Google it!” when exhorting readers to research their illnesses, because he almost never follows it up with recommended/authoritative websites. You can find anything with Google, and people probably will. They (and their doctors) are going to be ripping out their hair when they get the search results (and subsequent printouts).

[Brian Meadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is quite an eye-opener. Experiencing medical care over the years one can see the changes in complexity and the opportunity for errors as well as the time and energy wasted on bureaucratic complexities. The patient is the ultimate loser. There is abundant confirmation of my own rather recent change in paradigm to go from trusting doctors and other medical professionals to having to be your own advocate and take responsibility for your health care. The book has its limitations as it was written over 10 years ago (before ACA) and realistically out of date in the rapidly changing health care field. It does what it promises in making the case that the medical system is dangerous, but in my mind is unrealistic in terms of how to get through it and what the answers are.

The book was not as well written as I would have liked. There was enough jumping around to confuse the reader and too much knowledge of medical jargon and procedures was assumed. No fault of the author, but the copy of the book I bought was missing a section of pages so I was unable to read that part.

The prescriptions for the reader were a mixed bag. Some were quite unrealistic. Researching (using Google) medical issues was emphasized. Doctors used to frown on that and some still do. When a medical crisis hits, not everyone has the luxury to be able to do that. Time and money are constraints in doing complicated research in an area you are not familiar with. If you are the one with the medical issue, you flat-out may not be in any condition to do extensive research or pepper doctors with questions. Another point he made repeatedly for emphasis was to have an advocate go with you to appointments and be with you round the clock in the hospital. It makes sense as they would be another set of ears and eyes and could take notes and help you to follow up. Not everyone has that luxury either. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic, anyone being with you is forbidden and you are on your own whether you are in any condition to fend for yourself or not.

Because of the complexity, the author encourages the patient to check and question everything - labels, x-rays, test results, medication to be given, etc. More frequently than we believe, meds, procedures and even surgeries are given to the wrong patient with disastrous results. He encourages second opinions and second readings of x-rays and other tests. This is placing undue burden on an ill patient as well as distressed family members. The problem is real and we as patients should step up and check what we can, but the author is overboard in his expectations.

To cap it off, the author advocates universal health care. I know that insurance companies create havoc for medical professionals and ultimately patients, but I have yet to see a government takeover be the answer to any such problem. It has gotten too big every year and we are seeing creeping socialism in many areas of our lives.

I have learned quite a few things from reading this work and hopefully it will help me better deal with medical issues. I'll likely be more alert and ask more questions as I shift my lifelong mindset from a complete trust in medical professionals to realizing they are also humans who are worn thin with complexities and can loose focus and make mistakes. My guard will be up even though I will not be doing everything advocated by this author.

[MuuLee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a medical students, and i found what i read are more beneficial than any lecture given on me, and i also learns a lot of type of disease and also its treatment and complications! Definitely worth re reading and make some notes!

[Ariadna73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far; this book is saying all those things that I already knew: be aware of doctors; they are dangerous. They have good intentions but they are overworked and they also need to eat. Be very careful and stay away from them as much as you can.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was more information than I wanted in places, but it did have some good tips on guarding against being a victim of medical mistakes.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is good to pay a lot of attention to what your doctor is doing. Not sure about why this doctor thinks national health care will help.