Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them

October 31, 2011
The Graedons, national experts on patient safety, have assembled an exhaustively researched text designed to instruct patients on how to best advocate for their own health while having a more realistic idea of the challenges that doctors face every day. By breaking down need-to-know information into sections (including hospitals, drug interactions, and senior care) and providing checklists, the Graedons attempt to idiot-proof a complex and sensitive issue. The book is written in an accessible fashion, and avoids medical jargon, with constantly reiterated points, and clear themes. The authors also provide anecdotes throughout to drive home the importance of what they're saying. Still, the book becomes repetitive as the authors retread the same medications and situations in multiple chaptersâit's unclear if this is for emphasis or due to lack of content. There's no doubt that readers will benefit from this book, but it may be more valuable as a reference to use as needed rather than a cover-to-cover read.

October 15, 2011
This excellent consumer-beware book by the best-selling authors of The People's Pharmacy (1998) should inspire patients to get second and third opinions, ask their doctors questions, and check prescriptions very carefully. Joe Graedon, who holds a master's in pharmacology, and his wife, Teresa, a PhD in medical anthropology, identify the top screw-ups by doctors, pharmacists, and patients. Get ready to be scared. As they note, as many as one in three patients may experience an error during a hospital stay, and at least 500,000 Americans each year die from medical mistakes. Among those are drug prescriptions that become fatal, misdiagnosis, infections acquired in hospitals, excessive radiation from computerized tomography (CT) scans, and unnecessary surgery. The Graedons provide a helpful drug-safety questionnaire about the name(s) of a medication, foods to avoid, interacting medicines to avoid, and common side effects, and they cover potentially fatal downsides to such commonly used, over-the-counter medications as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (which include ibuprofen, as in Motrin) and acetaminophen (as in Tylenol). An invaluable guide for making important surgical, drug, and health-care decisions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)