Recent Article Reinforces the Need To Be an Informed Patient

A recent Special Report in Men's Journal, titled "When To Say No To Your Doctor," gives excellent advice to patients. It describes what patients need to know before agreeing to many different tests, surgeries and prescription drug treatments. It explores, among other things, what patients need to know about blood pressure screenings, use of statins (a type of cholesterol management drug) and getting a PSA test (a blood test which screens for prostate cancer). It also contains a section on "Surgeries You May Be Better Off Without."

 

The point is that having some tests or surgeries or taking certain drugs is not a one-sided "no-brainer." If you broke a leg and the bones were sticking out through your skin, you need surgery. There are many such cases, but there are also cases where experts differ on whether a certain surgical treatment is wise. As an illustration, the article discusses whether men should have the PSA blood test. "A suspicious PSA reading . . . might be caused by normal age-related enlargement of the gland [prostate] or an infection . . . ." The article cites research that found that "about three-quarters of the men who got alarming PSA scores and were subjected to the discomfort and infection risk of a prostate biopsy turned out to be false-positives - no cancer found." Dr. Gilbert Welch is quoted: "Roughly half of the elderly men in America have evidence of cancer in their prostate, yet only 3 percent will die from it." The PSA is just one example from the article. There are many more.

 

In my book, Patient Confidential, Tips and Advice To Keep You Safe As You Navigate the Healthcare System, I say, "you are not a bystander or an object of medical care. You must be an active participant, thinking, analyzing, gathering date, and asking questions."  In the Afterword to Patient Confidential, I say, "If you learned nothing else, I hope you learned how critical it is that you be proactive in your healthcare. If you don't understand something or it doesn't sound right, ask, ask, and ask some more." 

The Northbrook Tower Publishes a

Feature Article on Patient Confidential

The Northbrook Tower newspaper interviewed me and published a feature article on my book, Patient Confidential, Tips and Advice To keep You Safe As You Navigate the Healthcare System. This excellent article really captures the theme and intent of Patient Confidential. The article states that the book "instructs the readers on how to be active players in their healthcare and to get the most out of the system with the least amount of risk."

The article quotes me: "Knowledge is power . . . You're going to come in much better to understand the doctor's advice if you have read something about your illness when you are talking to them. Doctors I have talked to would much rather have a patient who asks questions and wants to know more."

The effect of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was also discussed in the interview. The article reports, "In Lang's view, the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act makes the advice in 'Patient Confidential' even more important." I am quoted as saying, "If I'm right, what is going to happen is there won't be a whole lot more doctors . . . but there will be a whole lot more patients because so many more people will be insured . . . ." Further, "the doctors are going to be pressed for time. You are going to be competing with a bunch of other people sitting in the waiting room to get in there and get that time with the doctor, and you better make good use of the time."

The importance of learning to be proactive in your healthcare in order to get the very best results cannot be overemphasized.