I found Jerome Groopman’s book [b:How Doctors Think|185897|How Doctors Think|Jerome Groopman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924069s/185897.jpg|2057949] helpful and enlightening. So when I happened across Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What is Right for You, written by Groopman and his wife Pamela Hartzband (both are MDs) I grabbed it right up. In truth, I also chose it because I have an important medical decision to make regarding surgery. I was hoping Groopman and Hartzband would again enlighten me.

The structure of the book follows from the least of the difficult medical decisions we may need to make to the most difficult. It acknowledges that choosing whether or not to take a medicine is considerably different than discussing what “no heroic efforts” means to a dying patient. This structure helps give context to the complex ideas Groopman and Hartzband put forth. Detailed patient stories are used throughout to illustrate the concepts as well, and this makes the book more readable and heartfelt.

Full review at TheBibliophage.com. ( )

How to decide what is right for you

Chances are, you don't fully grasp your own biases in making medical decisions. Drs. Groopman and Hartzband discuss psychological aspects of decision-making such as risk-aversion, framing statistics, and the availability of stories of others who have had the disease, using stories of patients to illustrate how complicated finding the "best" answer can be.

I have a much greater understanding of the complexity of patient care after reading this book. Doctors have a variety of opinions and understanding of the best treatments. So do their patients. And sometimes, there is no clear-cut answer. Numbers drive decisions more and more - pushes for efficiency, or insurance companies covering one treatment and not another. Patients vary in what types of treatment they want, and can change their mind in the midst of treatment making following advance directives difficult. I discovered that I'm a minimalist, in their phraseology: one who likes to take the least amount of medication possible, which helped me understand why it took me so long for one of my doctors to convince me to take a medication I now swear by, and why I like that my primary care's default response is a "wait and see" approach. I'm still young and fairly healthy, but I will want to revisit this again and will definitely have it in mind if and when I need treatment for anything in the future. ( )

The author compiles a number of cases in which the patient is faced with a number of options for treatment of the disease or condition. The options are discussed and personal preferences are examined. Such concepts as minimal or maximum care, natural or high tech care, and quantity versus quality of life are discussed. No right or wrong answers to these value based choices are proposed. The book provides food for thought. ( )

A riveting read of case studies on how different people choose treatments. Especially relevant when you have a health condition (or conditions) and feel unsure as to the right way to go. ( )