The Empowered Patient: How to Get the Right Diagnosis, Buy the Cheapest Drugs, Beat Your Insurance Company, and Get the Best Medical Care Every Time »

With the selection of The House on Beartown Road -- a poignant chronicle of her experience caring for both an infant child and a father with Alzheimer's -- as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, journalist Elizabeth Cohen is poised to become a writer that will long be remembered in readers' hearts.

The facts are alarming: Medical errors kill more people each year than AIDS, breast cancer, or car accidents. A doctor’s relationship with pharmaceutical companies may influence his choice of drugs for you. The wrong key word on an insurance claim can deny you coverage. Through real life stories, including her own, and shrewd advice, CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen shows you how to become your own advocate and navigate the minefield of today’s health-care system. But there’s good news. Discover how to

• find a doctor who “gets” you and listens to you

• ask the right questions for the best treatment

• make the most out of a short office visit

• cut out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs

• harness the power of the Internet for medical issues

• fight back when claims are denied

Combining the personal stories of patients across America with crucial advice on receiving the best possible health care, this guide will enable you to confront an often confusing and perilous system—and come out ahead.

Publishers Weekly

Every year in America nearly 200,000 people die due to preventable mistakes or infections acquired in hospitals. CNN senior medical correspondent Cohen uses these sobering stats and a horror story of her own (her sick newborn received unnecessary spinal taps) to launch this tract on patient empowerment. Cohen counters numerous examples of medical errors, rude and rushed doctors, and hostile insurance companies with practical tips to guarantee quality medical care. Potential patients learn ways of finding the right physician, tips for courageously disagreeing with or even firing the "wrong doctor," strategies for maximizing doctor appointment time, and more. Misdiagnoses occur often, the author notes, citing examples of "diagnostic heroes" like the teenage girl, mysteriously ill for eight years, who diagnosed her own disease in a high school science class. Cohen offers practical advice for avoiding such problems, surviving hospitalization (more difficult than you might think), and coping with insurance companies. An appendix of medical websites, sample interactions with medical professionals, and guidelines for climbing out of medical debt completes this valuable book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 How to Be a "Bad Patient" 3

You Know You're a "Good Patient" When...

Why You Need to Be a Bad Girl

Chapter 2 How to Find Dr. Right (and Fire Dr. Wrong) 14

Finding Dr. Right Can Save Your Life

When Your Doctor Fires You

Chapter 3 Don't Leave a Doctor's Appointment Saying "Huh?" 41

How to Find a Doctor's Email Address

Chapter 4 How to Avoid a Misdiagnosis 59

The Man Who Caught His Own Cancer

High School Girl Diagnoses Her Own Disease in Science Class

Five Red Flags That You've Been Misdiagnosed

Chapter 5 How to Become an Internet MD (Medical Detective) 81

The Top Five Reasons You Need to Go Beyond Google

The Case of the Tingling Hands

Chapter 6 You vs. the Insurance Industry 106

How to Get Help When You're Battling Your Insurance Company

Chapter 7 How to Get Good Drugs Cheap 120

Saving Money on Bernadine's Prescription Drugs

There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch... or a Free Drug!

Chapter 8 Don't Fall for Medical Marketing 130

Chapter 9 Don't Let a Hospital Kill You 149

Dennis Quaid's Tips for Keeping Safe in the Hospital

Washing Hands: The Howie Mandel Solution

Epilogue 169

Acknowledgments 175

Appendix 179

Notes 193

Index 209