Every Patient Tells a Story - Review
Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis
Author: Lisa Sanders, M.D.
Pages: 251
Genre: Nonfiction
A healthy young man suddenly loses his memory–making him unable to remember the events of each passing hour. Two patients diagnosed with Lyme disease improve after antibiotic treatment–only to have their symptoms mysteriously return. A young woman lies dying in the ICU–bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent–and none of her doctors know what is killing her. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis.
About the Author
Lisa Sanders, M.D., according to the back of the book, is a physician at Yale, the author of the New York Times Magazine "Diagnosis," and an advisor on Fox's TV show "House M.D." Some other books she's written are, 12 Days in Africa, Everyday Revelations, and Diagnosis: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Medical Mysteries.
My Thoughts
Every Patient Tells a Story is an extremely well written and interesting book. Within the novel, there are so many smaller stories within. The connection to "House M.D." is clear as they both take the readers/viewers through the incredibly difficult diagnosis process of many different patients. This mystery aspect, in my opinion, makes for a great read. Along with these medical mysteries, Lisa Sanders provides the readers with different test results and opinions from doctors, including herself, making this very informative as well. To me, like any medical book to someone who is not an expert, it can get a little confusing at time, which I'd say is the only con. However, I am surprised to say that a majority of the book was made clear. This book brings up a lot of issues that occur every day in the field of medicine. One of the biggest ideas that stuck with me after reading this book is the importance of the physical exam. It was said in the novel that many doctors skip the physical exam to save time and get right to the tests, however, this results in a lot of missed diagnoses. We always think that technology is the way to go, but this book proved that sometimes people need to step back and do things the old-fashioned way. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in medicine or wants to see what life is like for doctors as they diagnose their patients.
Some of My Favorite Quotes
"In the same way, medical testing is one way to come up with a diagnosis, but sometimes - and if Brendan Reilly is right, up to 25 percent of the time - you can get the right answer by simply examining the patient. This is not to say that a physical exam can substitute for testing. With the tests we now have at our disposal, we can diagnose diseases that in another era, not so long ago, could be identified only at autopsy. But the physical examination can direct the doctor's thinking and narrow the choice of test to those most likely to provide useful answers - saving time, saving money, and sometimes even saving lives" (Sanders 58).
I found this particular quote to be very interesting as it is one of the many in this book that show how important the physical exam really is in the process of diagnosis.
"We are trained from a very early age to avert our eyes from abnormalities. Children are fascinated by people whose appearance differs from what they've come to expect" (Sanders 95).
This quote stood out to me because of the truth behind it. It also brought me to think about the fact that doctors need to overcome this habit in order to diagnose patients correctly.
"We have tremendous faith in our ability to see what is in front of our eyes. And yet the world provides us with millions of examples that this is not the case. How often have you been unsuccessful in looking for
an object and recruited the help of someone who finds it immediately right in front of you? Or had the embarrassing encounter with a friend who confronts you angrily after you 'ignored' his wave the night before while scanning or a seat in a crowded movie theater?" (Sanders 97).
This quote stood out to me particularly because I just so happened to see the video above on YouTube the day before reading this section of the novel, in which Sanders discussed the very same video. It also stood out to me because it is relatable to so many of us, showing how the book is made more understandable.
"Every year over three million patients come to an ER somewhere in the country complaining of pain in the belly. A quarter million of those patients end up in an operating room, having their appendix taken out. Most of the time, it's a good call - the surgeon will remove a diseased organ. But on average 20 percent of those who take that trip to the OR will have what the surgeons call a negative appendix - that is, an appendix that is completely normal" (Sanders 110).
Lastly, I found this quote to be very interesting because we usually trust that doctors are going to be correct as people put their lives in their hands each and every day. But this quote shows the reality that, they too, often make mistakes. After all, we are all only human.
Check out these for more on Every Patient Tells a Story and Lisa Sanders, M.D.: