Summary

Everyone needs to become a smart patient. In fact, in the worst cases, your life may even depend on it. Number one bestselling authors and doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz have written this indispensable handbook to help everyone to get the best health care possible -- by making everyone into their own medical detective.Witty, playful, at times offbeat, but always authoritative,You: The Smart Patientshows you how to become your own medical sleuth, tracing your medical family tree and wending your way through the pitfalls of any health care situation. Written in conjunction with the health care community's leading oversight group, The Joint Commission, the book shows readers in clear, easy steps how to take control of their own health care and deal with all matters that may come up when facing a medical case: from choosing the right doctor, hospital, and insurance company to navigating prescription drugs, specialists, treatment options, alternative medicine, pain management, or any problem that might arise.Accessible, humorous, and filled with information that you need,You: The Smart Patientis a book for every patient and all those dealing with a loved one's medical issues.

Author Biography

Michael F. Roizen, MD, is the four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author and co-founder and originator of the popular RealAge.com website. He is Chief Wellness Officer and chair of the Wellness Institute of the Cleveland Clinic and Chief Medical Consultant to The Dr. Oz Show. He currently lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Mehmet Oz, MD, is a cardiothoracic surgeon. He has won nine Daytime Emmy Awards for The Dr. Oz Show. A professor of surgery at Columbia University, he directs the Complementary Medicine Program at New York—Presbyterian Hospital and performs more than fifty heart operations a year. Dr. Oz has written eight New York Times bestselling books, including Food Can Fix It, YOU: The Owner’s Manual, YOU: The Smart Patient, YOU: On a Diet, YOU: Staying Young, and the award-winning Healing from the Heart.

Introduction: Why You Need to Be a Smart Patient
The Smart Patient Quiz
Getting to Know YouLet's discover the juicy secrets about the person who controls your health: you
Finding Dr. Right
How to find that gem of a doctor who'll make your life easier -- and longer
Let's Play Operation!
You're having surgery? Use these insider tips you'll need to sail safely through the OR
Prescription Drugs
Take two and pray you're still here in the morning
How to Case a Hospital
Use an expert's eye to find the best hospital for your specific goals -- and learn why one size does not fit all
Have a Happily Humdrum Hospital Stay
Only $2,900 a night and free sponge baths -- what a deal! Just make sure you check out...
Why You Should Always Get a Second Opinion
Whose life is it, anyway?
Just What Gives You the Right?
You have rights, you know. Here's how to use them
Considering the Alternatives
On pins and needles about acupuncture and herbs?
Here's what you need to know about alternative medicine
Take Control of Your Health Insurance
It's your most important -- and expensive -- health resource. Are you wasting it?
Glossary: Medical Jargon Explained
Sample Forms: Your Health Journal, Living Will, Power of Attorney for Health Care, Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order
Resources
Acknowledgments
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Excerpts

Chapter One: Getting to Know You Let's Discover the Juicy Secrets About the Person Who Controls Your Health: YouMost people think they communicate with their doctors just fine. Better than fine, in fact. Fantastic. Given that most of the communication consists of nodding or a request for antibiotics, there's little to find fault with. That's the problem, of course. Most patients don't do a great job of communicating with their doctors because patients often give us too little pertinent information to go on (remember, just like the detective, we're looking for the facts). At the same time, they may also give us too many distracting or off-topic details. It reminds us a little bit of what a mechanic must think when we try to explain a noise in our car. We're not sure when it started, we're not sure what makes it worse, we think it's a whining sound but aren't sure...We bet this becomes a tedious monologue for those earnest professionals trying to help us.An almost identical conversation goes on in doctors' offices every day. To be accurate, the parallel exchanges often concern befuddled male patients. There's a reason that women aged thirty to sixty are the prime decision makers about health care in the United States. Most of the guys they love either have no clue about their health needs or wouldn't see a doctor unless they had blood shooting out of both ears.The goal of this chapter is to make sure you know the details and numbers in your health profile that you really need to know -- those stats and specifics that are crucial to you and your doctor. We always see health books and well-intentioned magazine articles that tell you to compile so much stuff, we get winded just reading the list. The average person would have to take a week off from work and probably hire a bounty hunter to get everything recommended. You don't need to do that, but you do need to assemble a thorough health history so that you'll have a body of evidence to use when working with your doctor. A big part of being a Smart Patient is knowing how to compare new evidence (such as new test results) against the old. Like Sherlock Holmes, even though something may seem elementary to everyone else and not worth asking about, you need to press on with your questions and your investigation.We'll make compiling your health history simple enough to do, but we won't oversimplify the tasks so you lose accuracy. It's a small time investment that could save your life, so get started right away.You Love Us? DittoThe first sign of a Smart Patient is that telltale document they produce during their first visit, or even their fiftieth. It's a portent of a beautiful partnership -- that is, when it's not a form they need signed for their job, or a note asking one of our office assistants about their dinner plans. If we're lucky, it'll be their health profile. It's the sign of a patient who means business, one who will challenge us to be at our absolute best and who won't waste time and money on redundant and unnecessary efforts (which can lead to errors). To create the perfect health profile, circa early twenty-first century, flip ahead to appendix 2, Sample Forms, and find the forms labeledYour Health Journal.Make copies of them, or rip them out if that's handier. The forms are also online atwww.jcrinc.comandwww.realage.com.Fill them out.Finished? Everything? You're done. That is, if you don't have any questions, and you're sure it's all correct. Just bring those forms to your doctor along with a baggie filled with every medication, vitamin, herb, or whatever else you take regularly (in their original bottles). Store copies of the forms in a fireproof safe, and update them yearly or whenever a piece of key info changes. Everyone's happy.What's that? It wasn't that simple? You don't know all the info by heart or have it filed neatly in your credenza? Now, that's woefull