Your Medical Mind_ How to Decide What Is Right for You - Jerome Groopman [0]
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
One - Where Am I in the Numbers?
Two - Believers and Doubters
Three - But Is It Best for Me?
Four - Regret
Five - Neighborly Advice
Six - Autonomy and Coping
Seven - Decision Analysis Meets Reality
Eight - End of Life
Nine - When the Patient Can’t Decide
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
ALSO by JEROME GROOPMAN
ALSO by JEROME GROOPMAN
How Doctors Think
The Anatomy of Hope
Second Opinions
The Measure of Our Days
THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published in 2011 by The Penguin Press,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband, 2011 All rights reserved
This book is based on the authors’ interviews with patients who graciously shared their medical histories with the assurance of confidentiality. All names, identifying characteristics, and certain other details have been changed to protect their privacy.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Groopman, Jerome E.
Your medical mind : how to decide what is right for you /
Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN : 978-1-101-54782-3
1. Medicine—Decision making. 2. Patient participation.
3. Physician and patient. I. Hartzband, Pamela. II. Title.
R723.5.G753 2011
610—dc23
2011019808
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
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To Harry and Fran Hartzband, who taught us that a believer
and a doubter can share love and marriage and can
agree to disagree for more than six decades
Introduction
We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.
—E. O. WILSON
Every day, thousands of people consider whether or not they should take a medication or undergo a medical procedure. For some it’s a question of prevention, how to stay healthy. Others must choose among different options for treating an illness. Making these decisions is harder than ever. There’s certainly no lack of information—from doctors, the Internet, television, radio, magazines, and self-help books. Experts everywhere are telling you what to do. Some assert that you need more—more tests and more treatment. Others insist that you need less. How do you know what is right for you? The answer often lies not with the experts, but within you.
Dave Simon had been working for months to improve his serve.